Water Hydrant troubleshoot help.

[drssg]

The dribbling sounds important to me. Mine has an adjustment to control how it drains when shut off. The directions suggest getting a full bucket of water, turn off the handle, then put the hydrant nozzle below water level. If it's adjusted correctly, it will suck water from the bucket.

It might also be worth trying some heat tape.

 

[aczlan]

Might try adjusting the rod some ..Making it a little longer will force the bottom seal to seat tighter..

Ayep. With ours that use a setscrew, trying to force it open when frozen will mess with that adjustment and can cause it to leak.
As for the amount of heat needed, remember you are trying to heat a metal pipe in the frozen ground...
The guy who installed ours put a piece of 4" PVC over the hydrant to ~3' out of the ground when he installed them and filled it with small (3/4 minus) gravel.

Aaron Z

 

[woodchipper]

You have two distinct problems here. The first is your foot valve is frozen. The second, is no, or poor lubrication.
For now, you may want to wrap around some heat tape, and insulate the pipe to the top. then you may want to put a thick layer of straw for two feet around the pipe. Wait 6 to twelve hours, and try again.
The second problem, is a lack of tubrication. Come spring, you will have to turn the water off(pump). Then disasemble the whole hydrant. Clean all parts. Reassemble with a good amount of lubricant (FDA aprouved, non toxic) Petroleum gelly could prove to be a good one. As you will install the hydrant back, wrap around your heat tape (a ten feet long piece will be more than plenty), starting at the bottom, going up. Then put the pipe insulation over it.
If you are not inclined on doing so, you may want to replace your current hydrant with a longer one. So it will be imbeded deeper into the ground. They go up to 7' in length. Also, your crush stone layer has to be one foot deep and one foot in diameter.
Problem solved forever!!
Do yourself a favor, do not force the lever, and do not attempt to make any adjustment while frozen!!! That's a NO NO, as you will be looking at major leeking when it thaws for good.:shocked:

 

[SandburRanch]

You may find the plunger has failed to some degree. I've found that from the factory, the handle is adjusted way tighter than need be and eventually the rubber is cut / fails around the seat edges. Very little downward pressure is required to prevent leakage through that small hole even at 60 psi. I can hold the rod down by hand to add packing at the top end. For adjustment, the instructions sometimes gives the angle we should feel the plunger touch and I've found less plunger pressure will do the job just as well and not cut the rubber plunger.

A small crack won't cause an operation problem of freezing until it fails to a point the leak is beyond the drainage potential but that's a fine line to draw. Locating repair parts isn't much fun and I've resorted to replacing the hydrant. Not all are created equal so look for quality. The extra 10 or 12 bucks you might pay will often make a huge difference in the operation aggravation.

A couple of ways to determine if it is draining. One mentioned, a cup of water held up to the spigot opening and watch the water be siphoned out of the container. Can actually be timed/measured. Another is to place the palm of your hand over the opening and feel / hear the vacuum. If you leave a hose connected and in the horse trough it will siphon all the water from the trough if the trough is at a higher elevation than the hydrant drain. Been there - done that.

 

[MrWhippy]

If it is just the seal at the bottom (which it sounds like) you can unscrew the head and rod assembly and rebuild without digging up the hydrant. It really takes 2 people to remove the head though. One has to hold the pipe with a pipe wrench to prevent it from turning at all. It's good to have a reference mark to the ground, just in case. The other needs a wrench and section of pipe to start turning the head. PB blaster and heat can help.