Frost free hydrant: How far off a wall?

[mvp]

Title says it all.

The top of a frost free hydrant unscrews from the pipe, I think, so you want to have it far enough away from a wall that you can, yanno, actually unscrew it. The alternative is to have to cut the pipe and then figure out how to make threads in it?

A buddy of mine was pointing out that whoever built his barn had it too close to the wall… like this, but worse:
img [/img]

Google won’t tell me what the radius of the handle and spigot are. Do you all know how how far off a wall they should be?

[luvmyhackney]

Mine is 12” off the barn wall. Plenty of room to repair and replace. Just changed out seals in 2 of them

[clanter]

well enough clearance to be able to unscrew the head. I have one that it is questionable if I provided enough room… but the wall is just 5/8 plywood which I could remove some to be able to spin the the head off

[mvp]

Exactly. But how far is that? I have seen hydrants installed with a brace block of 2x4. That puts the handle parallel to the wall so you can use it. But you couldn’t unscrew the head. Would a 6 x 6 block be enough?

[Simkie]

Mine is about 12". You want room for the head to turn but also room the maneuver the pipe wrench to remove it.

[clanter]

@Simkie

You want room for the head to turn

Actually you want the thing to work forever without any servicing, at least that is my desire

[Simkie]

@clanter

Actually you want the thing to work forever without any servicing, at least that is my desire

Having dug up two spigots last year:

HELL YES to this statement

[luvmyhackney]

on the working all the time!!!

I wouldn’t want mine any closer than 12”. It would be to tight to use my tools and if I have to dig it out, I’m not right on the wall trying to dig in a cramped space.

[S1969]

Wow, that photo is crazy! About 12" sounds right. That way you can secure them to the wall with a clamp for additional support, but have room to service it if necessary.

I might also add, if possible, put it near an exterior wall so if you have to dig it up it can be done from outside.

I had mine dug and replaced last fall; the specialty plumbers brought the tiniest excavator I’ve ever seen. Dug a hole straight down about 2’ wide…just big enough for one guy to get his head and shoulders into, replaced everything and filled it back in. The whole job took only about 15 minutes. I was amazed.

If you can’t have it near an exterior wall, definitely make sure to leave space in the concrete so that you don’t have to break up the floor to replace it.

[mvp]

@S1969

Wow, that photo is crazy! About 12" sounds right. That way you can secure them to the wall with a clamp for additional support, but have room to service it if necessary.

I might also add, if possible, put it near an exterior wall so if you have to dig it up it can be done from outside.

I had mine dug and replaced last fall; the specialty plumbers brought the tiniest excavator I’ve ever seen. Dug a hole straight down about 2’ wide…just big enough for one guy to get his head and shoulders into, replaced everything and filled it back in. The whole job took only about 15 minutes. I was amazed.

If you can’t have it near an exterior wall, definitely make sure to leave space in the concrete so that you don’t have to break up the floor to replace it.

Yeah, see, so this is the problem. I want to have this thing in between two stalls in a 4 stall center aisle barn. Don’t freak out: The aisle will be 14’ wide. But having it 1’ off the wall is probably too far to not get in trouble. Also, the plan was to have rubber mats over stone dust as the aisle, with a concrete bumper around the edges to create a frame from those mats. Not sure how this would work with the hydrant. Maybe I just don’t put concrete where the hydrant is. I would have left a square out of the concrete and had rocks over a french drain for that anyway.

[Simkie]

@mvp

The aisle will be 14’ wide. But having it 1’ off the wall is probably too far to not get in trouble.

Huh? Why would you say that?

Mine is 12" off the wall in a 10’ aisle. It’s never gotten into trouble.

What are you planning on DOING in there?

[S1969]

@mvp

But having it 1’ off the wall is probably too far to not get in trouble.

I think there are probably ways you can make this more visible and less likely to get tangled in anything. I’m sure my handyman would come up with something cool, but some kind of vinyl or wood frame around the base?

But yes, definitely make it easy to access if you need to dig it - it would be terrible to have to destroy a concrete floor to replace it.

[trubandloki]

We used patio type pavers (I call them Unilock pavers, but that is a brand) around where I have the hydrant in my barn.

Can you put a couple of bollards where the hydrant is located to keep it safe from aisle traffic?

Edit to add: In the photo, is the wall the type that the boards can be easily removed? That might be how this is working in that situation. If they have to do service they can simply remove the boards.

[frugalannie]

In general, ours are 8" away from the wall. Except for this one. So our plumber suggested that we put couplings on them. See pic. Our water is very hard so we have to replace packings more frequently than we would like so this makes it easy. Another thing to keep in mind is the head room you’ll need if the packing needs to be replaced. The rods in there are looooong and you have to clear the pipe!

[Simkie]

@frugalannie

Our water is very hard so we have to replace packings more frequently than we would like so this makes it easy.

Fwiw, that may be–at least in part–due to the brand of spigot, rather than your water. I had those Campbells too, and they were nothing but trouble. Finally got tired of repacking them, only to see them start leaking again in weeks/months, and ripped them out. Replaced with Woodford Iowas. Life is so much better. If I could’ve lit the Campbells on fire I would have, hated them that much by the end of it. Never again!

Is there a pit under this hydrant? That’s a super cool way to install, haven’t ever seen that before!

[frugalannie]

Thanks for the heads up Simkie. The Campbells aren’t that bad. We replace a packing maybe every 1 1/2-2 years and counting the ones at the paddocks we have 10 so I shouldn’t complain too much I guess

The concrete aisle floor is over 4 feet of crushed stone (aka gravel). At the base of each indoor hydrant there are heavy duty grills, 2 per, each 2 feet by 8 inches. They let water through straight to the gravel if there’s a spill and allow access if needed. There was a small error installing this one in the pic and it ended up too close to the stall wall. We only had to remove a couple of boards from the outer stall once before the genius plumber suggested this.