Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Replacing a yard hydrant

I’ve replaced two complete yard hydrants in the time we’ve been here, due to rotted stand pipes, and it looks like I’ll need to do a third one. This one definitely had a blocked drain hole at the bottom and the accumulated water froze and split the stand pipe.

I’m tired of digging but will have to do it.

When installing a new hydrant, what can I do to forestall it’s failure until I’m dead and buried and it will be somebody else’s problem?

Put at least a foot if not 3 ft of galvanized pipe in the bottom of the ditch where it attaches to your PVC if PVC is your case. All we screw a metal adapter over threaded PVC piece never the other way around. Use two Street 90s or you have some give if the hydrant gets hit or you can keep it straight in the level if you're ground does not. And then all galvanized stuff that is buried in the ground wrap in black electrical tape . Believe it or not it'll do wonders on keeping the galvanized from rusting. Oh yeah if you'll cut the bottom out of a pop bottle and cut the top off enough to slip over the hydrant before you assemble everything and slide it back down over your weep hole and tape the top up to keep dirt out it'll keep dirt from getting in your weep hole and causing a problem

Great advice!

Where you said “ ... screw a metal adapter over threaded PVC piece never the other way around“ does that give a stronger joint?

You will crack the plastic pipe much quicker and easier if you screw metal into it. If you screw metal over it the chances are much less likely. Using threaded schedule 80 PVC into a bell adapter to galvanized works the best but depending on the situation you can use a glue on threaded PVC adapter. Of course all this is based upon assuming you have PVC as your main water line.. and I would highly recommend Iowa hydrants. Only ones are those I have ever replaced had been frozen. Never replace the defective one or wore out.
Haven't been an excavation business with backhoes and such for over 30 years. I slowly pick up a few things LOL and not to mention I've literally dug miles up on miles of water systems on farms and other stuff closely working with a drill and pump company.

I have three. Most problem I have is they start to leak around the packing at the top. I dig the hole about 18" deeper than the stand pipe and fill with 2"river rock.Set the pipe and put another foot on top

Have two in my yard & have installed others on previous property

I use a 5 gallon bucket w/lid (30 gallon plastic drum works too)

Cut hole in side for supply line....cut hole in lid for hydrant

Fill with small screened rock....drain holes in bucket bottom yes

Carefully backfill...I also add cedar post or treated 4x4...metal pipe for support

Extra work...but the drain system on the hydrant will never plug up

Boulder or some other type barricade in traffic area helps too

Yah, I have 1-1/4” pvc as the main distribution trunks.

So it sounds like pvc is good in compression (threaded male), and weaker in expansion (threaded female).

Of the two hydrants I’ve already replaced, one was an old Woodford (sp?) in good shape I had laying around and the other a Chinese POS I got “cheap” at Tractor Supply.

No problems with the Woodford, but the Chinese hydrant was constant source of problems leaking, losing adjustment, yadda. Went to disassemble it and everything was rusted solid, broke the head casting just trying to get it off the stand pipe!

Bought another one from TSC and put Teflon tape on everything possible. So it’ll be Iowa or Woodford for me, no matter the cost.

I e just got one. I have 12” or so of washed pea gravel below the base.

If you don't put it in a large pipe of some sort, use a lot of coarse rock to give the water a place to go.

Pardon my ignorance but what is the advantage of the "yard hydrant" over a sill cock?

Besides not having to bend over so far...

I’m glad we don’t have to worry about freeze protection to much down here. As I say that it’s climbing to 101 today.

I have found out that even if buried and drained properly , when the temps get to single digits and you have to run water, you had best run at least 50 gallons thru it ,100 is better,or it will freeze before it all drains out. Then it is frozen until spring

Lots of good information here.

I’m getting the impression a good hydrant installation needs (among other things) something akin to a micro mini septic leach field to let the stand pipe drain properly.

Assuming at least a 3 foot bury hydrant , you would need to basically dig about a 3foot trench to be able to get at the supply line/adapter/hydrant 3/4” to 1” foot, so you can crouch down at the bottom of the trench on hands and feet and cuss up a blue streak.

So, to avoid digging deeper, after installing the hydrant (including the plastic pop bottle protecting the hydrant weep hole as per IDholton), in the area where you’ve been crouching, how about putting down some gravel, then a short 30” length of plastic perforated foundation (French) drain, topped with more gravel then a layer of landscape fabric to block silt? Then backfill the hole.

how much gravel you might need plus the bottle will greatly depend on the kind of soil you have and how well it dissipates water and how often you use the hydrant remember it only weep or is supposed to only weep when you shut it off and then it leaks off all the water within the pipe part of the hydrant above the weep hole

to elaborate a bit more I'm in Southwest Missouri and have literally buried hundreds if not thousands of in-ground hydrants and very few did we actually put gravel on just the bottle trick. If you're going to use your hydrant off and on a great deal or you're in really wet tight dirt that doesn't drain or soap water very good the put a couple of 5 gallon buckets with a rock around it would not be a bad idea at all

I have that problem too with one of my hydrants. It definitely leaks at the top (I’ve repacked the seals twice, but the internal lift rod is corroded and damages the seal (need to replace lift rod). It might also have a plugged weep hole I dunno ). During the winter it freezes up and I need to carry water from the house.

The only saving grace is it gets good winter-time sun and is usable on sunny winter afternoons. I’ve thought about spray painting it flat black to increase its odds of being usable.

That's actually a good sign your weep hole is suctioning debris into it and not letting it drain properly when you shut it off. Make sure there are no hoses or any other attachments on the faucet also to drain properly

Outdoor frost free hydrant helpful tip # 179

Run water out of your Hydrant in a few minutes
Shut water off with no attachments to the hydrant
As soon as you shut the water off put your hand over the water outlet spigot and if water is draining properly from hydrant it will form a slight suction against your hand. If it does not form a suction it is draining too slow or not adequately and may freeze

Even if weep hole is not plugged, if you only run say a bucket of water thru it and temps are in single digits, the water will freeze in the top of the stand pipe before it even starts to drain. The weep holes are about 1/4" in diameter, that pipe is 3/4 inch, filled with water when you turn it off. I live at 7650 feet elevation.Two weeks of below zero temps at night are not uncommon.It does not take long for the ground to freeze two foot deep and that entire pipe is at those temps too. I have to bury mine 4 ft minimum.

Give it the hand suction test if it's draining that slow you've got another problem internally. Unless your environment is freezing at 4 ft deep that fast. That tube on the hydrant should literally drain out in 10 seconds or less