Frozen yard hydrant

[Pilot]

Like bky, I left the hose attached, but I drained all the water out of the hose, or so I thought. Had 16 deg. temps last winter with 20 mph winds and it broke the casting on top. Was not frozen underground, as lots of water was shooting out of the thing, turning to ice everywhere. Was not fun to fix standing out there in the cold. Big problem was that the hardware store was sold out of hydrants. Had to dig it out & put a plug on the pipe until I could get a new hydrant.

 

[dubba]

We have a few hydrants here that are buried nowhere near deep enough because of ledge problems

Our SOP on the ones that freeze constantly is all outside water must be shut off whenever not in use. I put in an irrigation control valve on the water line at the house end, pulled the control wires to the barn (conduit is always the right idea) and installed a "water switch" in the barn. Shutting off the water removes the problem of a hydrant that might be weeping around the plunger.

On the main hydrant I use a big trashcan with lid & a bucket. Poke a hole big enough for the hydrant to fit through in the bottom of the trashcan & lid. Put the trashcan over hydrant, fill with paper grain bags, install cover on trashcan. Put large bucket over the top of hydrant when not in use. We use a 3ft length of hose for filling buckets, so that also goes under the top bucket. So far this setup has not frozen down to -25. BOL

 

[mintex]

my hydrant isn't frozen-the handle is up and only goes down 3/4 of the way so you can't shut the hydrant off. It's only a couple years old and it worked the firs year but not sense. We are going to move out there and now it's a problem. HELP PLEASE

 

[whistlepig]

Frost free hydrants are rebuildable from above ground. It's been my experience when the handle loses stroke, freezes, or gets hard to cycle it most times needs rebuilding. Most hydrant manufacturers have rebuild kits that can be purchased online. One thing is for sure. There are extremely good frost free hydrants and extremely bad frost free hydrants. I have owned both.

 

[Ken45101]

I have one that leaks bad around the stem when I'm using it.

Yes, I know, tighten the nut around the stem. But the nut is frozen. Brass nut in a cast iron housing I've tried penetrating oil with no success. Any suggestions as how to free it up? I'm afraid to force it too much.

The hydrant works well except for the water spout shooting up by the head when I'm using it.

Thanks,

Ken

 

[Whatswrong]

Is there room to get a six point deep socket on the packing nut if all the handle hardware is removed ,possibly that would let you gently fee it up without taking all the corners off I can't see there being corrosion on the brass.

 

[Ken45101]

Is there room to get a six point deep socket on the packing nut if all the handle hardware is removed ,possibly that would let you gently fee it up without taking all the corners off I can't see there being corrosion on the brass.

I'll have to take another look at it, thanks.

Generally dissimilar metals tend to corrode with galvanic action.

Ken

 

[jenkinsph]

Ken,
I use tubing wrenches on those brass packing nuts, you can buy them at Sears or any decent auto parts store like NAPA. Use a regular open end wrench to determine the size you need to get.

 

[Ken45101]

The handle frame and the rod pivot is in the way to use a socket wrench.

I'll give the tubing wrench a try.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Ken

 

[kafoster]

I made this contraption. A 2 foot white plastic hose (the kind used behind refrigerators for water) and a sqeezy bottle. Cut an X in the top on the bottles top and push the hose into it about 1/2 inch. Glue or seal around the hose on the lid. Then pop the lid off the bottle and 1/2 fill with table salt and 1/2 boiling water. Put the lid with hose back on the bottle. Shake as best as possible. Then go to the hydraunt, push the hose up into the spout as far as you can. Hold the bottle upside down and start to squeeze the shaken mixture. Make sure it doesn't clog with salt as you might have to blow out the salt in the hose and repeat putting back into the spout. This make take a couple tries and wait. Worked for me.