anyone know about repairing frostfree hydrants?

[Mojo Chick'n]

throwing in my two cents

we left our hose attatched last winter

it was our first time with the hydrant and no one told us not to!! (I know, excuses, excuses...)

Anyway, the handle head split. water was going everywhere - and the turn off is.... up at the road on the far side of the property

(easily a 1/4 mile)

Anyway, we got it capped off so we could go into town. We ended up having a friend who had an old one we just tookt he part we needed off of - and replaced it. The handle and spout screw off. The pipe will screw off at the end of the 4 foot, too, but without being able to see that well, you can't be sure of it being screwed in tight if you replace it (due to rust or some such).

I hope you don't have to break out that concrete - we had to break concrete this last summer, too - it isn't fun.

 

[ChickenTender63]

Pat, if you do need to end up digging from outside of the building, I wouldn't worry about that to much. You will just want to take a good look at how the barn was built and make sure your not digging directly under a load bearing pole. If the walls are studded like a house, or it is a post and beam construction with a poured "floating" slab, you should be fine if you don't have to go further than a foot or two .

We often dig down under basement walls that have been sinking because of undersized footings, and pour new footings under them with no problems as long as we do a small section at a time.

If it looks like this is something you need to do, let me know and I will walk you through it.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Yup, it is stud walls (6"! man, my HOUSE does not have 6" walls. sheesh

) on a good slab. So, helpful to hear that, if digging should become necessary.

If it looks like this is something you need to do, let me know and I will walk you through it.

OK, believe me I will take you up on that offer if need be

-- but even if I do end up having to dig it up, it isn't going to be til late next summer at the earliest, unless I run a big pump and wear scuba gear LOL

(we just got our property reassessment notice, for tax purposes, in the mail... they deducted about $40k from the nominal value of our place for being, quote, "low and wet". Hah, so at least it does us SOME good, plus I hardly ever have to water the veg garden <g>)

I am thinking from what I'm hearing here that the sensible thing would be to first try replacing the top, and any replaceable innards, assuming I can identify the make and model and *get* replacement parts, and see where that leaves me. If I have to dig it up and do massive replacement, hopefully by the time the ground dries out enough I will have worked up enough enthusiasm to actually do it <g>


Pat​

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hey Pat! Hope your repair goes more smoothly than ours. Hubby thought iit wold be a quick repair, but we ended up having to replace the whole hydrant.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

Are you sure the reason it's so wet there is not that the drain is leaching all the time? Honestly to me it's sounding like the best would be to just replace the whole thing, maybe leaving the pipe that is locked in cement only. The bottom valve is both to stop the flow of water to the fixture and allow the top of it to drain. They can leak a bit into the soil form the water supply if not working right so consider if that is why your having 'fun' with them. It would be a slow leak so maybe not enough to notice easy.

I'd consider getting a contractor out, the one here brought a little Bobcat digger and the right tools had it done in a couple hours with minimal mess. Way better than we could have done by hand, adn packed the dirt back so I'm not worried about the barn caving in under the dug spot, although he did that by hand so it's only about 6 inches wide.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Er, yeah, real sure:

(it's an older photo, but approximates how wet the yard is this week, only we have 6" of wet snow on top)

and in a typical (not maximal) January or spring thaw, more like

(the bldg is roughly 16x40, the hydrant is just inside to the R of the front door, and for anyone curious, the new roofed runs [a la my sonotube thread] will be going on the right side of the bldg)

That ain't just a leaky pipe LOL

(plus one of my hobbies is sitting around listening to see if the well pump is running 'mysteriously', and since the last thing I fixed, it hasn't)

I like digging, I have no objection to digging to China if I don't have to swim or to jackhammer/sledge up a slab; I'd just rather try doing the minimal repair first, I think, and see what comes of it.

Thanks for all the help!

Pat

 

[LynneP]

Pat, while you're waiting to decide what to do with the top, consider putting some septic liquid down in the pipe to underground. One very good brand is Natura septic treatment. Let it stand for a long time so the enzymes can clean down any organic matter for you. Sold at home hardware stores and most other places. Other brands may work as well. For those of us with french drains and septic, it's a lifesaver to conserve the underground lines and clean them without harsh chemicals.

 

[ChickenTender63]

boy oh boy, you do have a slushy situation there don't you?

At least now though, you are going to see a tax break for it!

 

[CrowinKing]

Well I'm back! it looks to me that your elbow at the bottom of the pipe is broke!! If your hydrant is near the edge of your building you could go in from the side but if its away from the wall you'll probably have to break up the concrete and go down from there! I take it that its on the right side of the door judging from where the water is running from! Even if it is the plunger at the bottom of the rod it would leak out of the top part!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
ROTFLMAO (and hoping that this is indeed joking) (but meaning no offense if, um, I'm mistaken here)

Pat, living in basically a swamp, which that is the floodwater thereof that you're seeing in the pix, and very very sincerely doubting there even IS that much water available via our well

It all comes off our back fields and our eastern neighbor's fields, flows thru our property and leaves via the front hayfield of the neighbor to our west.