Freeze-Proof Hydrant Dripping

[dressagetraks]

My freeze proof hydrant has suddenly sprung a leak the last day. Fairly constant splatter, much more than a drip, drip. It has been quite cold and also has iced the last few days, worst stretch of the winter. Fortunately, I have a separate shutoff to that line in the well house. Shut it off, no more leak. I’ll just turn it on to water.

But once the ground thaws enough to dig, I’ll need to either look at it myself or call a plumber. Do these things have washers? Hoping it’s something simple like that and not dig it totally out and replace with a new one. How DIY are they to mess with? It was installed professionally back many years ago by the plumber who was already installing all of the water lines to Mom’s trailer and the new septic tank, so adding a hydrant onto his already 4-figure bill then was inconsequential.

[tangledweb]

Adjusting it might fix it. Or, if you can read what brand and model it is, then you can buy a rebuild kit for them like
http://www.amazon.com/Simmons-Mfg-851-Hydrant-Parts/dp/B0042U8CZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453419556&sr=8-1&keywords=simmons+hydrant+parts

You should not need to dig, and diy or pro it’s not a big job.

[GaitedGloryRider]

I had the same problem last year. I went ahead and just replaced the hydrant when the ground thawed. Hydrant was only 40 bucks and the plumber had it done in a couple hours, under $200 including the what I spent on the hydrant. Was worth it for the peace of mind. I’m not very handy though and have no experience with plumbing so I wasn’t comfortable trying to tackle it myself.

[hosspuller]

Could be a simple adjustment to the shaft. The handle pushes a shaft down to the valve. If the shaft has slipped or the washer worn a bit, it’s easy to readjust. Post a side view picture of your hydrant, someone will be able to provide directions.

[Cat_Tap]

Mine has been doing that for years. The handle won’t stay down tight no matter how much they have tried to adjust it. I think because it won’t shut tight it freezes during the very cold weather. I just end up bringing buckets from my other barn. The barn with the no freeze has only two horses in it. No problem in my other barn with a regular tap. We put an insulated box around the tank and tap along with a heating cable and it has been good for 35 years.

[LookmaNohands]

I have been having this problem too. I figured out that, on mine, there there is like a little dial or thing that you can turn and that stopped the leaking but so far, all three are still frozen.

Faucet inside one barn is fine.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=tangledweb;8494667]
Adjusting it might fix it. Or, if you can read what brand and model it is, then you can buy a rebuild kit for them like
http://www.amazon.com/Simmons-Mfg-851-Hydrant-Parts/dp/B0042U8CZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453419556&sr=8-1&keywords=simmons+hydrant+parts

You should not need to dig, and diy or pro it’s not a big job.[/QUOTE]

If it is leaking when turned off and still leaks after the shaft is adjusted. It will have to be dug out to replace the bottom seal.

If it leaks at the top when turned on it is the O ring seal where the shaft comes out. This is an easy fix. Don’t need to buy a rebuild kit. Just take the handle off , mark the setting first, wrench off the nut on the top ‘pick out’ the rubber O ring and have it matched at a hardware store. 50 cents at most.

It is a good idea, winter maintenance to lube the shaft in that area. Keeps the O ring from drying out and allows for the shaft to slid easier. Keeps the very small amount of water on the shaft from freezing to the O ring and shortening its life span.

[gumtree]

If a hydrant is leaking after being turned off and can’t be fixed in the winter always turn off the shut off valve to that line. This will allow the water in the Riser pipe to drain as designed. If not and cold enough the water will freeze in the Riser pipe and make the hydrant useless until things thaw out.

Word to the wise when installing underground water lines. ALWAYS install a shut off valve for the line. If one water line is servicing several hydrants install an underground shut off valve for each hydrant on the line. Adds a bit of additional cost but well worth it.

It is possible to ‘spin’ a hydrant off the bottom coupling without digging it out. Especially if a proper brass coupling was used instead of plastic. Plastic may break/crack or cross thread when trying to ‘spin’ the new one on.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=LookmaNohands;8494757]
I have been having this problem too. I figured out that, on mine, there there is like a little dial or thing that you can turn and that stopped the leaking but so far, all three are still frozen.

Faucet inside one barn is fine.[/QUOTE]

If you are have freeze problems with this mild winter we have been having they were not installed correctly.

