|
|
 Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
  
Location: Nebraska | Anyone know anything about them? Mine worked just fine Fri am when I did chores but it was hard to lift. When I went to fill tanks Fri afternoon, it was really hard to lift and didn't work at all. It was about 50 degrees here Fri afternoon and the hose next to it was completely thawed out so I don't think it froze. Sat am when I left for work at 6 am it was 40 and around the same temp when I got home that afternoon. It didn't work either time. Now it's below freezing again. There's only about 2 ft of pipe above the ground. I've been using it 2x a day for over a year and have never had a problem. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| Most frost proof hydrants are junk. Changing the hydrant is easy, digging it up is the hard part. |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 927
Location: Iowa | try 2 gallon milk jugs full of hot water poured on the hydrant and pipe.
|
|
| |
|
 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | What memory suggested...open it up and pour hot water on it....M |
|
| |
|
 Sexy Bee Yacht
Posts: 5849
Location: WA | I have one that has gotten very hard to lift. The water works fine, just takes brute strength to get the dang thing to open up. Good luck on yours! |
|
| |
|
 Thread Killer
Posts: 7543
| Are all the components to the mechanism there? One of our hydrants got really difficult to operate suddenly last summer. Turns out it was missing a nut. |
|
| |
|
Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | Just Plain Lucky - 2014-01-27 11:01 AM Are all the components to the mechanism there? One of our hydrants got really difficult to operate suddenly last summer. Turns out it was missing a nut.
Oh, I never thought of that. I'll definitely look when I go out to do chores tonight!
As for those of you who suggested pouring water on it. It was 50 degrees when I tried to use it. I don't think it's frozen...... |
|
| |
|
 Popped
Posts: 20421
Location: LuluLand~along I64 Indiana | if it was frozen and you yanked it real hard you might have stripped the plunger. so when you pull up it will neither open or close. been there done that. |
|
| |
|
Regular
Posts: 91
Location: North Dakota | I just went through this - if the water does not drain completely out of the bottom it can freeze down there - especially if frost gets in there - a good indication it is froze under ground is that the handle is hard to pull up! That's exactly what happened to me just last week! Our hydrant is 8 feet long so it was frozen down a ways. We used a bertha torch on ours and it took 2 days to get the ground warmed up enough! ARGH, not good when it was -60 w/ the wind chills! Good luck on yours! |
|
| |
|
Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | luluwhit - 2014-01-27 12:15 PM if it was frozen and you yanked it real hard you might have stripped the plunger. so when you pull up it will neither open or close. been there done that.
How do I know if I did that? Take it all apart? |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| I'm going to be watching this thread. I feel for you. I have 3 hydrants on my farm...2 have been "froze up" (acting like you describe. Handle just won't lift) ever since it got to be 0 or below. The only one that works is out in the middle of my yard, unprotected. Go figure. The ones in and near the barn do not work.
LOVE hauling water buckets thru knee deep snow.  IS it may yet? |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| If it is froze, cut the bottom out of a coffee can, and slip it over the hydrant. Build a paper fire in it, till it thaws. Doesn't sound like yours froze. Sounds like the plunger is broken. |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| If it is froze, cut the bottom out of a coffee can, and slip it over the hydrant. Build a paper fire in it, till it thaws. Doesn't sound like yours froze. Sounds like the plunger is broken. |
|
| |
|
Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | Bigfoot - 2014-01-27 2:09 PM If it is froze, cut the bottom out of a coffee can, and slip it over the hydrant. Build a paper fire in it, till it thaws. Doesn't sound like yours froze. Sounds like the plunger is broken.
How do you go about fixing a broken plunger? Can you just replace parts or do you have to fix the whole thing down to the bottom? We replaced one about 7 years ago (can't remember what was wrong with it) and had to dig all the way down. If that's the case, this one is going to suck because the ground it the barn is hard as a rock! |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| Probably going to have to dig it up. Better inside, than out this time of year. The ground want be compacted but a few in he's down. Just dig down till you get to a 90 degree elbow. Put a pipe wench on your broken one, unscrew it. Then put a little Teflon tape on the threads, and screw the new one on. The hydrant your local ubimg store sells is probably junk. Most are. If you have time to order one, I would go online, and order a woodford. |
|
| |
|
Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska | Unfortunately my barn is an old cattle barn so is only fully enclosed on 2 sides, so not much warmer or nicer than the outside depending on the direction of the wind. The door was gone before we moved here. It's probably close to 100 years old too so the ground is compacted more than a few inches lol. Hopefully we can get this figured out this upcoming weekend. Bucketing water from the house sucks! |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| I'm not a plumber, but I have dozens of frost proof hydrants. These last a long time.
http://www.woodfordmfg.com/woodford/WFDIndex.html |
|
| |
|
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| I think you will be pleasantly surprised with ground, once you get down a few inches. If the hydrant was outside, the ground would be completely saturated, and a real pain to deal with.
While you have the ground open fill the bottom foot, with gravel, and put landscape fabric over it. Then fill with dirt. It will keep your drain he in the new hydrant from filling with dirt. |
|
| |
|
Thick and Wavy
Posts: 6102
Location: Nebraska |
That might be what this one is. I just know it's red haha |
|
| |
|
 Elite Veteran
Posts: 787
Location: NE Pa-Gods Country | brlracerchick - 2014-01-27 1:18 PM luluwhit - 2014-01-27 12:15 PM if it was frozen and you yanked it real hard you might have stripped the plunger. so when you pull up it will neither open or close. been there done that. How do I know if I did that? Take it all apart?
take the handle off and don't forget how to put it back on...the rod that goes down the pipe has a plunger at the end...use vise grips and pull the rod out and check the end . TURN OFF THE WATER FIRST...hehehe... i just had to dig mine up and replace it... if the plunger looks ok, replace everything and check to see the adjuster pc at top of rod is tight and not slipping.....better yet check this first. |
|
| |
|
Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
Location: Roping pen | Being in Ne also, and with the wind/cold we have had, it is frozen 1-3' below the ground. I really don't think taking the top off and trying to pull out the plunger will work with it frozen.
Best way is to build a SMALL bonfire around it. Will take 3-6 hours...
These hydrants have a drain back in the bottom (valve end). This weep hole (drain hole) only works when the hydrant is completely off. It allows the water to "drain back" out of the riser pipe when the handle is off. IF the handle is left up a little or the linkage is not adjusted correctly, the weep hole will weep all the time. Once the soil around the weep hole (buried 4-5') is saturated, it will no longer weep, and the water will remain in the pipe...than it gets cold and freezes. One pulls up on the handle, and typically, the rod to the valve breaks.
My guess, 1 of 2 things happend---the hydrant is old and the drain back area around the weep hole has filled in with soil (usually you put rocks around the bottom of the hydrant) and soil is saturated. Drain back is not working.
Or, the soil around the hydrant has been removed and the valve is not 5' in the ground that we need around here to stay frost free.
My recommendation, is that you will have to replace it. If not now, as soon as it gets cold/windy again. A backhoe can bust thru the frost and replace in an hour but you will never have to worrry about it again. You could do it yourself, but digging thru 3' of frozen ground by hand will take a while.
The bon fire approach will work, but you will either need to heat tape the pipe, put hay bales, around or somehow insulate it and the ground around it to keep from freezing again.
Good luck. |
|
| |
Hydrants....