Cost to install frost free hydrant

Any ballpark figures what it would cost to install a frost free hydrant and run line about 100ft? (Nearest water to pasture). Is it possible to also run electrical for plugging in a stock tank heater at the same time? Or is that something that needs it own trench?

We’ve been quoted $10,000 to run water from our house well about 200 ft to the barn.

We did just replace the old frost-free hydrant ourselves…sadly, determined that the underground line isn’t totally in one piece and needs to be replaced. :frowning: We rented a small backhoe and installed the hydrant for about $600 and 2 days work. We went through the barn floor, asphalt, and the $600 doesn’t include what it will cost to repair the asphalt…we just filled the hole and plan to finish up the top in Spring. Our soil isn’t soil, it’s soft clay, so our $600 included a bunch of bags of gravel to fill around the bottom 3’.

You’d need to check your local codes for which utilities can be run in the same trench, this typically is allowed, but the type of sheathing you select for each service is important.

Depending on your location, you may not need a backhoe. A trencher is more economic in some circumstances. http://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/category.aspx?id=s185
When i did mine I ran electrical wire in plastic conduit at the same time.

We had ours done for about 1200. Probably depends on where you live.

In 2010 I replaced the frost free hydrant in my barn and the cost for that was a bit over $850. I’m sure the hydrant alone now will be a bit more not to mention the 100 ft of pipe you need.

See if you can get several quotes to do the work.

Good luck. :slight_smile:

$10K?!! Holy Cow! I ran 80+ feet of Wersbo pipe from house to barn, requiring a plumber to cut through my foundation and tap into the water main, and install the pipe in the trench and set up the hydrant. I bartered with my nephew who had access to a mini-trac hoe to dig my trench and to use a cement saw to cut through the floor in the barn to bring in the pipe and hydrant. You can rent a ditch-witch fairly reasonably (ask a plumber how deep you need to lay the pipe). Wersbo is a kind of flexible pipe that will expand/contract if it should freeze, so it doesn’t crack like PVC. More expensive, but oh, so worth it!

Pretty sure mine came in at under a $1000.

I just got a quote from the guy quoting my new well installation to run a lateral to the barn (50’ from the house) and install a frost free hydrant in the barn with shut off in the house (he seemed quite firm that the shutoff should be in the house) for $1000.00. For an additional hydrant 40 feet further from the first (I was thinking just outside the barn where the run in shed would be) would be another $500. This guy is on the less expensive side. I’m in WI and everything’s quite deep (I think he said 5’ down). We can use the same trench for electric and water.

Cost will likely vary depending where you are, as frost line and how deep you must put the lines will be very different. We only have to bury lines a couple feet down here but that won’t work in a lot of areas with much colder conditions! I think you’d be better served by calling local folks that do this sort of work and see what ballpark they give you. Don’t let the $10k for 200 feet figure scare you as that does seem pretty crazy high. And if not, I know where I want to move and what new career I should be exploring!:wink:

My husband fainted dead away when he heard the 10K! :lol:

Not anywhere near that and we live in MT, home of the “bury it at least 5 feet down” and everything is 100 miles away.

[QUOTE=Herze;7302449]
I just got a quote from the guy quoting my new well installation to run a lateral to the barn (50’ from the house) and install a frost free hydrant in the barn with shut off in the house (he seemed quite firm that the shutoff should be in the house) for $1000.00.[/QUOTE]
He sounds like a smart contractor who is thinking ahead. You do want the shut off in your house. That way if there is a leak in the pipe you can shut the water off in your house and stop spending money to add water to the water table.

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I had one replaced for $400. The water line was already there. The guy dug the hole by hand with a shovel!!

It all depends on where you are and what kind of labor you are using.

I think we have less than $200 in ours. 120’ of pvc pipe laid and 2 hydrants installed. And we hand dug the entire trench because we are too cheap to rent the equipment, I really wish we weren’t that cheap but every little bit we can save can be applied to another project.

10K is ridiculous.We bought a PTO backhoe and did it ourselves for less than half that cost - plus we had the backhoe to use for other projects. Those numbers are just ridiculous.

[QUOTE=whitmers;7310484]
10K is ridiculous.We bought a PTO backhoe and did it ourselves for less than half that cost - plus we had the backhoe to use for other projects. Those numbers are just ridiculous.[/QUOTE]

It would be ridiculous, in Virginia.

Where I live, not so much. That’s the cost to have someone else do it, which includes the re-fill and repair to grass and gravel driveway. We definitely can’t get away with a water line at 5’ deep. It has to be at least 8’ down, sometimes more. I’m kind of surprised that in Montana and Wisconsin you only have to go 5’! I am quite a bit further North though.

We were able to do the excavation on the old hydrant ourselves relatively cheaply, but running 200’ of underground utility is expensive where I live. Since the OP didn’t provide a location, I’m not sure I was “ridiculous” in providing the actual quote I JUST GOT for the activity. :cool:

ETA: horsepoor, Northern Alberta and a person with digging equipment will NOT be short of work. Especially if you answer phone calls and arrive promptly to do the work on the date you said you’d be there! $10K does also include the permit work…which is a couple hundred dollars and a huge headache we are happy to handoff to a contractor.