Frost free hydrant??

Hey folks, gotta install one maybe two before winter. Any of you that have them wish you would have done something different when installing?
I mean something that would make life easier if there was a problem....

Thanks, Dave

If your talking yard hydrant the old standard IOWA pattern Woodford MFG. model Y34 cant be beat.They been around since Hector was a pup .Seriously the whole hydrant can be rebuilt from the top if and thats a big if, it ever needs rebuilt.

Few things come to mind; when digging the hole for one, over dig, make room for stone and say some filter fabric, hopefully the ground is well drained if you use it a lot. Also make sure all your connections are tight, if using poly ( black plastic ) use extra clamps on barbed fittings, hose clamps seem to strip easier now then they did in the past. Check for leaks. One tool that is handy to have set up for clamps is a 5/16" socket on a ratchet, or the appropriate size for the clamp if used. Screwdrivers don't do it for me on clamps.

Get a quality hydrant with a parts diagram, there is a chance you may have to work on one of these at some point, I just replaced 2 that were less than 10 years old. Good to know you can get parts for them. Also, check the casting of the hydrant, make sure it has a big enough "nub" near the spigot to hold a bucket handle, some castings leave just a little one, barely enough.

I'm referring to "in ground type hydrant", hopefully you are not referring to a wall hydrant or something else.

Ditto install the Iowa hydrant we've had both Iowa and Ritchie and pretty well have changed the Ritchies for Iowa. I had a wet place that the hydrants wouldn't drain out completely before freezing. So I put some crushed rock at the bottom of the hydrant so it would drain better. John

There is one available over here but it's not the one (y34) you folks are mentioning and costs twice as much as them. Now, if it says 3ft bury or 4ft bury, what is the overall length (how far do they stick out of the ground?? Do they sell them at home depot or lowes (what my brother has close)?

Thanks, Dave

approx 30" to the bucket hook ,Y345 wholesales for 90.00 here in central IL, been selling them for 30 yrs ,back when i started they were 40.00

The bottom of the hydrant will have a 3/4" pipe thread fitting. Attach about 2 feet of galv. iron pipe to the hydrant, then make your conversion from iron to plastic at that point. If you make the conversion right at the hydrant, any movement of the hydrant in turning on and off will flex the plastic a little, and eventually it will break. And its difficult to stop it from moving a little, just from the resistance of the handle. A couple feet of steel really helps stabilize it.

Thanks. I have to get my buddy to get one and mail it to me.

Get a 1/8 NPT pipe nipple or barbed fitting and a couple feet of 5/16 fuel hose or equivalent. Screw the nipple into the drain hole on the hydrant and run the hose down the trench away from the base of the hydrant. Put about 5 gallons of rock at that point to accept the water than drains out of the hydrant when you shut it off.

Set a piece of pressure treated lumber into the hole for the base of the hydrant to rest on.

This combination of measures prevents the soil from turning to mud at the base of the hydrant and allowing the hydrant to wobble around with use.

Not sure of the manufacturer, bought at Menards, can look tonight.
Total length 8', buried just under 4' of it. Dug a big well at the bottom and put in probably a 2'x4'x1.5'(deep) bed of crushed rock, under and around it is all clay. Only time I had trouble was the first winter I had it installed, I had a pipe freeze near the house (not the hydrant's fault) so I went down to water the horses and when I got no water I left the darned hydrant on so it froze in the on position. Got it thawed with water from a kettle and fixed my other problem and it has been great.

If I were doing it again I would bury it a bit deeper, maybe so it's only 3' out of the ground, not for freezing but so it's easier remove full buckets from for the wife. Any way you do it, it sure beats hauling water from the house in buckets which is what I did the first winter we were there.

Oh, one more thing, I would have had the rain hold off for about a day or two more after I dug the trench. Connecting pipe and installing a hydrant is much easier if you are not in a 6-7' deep mud pit!

