Uh-oh; stripped my yard hydrant - fix ideas?

[JRobyn]

I recently had a county water line run down our driveway (1400ft) to our build site, and I installed yard hydrants along the way. The hydrant at the very end is the only one we've used very much; the rest are primarily for fire protection if the woods along the road catch fire.

One blessing (?) of the county water is nice high pressure, about 125# at the last hydrant. So apparently, the high pressure on the valve at the bottom of the hydrant riser is too much for the design of my hydrants (Simmons). The riser rod slipped under the adjustment setscrew making the hydrant leak, so I readjusted it and retightened the adjustment setscrew, which solved the leak for about a week. On the second re-adjustment, I must have over-tightened the setscrew, because it is now stripped! Actually, the brass "connector" is stripped; the steel setscrew is fine. Simmons will sell me a replacement brass "connector" ($9!!!), but with the high pressure, I think the problem will just reoccur. They don't make a replacement part in steel.

Any fix ideas short of replacing all six hydrants?

I was thinking about trying a heli-coil in the brass connector, but do they make them that small? The setscrew thread is about 1/4-20, and there's only about 1/4" of meat in the brass for thread.

- Jay

 

[Bird]

Jay, I'm not a plumber, but if I remember right, most water heaters recommend a maximum of 80 psi. When we lived out in the country, we had water pressure of 84 psi, so when we bought a new double wide mobile home (manufactured housing), I put a pressure regulator right after the meter on the line going to the house.

Where we are currently in town, I've been considering putting in a lawn sprinkler system (probably won't because of the high cost), but the water department guy put a gauge on my outside hydrant at the front of the house and said I have 110 psi, which does concern me.

Someone else may have a better idea, but I think the best thing to do is put an adjustable pressure regulator right after the meter.

 

[EddieWalker]

I agree with bird about the water regulator, but only at the house. All that water preasure along the line can be real nice to have, if you need it.

I'm not clear on what your "hydrants" are. You also didn't say what sized pipe you ran, but that really doesn't make a big difference. If it was me, I'd put brass gate valves at every hydrant. You can turn off the water at the valve and not have to worry about your hydrant leaking or failing. If you need water, it will just take a few seconds to open up the valve. Be sure to use good quality "gate" valves. Ball valves are cheap, but also fail more often then gate valves.

For your house, 125psi will cause you nothing but nightmares. I would put a preasure reducer just before the water gets to your house. 60lbs is about perfect.

Bird mentioned water heaters, which can't handle high preasure. They are time bombs waiting to flood you home when your not there. Having all that preasure just increases the likely hood of it happening!!!

Another very common problem is the valves in the toilets cannot handle high water preasure. They will leak to some degree. I've heard horror stories of 100,000 gallons of water going through toilets in a month without anybody every knowing. You'll get this crazy water bill and think it's not right. Of course, it is right, you just didn't realize that the water is constantly running very slowly through your toilets. This is very common.

Eddie

 

[JRobyn]

Thanks guys,

These are the regular freeze-proof yard hydrants. They are a 3/4" IPT galvanized connection, but that's 3ft below grade, tapped directly off a 2" PVC main, so valving them out is not really an option. I have a couple of good-quality 2" gate valves along the main run that set me back about $200 each with the flange kits, etc. To add these to each hydrant would be cost-prohibitive (not even counting a concrete/masonry valve box 3ft deep for each one)!

I have a buried valve box at the end of the line where I have temporary garden hose connections, and I do use a pressure reducer there. Garden hoses probably wouldn't stand up to 125psi for long! Like Eddie notes, having the 125psi for fire protection is very nice, so I hate to have to reduce the entire line and I am a bit surprised that the hydrants have any issue with that pressure. I need a fix or mod for the hydrant.

 

[Highbeam]

I just installed a yard hydrant from HD that cost like 38$ total. I had to adjust the brand new hydrant to put more pressure on the valve seat to shut it all the way off. Anyway, the adjustment didn't use a setscrew but two 9/16" nuts on the main operating rod to set the effective length of the rod. I really like these hydrants and think maybe you've gotten a weird brand/model.

Don't undervalue your time along with the cost of repair parts. I would pitch the old hydrant and put one in that doesn't have the stripable set screw feature.

 

[heehaw]

i quit using the yard hydrants a long time ago: i just bring up a 3/4 galv pipe and put a standard water faucet on the top: i've had this discussion with several others, who think they will freeze and burst, they do freeze, but have never had one burst. if you might need them in the winter, you can put them inside a meter box instead of raising them above ground: i have done this and kept 100ft of hose wound inside the box, just raised the lid, turned on the faucet and started walking away with full water pressure: if your meter doesn't freeze, this shouldn't either: plus you can mow right over it, and have less worries of someone stopping by an turning on the above ground hydrant.
heehaw

 

[JRobyn]

Thanks Highbeam,

A design like yours sounds like what I need, and got me to thinking; with only above-ground disassembly, I should be able to THREAD the main rod and then I can either put a matching thread helicoil in the existing brass "connector", or just use a couple of matching nuts on the rod.

The value of my time (and the value of chiropractor time) is exactly why I want to figure out some fix for the existing hydrants! I really *don't* want to have to dig up and replace 6 of them!

- Jay

 

[heehaw]

how about putting in a pressure regulator, with a bypass around it: so if you need the extra pressure, you just turn the valve and the go back to the lower pressure for normal times?
heehaw

 

[JRobyn]

Thanks Rick,

Two issues with that;

1) a regulator would need to be right by the meter box at the START of my line where it is still 1". That means I'd need to cut a new hole for a second box; the existing one is very full. Not a problem except that it would require about a 12-14" deep hole, and over half of that depth would need to be cut through solid rock. If I put it anywhere else, it would need to be a 2" regulator and I think a 2" regulator and fittings to tie it into the PVC would be a bit too pricey.

2) if I *DID* have a fire protection need, it would require that I quickly get from wherever the need is, back to the bypass. That would most likely be from the build site (one end) to the other end, over 1400ft. I don't run so good anymore;-)

The main rod of the hydrant is 7/16" brass. That should be pretty easy to remove and thread. Then I can just put one nut on either side of the existing brass "connector" which will give me both a much stronger downforce on the rod/valve and a simple means of adjustment without having to rely on the setscrew. Now if only the brass/rubber valve plug will hold up to the pressure! If that becomes an issue, I'll probably be forced to regulate the pressure somehow.

- Jay

 

[heehaw]

now i have a question? what do you gain by going from 1inch line to a 2 inch line? i have seen a lot of people do that before and i don't understand why? if always figured, it its 1 inch coming out of the meter, thats the best its gonna get? i know theres bound to be a good reason or folks wouldn't pay that higher price for the 2 inch pipe?
heehaw