Outside Water Hydrant

[hayes]

Hello All,

Back in November I put in a water line from the well to my barn and a couple of outside water hydrants. I asked for advice at the time on TBN.

To make a long story short, bought a 2' bury water hydrant from Tractor Supply, last week came back from the lake and found the ground around the hydrant soaked. Dug it up and found that water was slowly leaking out of the drain hole constantly.

Did I get a bad unit, or do these types of hydrants not stand up to daily use???

I also bought 2 from Lowes and have not had any trouble, but they don't get as much use as the one from TSC.

Thanks

Larry

 

[EarPlug]

Larry,

The hydrants are designed to syphon the water in the stand pipe and drain it at the base of the hydrant. If you leave 100 feet of hose connected you will drain 100 feet of water back through the hydrant. Or you can do like my wife and fill a 100 gallon horse trough, leave the hose in it and have to refill it 2 hours later.

Jack

 

[hayes]

Yes, I know. To try a temp fix, I put a plug in the drain hole,
the standpipe fills and water will trickel out of the faucet. Its as if the plunger in the standpipe has worn and is allowing a small amount of water through when turned off.

Where did you get your hydrants at??

Larry

 

[JerryG]

Larry,
You can check a TSC for a rebuild kit. If it is one of the rebuild able brands they should have the kit for it. Some are rebuild able and some are not. If it is rebuild able, you can just unscrew and fix it. You don’t even have to dig.

 

[BAC]

I just ran water out to my barn, same as you and the county made me install a anti-siphon Hydrant. The units at Home Depot and Lowes did not pass inspection. Lowes unit cost $40, the unit I had to install cost $385. Its a very heavy duty unit that creates a closed systen. No water leaks ito the ground but is still freeze proof.

 

[dgood1]

Yessiree! sure am glad you live in Michigan. Please don't export any of those ideas down here in the south. It sure seems simple to me not to leave a hose sitting in water that I don't want in my water system.

I installed a check valve on my well even though it wasn't required. I like to use common sense instead of having government involvment in my life.

 

[BAC]

I certI certainly agree with you but someone will always do something stupid that affects others and the Gov. ultimately gets involved (and probably should). I read a story about an apple grower leaving the hose in a tank and not only polluting his well but a good portion of the aquifer as well. Don't know if its true but sounds as though it could be.

 

[edt]

Hi hayes i installed one last year and becouse of my frost line being 4 feet had to put hydrant 4 feet down .Put in drywell at bottom of hydrant the only water that drains is what is above frost line in hydrant .Not from the 300ft water line feeding it .On my instructions it showes adjustments to make that if the valve dosn't shut off it is leaking by.This is what it sounds like it is doing .You will always get some water leaking by checked for adjustments or repaire kit.
Hope this helps EDT

 

[gerard]

re the sipon problem I put a Y connector on the hydrant outlet and use one side for filling buckets and the other has the hose attached. When shutting off after using the hose I just open the other outlet and that sucks in the air and breaks the vacuum so you won't siphon the whole hose. (Also if you keep a nozzle on the hose end you also won't siphon any water either). Your problem sounds like the seat is leaking. As stated some you can buy rebuild kits - you can unscrew the whole thing from the top, pull out the rod and see what the O rings look like. For a hydrant I would shop around and get a well built one. I don't think you get much for $35 and it's not worth the aggravation of digging it up to put in inexpensive ones (although two feet is pretty shallow).

 

[Wingnut]

Larry,
I guess the first question is "what is daily use"?
If your answer is always on, then you have a seal problem.
If your answer is turn on and off several times daily ... then you have the same "problem" that I do ... heavy clay and an insufficient "dry well" under the hydrant.
I had to dig mine back out and try to dig a bigger "sump" under it to allow for more soak time. (not easy since mine is under the barn ... had to dig a trench and a huge hole to do it)
Remember that whenever you turn the hydrant off, any water left in the barrel of it needs to be drained in order to live up to the "frost-free" label.

 

[hayes]

Thanks for the reply, Daily use is off and on several times
a day. I too have a clay soil and may have to dig a bigger
dry well. But my main problem is when it is off water still
leaks out of the drain hole, or the facet since I put a plug in the drain hole.

Will probably check around for a repair kit to see if I can find
one. Not holding my breath since our TSC is not that well
stocked.

Larry

 

[Wingnut]

remember that it can take awhile for the water in the barrel to leak out since it isn't much more than a weep hole. Even with only a 2 foot hydrant, there's still a fair amount of water in the barrel when you shut it off.
Fortunately, if it is the seal, all the work is from the top.

You might want to check with the manufacturer for the seal kit, it should have lasted much longer (like years!) before seal damage occurred so they may just provide you the repair kit.