(quoted from post at 13:48:36 07/15/11) approx 30" to the bucket hook ,Y345 wholesales for 90.00 here in central IL, been selling them for 30 yrs ,back when i started they were 40.00

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Was just gonna order one thru amazon.com and it said country of origin is china..... still the same quality???

have you considered a heated watering bowl?? instead of a hydrant

(quoted from post at 14:42:26 07/15/11) have you considered a heated watering bowl?? instead of a hydrant

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Not real interesting...For what they'd cost and the upkeep (horses'd tear up a sledge hammer) I can put in the hydrant in a central spot and fill rubber tubs...

I have installed many hydrants for people, The main thing is having washed rock at the base so the water has a place to run away. Water lines are dug Min 8 feet deep, sometimes in a coral were there are many animals I would dig the line 10 feet because the animals will drive the frost down PS for extra frost protection I would run a heat tape on the pipe

Hey I invented them , they musta stoled my pattern..

This old man knows that hydrants work fine.

See the link below. You say you are not interested, but I have 2 of these with absolutely no problems for years now. Neighbors with their breeding operations also swear by them. Not exactly cheap, last one I bought ran about $450 and still had to do the install, but labor is probably the same as a hydrant, just need to drag power along in the trench.

Kirk
Link to Nelson Manufacturing

We have a new one broke off in the ground right
now, it's the first one to leak in 50 yrs. Some
one must have hit it when mowing or something. I
dig them in with a backhoe and a 2 ft bucket.
about 3 ft deep, and drive a steel post in the
bottom of the trench and hose clamp the hydrant to
it then hook up the plastic pipe. Has always
worked before. We never worry about the weep hole
just ignore it. they always drain. On the old ones
when you are opening it water squirts out the weep
hole soon has a cavern down there. They quit
leaking when were full open. Maybe the new ones
don't do this Vic

Lately I have been installing a "stop and waste" valve a short distance from each hydrant. This allows you to shut off the water at each location in case there is a problem and you can't dig it up immediately to fix it. This becomes more important if other water hydrants or your house is on the same line. Never had any problems for over 30 years without having the "stop and waste" valves. Then had two malfunctions of internal parts during sub-zero weather in one winter. Next spring I dug up the old ones and put the valves on all of them. Much easier and less expensive to install them during original construction.

Make sure you use metal fittings coming out of the bottom. I used brass on mine. My dad had a plastic elbow on one that cracked and cost him an extra 20,000 gallons of rural water one month. Some guys around here put them in a 3" pvc pipe to isolate them from the acid in the soil. If you do this, be sure to close up the top of the pvc pipe or the cold air will go down it and freeze the supply line. Galvanized pipe is not what it used to be. You could coat the pipe with tar and it would do the same thing. If you have high water table, the hydrant might not drain and then would freeze. Don't pour concrete tight around it, unless you make removable sections that could come out for service some years down the road. Buy a hydrant with the design of service from the top. Then you can replace the plunger and seal without digging. If you are installing it very far from your water supply, go a size larger with your pipe to minimize pressure drop.

The height is usually about 3-4 foot above ground. The amount buried is different according to how cold you get in the winters. Here in North east Iowa I go 4 foot minimum and 5 foot will never freeze. Sometimes we hit limestone bed rock so we have trouble getting them a full five foot.

As others have stated use a good fitting at the bottom. I have been using brass the last four or five years. Had a galvanized one rust through in just a few years. Never use plastic they will break.

I always put a couple of five gallon buckets of clean washed stone at the bottom of them. That way they can always drain the mast out. If you don"t have any clean gravel handy I have picked up the bags of decorative stuff at a garden center. Better than having a whole load hauled.

NOW I differ from some of the others here on whiter to cement around the top. I did not used to do it. Then I had two break the fittings off the bottom in January. I got to watching the hydrant mast as you turn them on and off. If you do not cement them they will move when you turn them on and off. It is just a little but remember the fitting on the bottom is covered up and anchored solid. Any movement will break the fitting over time. So I now cement around them. What I do is make a two foot square form out of 2 x 4 lumber. A single bag of Sackrete will just about fill it. I use the concrete mix and add about two shovels of extra sand. This will make the cement just a little weaker. If you ever have to work on the hydrant you can break the weakened cement easy with a sledge hammer.

I also will recommend the Iowa brand of hydrant.
Iowa hydrant by Woodford