I froze my yard hydrant and then broke it.

[OakHillFarmer]

We had a real warm day a few weeks ago and I hooked up a hose to keep me company at the burn pile. I didn't need the hose all day and forgot to shut the hydrant off in the barn I'm building when I was done. Sure enough, I noticed it was frozen solid a few days later when I was in the barn.

My first thought was that if I leave it alone, it'll thaw out and be fine. Then I thought I'd be really clever and take the hose off to bring it in the house and thaw out. Finally, since the hose was off, I thought that I better shut the hydrant so it doesn't just shoot water all over the barn when it thaws. My mistake-o-meter started really going crazy as I was pushing the lever down so in an unstoppable panic I pulled it back up. I couldn't believe how stupid I was being but sleep deprivation from working 2 full time jobs and having an infant has got the better of me. Man was I mad at myself! It felt like I broke it but I wasn't 100% sure. It was getting above freezing out but I grabbed the kerosene heater and blasted it with heat for a few hours. It didn't leak so I thought I was in the clear. Nope.

A couple hours later, the wife calls me at work to tell me there's a huge puddle in the arena adjacent to the barn and water was coming out of the hydrant. I had her shut the valve down that feeds the hydrants. I haven't had a chance to fully diagnose what I broke but the water was coming from the head of the hydrant somewhere.

So, am I going to be doing some digging or is there a chance I can repair the hydrant from the head?

I'm sure I can't be the first to go through this...

 

[jimainiac]

I think there's a chance that you can take apart the handle end and maybe reattach the rod. The actual valve is down at the bottom below the frost, so that end's probably okay. Good luck, hope you don't have to dig down to replace the whole hydrant.

 

[rback33]

I think there's a chance that you can take apart the handle end and maybe reattach the rod. The actual valve is down at the bottom below the frost, so that end's probably okay. Good luck, hope you don't have to dig down to replace the whole hydrant.

Ditto. You should be Ok...I don't think you'll have to replace it.. hopefully just some tweaking of things.

 

[JRobyn]

A diagram of one is attached. Probably just broke your "P" or "C". Should be able to unscrew the entire head from the standpipe (make sure supply is turned off first). Worst case is that the operating rod came loose from the valve plug down at the bottom. If that's the case, after you remove the head, you may be able to turn the supply back on and "blow" the plug out so you can re-attach it (wire an old sock to the standpipe to catch it). If that doesn't work, you can sometimes VERY CAREFULLY unthread the entire standpipe and valve body from the supply line (usually a vertical 3/4" NPT connection), and then CAREFULLY pull the whole hydrant and valve, and then (assuming your hole doesn't collapse) CAREFULLY sink a new hydrant back in the hole, thread on the supply and tighten. Otherwise; dig.

 

[LoneCowboy]

You're digging.

 

[OakHillFarmer]

Thanks Guys. I took a closer look today and I think it may not be broken. I knew the valve was at the bottom but I didn't fully understand how it worked so I took it completely apart from the top. Surprise - it looks just like JRobyn's diagram! As it turns out, I didn't find any broken or bent parts at all. I think the ice held the rod in place and the pressure of trying to close and open the valve was enough to move the whole set screw assembly on the rod without actually moving the rod. This seems to have thrown it out of adjustment so the valve doesn't close.

I couldn't try to adjust it because my wife was busy doing stalls and couldn't stand at the vacuum break valve in the house to turn it on and off for me. Since it's about 300' away, I didn't want to run back and forth while trying to dial it in.

If adjusting the set screw on the rod doesn't work then there must be something wrong with the valve at the bottom and that would mean I have to bust out the digging bar. I sure hope it doesn't come to that.

Any tips on adjusting it properly so it closes completely and the stand pipe drains while closed?

 

[jimainiac]

I think that if the rod is working freely now and if it seems to be connected to the other end still, you should be able to push the rod down to the closed valve position and then bring the handle to the closed position and retighten the set screw. Hope it's that simple.