Pretty self-explanatory… Google has been exactly 0% helpful. Is there anyway to tell if I have a frost-free water hydrant without taking it apart or digging it up?
Are you talking about a yard hydrant?
I did a quick search of a bunch of vendors that sell yard hydrants and none I saw are advertised as anything but non-freeze. I suppose if it was installed wrong it would not be non-freeze, but I did not see any that looked like a non-freeze yard hydrant that are not designed to be non-freeze.
Generally frost free hydrants have a handle that, when you pull on it, it lifts a rod that goes from the handle, inside a pipe, to the bottom of the hydrant and opens the pipe so water flows up it and out the faucet.
Easy to tell, see if you have a handle and if, when you pull on it, it lifts a rod and when you push that handle back down, water quits flowing.
They are non-freeze because when you push the handle back down and it stops the water coming in at the bottom, that also opens a pinhole there that lets it drain the water in the faucet and pipe into the ground below and so there is no water to freeze there.
Hope that makes sense.
This is how they normally look; http://www.simmonsmfg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Hyd-Dimens-Dwgtext2-244x300.jpg
They are called frost free because any water left in the galvanized upright pipe drains out of the fixture below the frost line.
If the drain hole is blocked they become quite frosty.
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Ok thanks everyone! I somewhat assumed most of what you said, and I know about the function of a frost-free hydrant, I just assumed since it is usually specified on here when people are making recommendations then maybe there was a common non frost-free option.