[Tom_King]

If one is just leaking out the faucet, or around the shaft seal, and hasn’t frozen yet, you dont’ have to dig it up. There is a “washer”/seal at the bottom of the shaft. It’s a lot easier to screw the top off and replace the seal than it is to dig the whole thing up and replace it.

there are multiple youtube repair videos on every make.

[gumtree]

Another trick that is worth trying/using on hydrants that are installed in ares that are exposed to a lot of sun is to spay paint the Riser pipe flat black. Even on cloudy days a black pipe will be a few degrees warmer from solar gain. At times in really cold weather it only takes a few extra degrees of warmth on the pipe to keep it from freezing at the bottom coupling.

When installing underground water lines it is ALWAYS best to bury the line in the most sunny route available. Even if you have to go a ‘roundabout’ way.

We had an exceptional cold winter last year. We have lots of hydrants. The only one that froze up at the bottom was one where the last few feet ran along north side of a fence line. The fence boards blocked the winter sun all day. The hydrants on the same line worked fine all winter. Luckily the one that froze was at the end of the line. Learned a lesson. Should have know better having built an off grid passive solar cabin back in the day.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=Tom King;8494798]
If one is just leaking out the faucet, or around the shaft seal, and hasn’t frozen yet, you dont’ have to dig it up. There is a “washer”/seal at the bottom of the shaft. It’s a lot easier to screw the top off and replace the seal than it is to dig the whole thing up and replace it.

there are multiple youtube repair videos on every make.[/QUOTE]

While this is true. Most people are not going to have the tools in their shop nor the “expertise” to wrench the hydrant apart. Bottom seals generally only fail on hydrants that have been in use for a long time. As one can see in this video they are not easy to take apart.

Requires 2 large pipe wrenches and in this video and IME a torch, not just a little dinky bottle one either. Takes a fair amount of muscle and knowledge/experience of how to ‘work’ the 2 pipe wrenches also. It one is not careful and torques the rise pipe around too much they can crack the bottom fitting, ask me how I know. If plastic was use even more so.

Cheaper and easier just to dig the old one out for the average DIY. Or with luck spin it off and spin a new one on carefully without digging out.

I didn’t go into this because most people on this forum do not have a lot for DIY experience with this. Nor the tools required. It is not as easy as it looks.

Applying that much heat is most likely going to damage the top O ring also. But simple to replace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR59ppnWJaM

[Mango20]

Mine recently started doing the same thing and I’m also using the cut off in the house to shut it down after using each day. It’s old, and researching the brand (Merrill) they say it probably needs a new plunger (the part that does the work way underground). Their website also says it’s usually not necessary to dig it up, that you can remove the head and replace the parts from there. It’s too cold to work on it now, so I’ll just keep using the indoor cutoff until warmer weather, then see if fixing it is possible. It’s pretty old, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get the head off or not.

[Tom_King]

I’ve never had to use heat on one, but all ours are Woodfords, and have some sort of sealer/anti-sieze on the threads to start with. Any time I put a head back on, I put some anti-sieze on the threads after the Teflon tape is started. Even if you have to buy two pipe wrenches, it’s probably still cheaper than hiring a plumber.

[millerra]

@gumtree;8494986

Cheaper and easier just to dig the old one out for the average DIY. Or with luck spin it off and spin a new one on carefully without digging out.

After digging ours out once to move it - I’d say that really depends on how deep its dug in. Because we have really deep frost, our pipes are 6 feet down and it was one hell of a hole, very scary for me to see DH down in that hole, and we had to rent a backhoe to do it. Our water table is also so high, we had problems w/ water filling the hole :eek:… I was really glad when we finished and filled the hole back up.

just saying…

[Tom_King]

I don’t normally recommend Harbor Freight, but for limited use:
http://www.harborfreight.com/48-inch-steel-pipe-wrench-1133.html

[Tom_King]

Don’t use the big ones to screw it back on with.

[Tom_King]

Actually, a couple of these should be big enough: http://www.harborfreight.com/36-inch-steel-pipe-wrench-1132.html

[Tom_King]

and a couple of these to put it back on with: http://www.harborfreight.com/18-inch-jumbo-steel-pipe-wrench-39644.html

[Tom_King]

Keep at least one repair kit for your particular hydrant on hand. Never use anything but the properly sized wrench on the packing nut. It’s brass, and an adjustable wrench can deform it to the point that it won’t seal good very easily.
http://www.amazon.com/Woodford-RK-Y34-Repair-Kit/dp/B008B6H2MO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1453563048&sr=8-4&keywords=woodford+yard+hydrant+repair+kit