frostfree hydrants??? Absolute last question I hope...

OK folks,
Got two on the way. Do they come with instructions and/or are they dummyproof? Can rent a small backhoe for a hundred bucks a day and get a guy with it for another hundred. I need a 90 ft by 1 meter deep ditch so will come out cheaper than or equal to the 100 bucks by having them just send someone to dig it for me and go home in a couple hours.
Want to run one line with a hydrant at the end and one T'd in at the beginning. Do I need to leave them accessable or just use 3ft or so of rigid pipe for each and cement them in (only 3ft bury)? Was thinking of a 2ft x2ft by 4 or 6 inch slap at each with a piece of pipe (PVC?) just big enough for the hydrant pipe to slip thru. That way if I have to replace something I can reuse the slab.

Also, would putting foam insulation tubes around the line serve any purpose in the case of an extra cold winter? How long does temps have to be below freezing (15 degrees f is real cold for my area and we may get that for 3 weeks then 25 to freezing all in about 8 -10 weeks)
Thanks for any input.

DO NOT C-MENT I don't think you will need any insul. tubes, should bee good till the cows come home, and seeing you don't have any cows, you should be good.

Not even the (floating?) slab idea??? Would be on top of or at ground level for stability.

VERY SIMPLE, AND AS LONG AS THE FEED LINE IS BELOW YOUR FROST, you will never ever have a freeze up.

Your hydrant can not freeze because there is no water in the up right pipe.

You must remove any garden hose so it can drain back, and you MUST shut the hydrant completly off so it activates the drain part of it. Handles are all the way open, our all the way shut.

A little concrete around it is ok, but keep clearance around the pipe so it does not bind with frost heaving it.

you get her put in and stomp the dirt down, she won't move round. just makes more work for you.

Do they have "Dig Safe" there? It's good to know where the buried utilities are and aren't. Kinda takes the excitement out of digging projects though.

you guys all missed the MOST IMPORTANT part of the install, make sure, I repeat make sure you put at least two five gallons buckets of like 3/4 inch stone around the weep hole at the base of the hydrant so that it will drain out properly !!!! if ya don t at some point it will plug up and freeze.

I just put one in yesterday for the Grandaughters horse. Just put plenty of gravel around the bottom, make sure it comes above the drain hole in the hydrant (you'll see it @ the bottom of the pipe. I set mine on a concrete block and filled gravel as above mentioned. No concrete, just tamped around hydrant & it'll get pretty darned solid. Just my thoughts, keith

(quoted from post at 04:27:13 08/21/11) you guys all missed the MOST IMPORTANT part of the install, make sure, I repeat make sure you put at least two five gallons buckets of like 3/4 inch stone around the weep hole at the base of the hydrant so that it will drain out properly !!!! if ya don t at some point it will plug up and freeze.

Click to expand...

e didn't miss it, you did! We covered that part a week and a half ago. One hour detention for inattention!

No concrete down under!
Insulation on the pipe can't hurt anything. and might keep frost from the horizontal pipes for a few hours more at 40 below (works for C or F)
A concrete apron at ground level, on top of Styrene, or Isocyanurate foam 2" thick is very good, and will for sure reduce freezing at the hydrant.
Ground contact (Blue or pink in the US) placed over the pipe in the run for the full width of the trench, and on top of some gravel on the pipe will also reduce line freeze.
Digging 300mm deeper than local frost line is easiest. Jim

One other thing, don't drive over the water line a lot during the winter. I have a hydrant in the back yard that doesn't work well in the winter. The line is 5 ft deep. After I started keeping my truck in the barn, and snowblowing a path for it, the hydrant quit working in the winter. Driving over the line will drive the frost down. Doesn't have to be a lot of driving either.

(quoted from post at 10:48:53 08/21/11) One other thing, don't drive over the water line a lot during the winter. I have a hydrant in the back yard that doesn't work well in the winter. The line is 5 ft deep. After I started keeping my truck in the barn, and snowblowing a path for it, the hydrant quit working in the winter. Driving over the line will drive the frost down. Doesn't have to be a lot of driving either.

Click to expand...

Big thing is you took the snow off. Snow insulates and by clearing a path over the line you kinda do yourself in.

Gee there are some winters that I wish our frost line was only 3'.......more like 8 here!

Rick

I've got 2 dozen of them. Only two ever freeze. One has concrete around it, and the other one is in a low spot where lots of water drains in and stands. Never freeze enough to burst but enough to not work. Mine are all set 24 to 30 inches deep, 3/4 inch by 18 inch steel pipe nipple on them connected to either PVC or black plastic pipe depending on when they were installed.

Only leaks or failures I've had are 2 hit with a pickup truck and one the bull broke off rubbing. Naturally they were all on municipal water and in places I dont check regularly. About a third of mine are fed by pond or spring water, others municipal. The only one I've got backfilled with anything other than the dirt that came out of the hole is the one in the low place that freezes up.

Wrapping the pipes in insulation will serve no purpose. If the ground surrounding the pipe is below freezing, that pipe's gonna freeze regardless.

However, what is done up north to keep pipes from freezing is to put insulation OVER the pipe. The ground at depth is around fifty degrees year-round; if you can reduce the heat loss above the pipe, heat from below will keep it from freezing. Of course with your mild weather this is totally unnecessary.

fordtractor hit the nail on the head...the most important part of the install is to dig 3 feet deeper than necessary and fill with peagravel/ loose stone. The whole deal to stay "frostfree" is it's ability to siphon water out of the hydrant and into the ground below the freezing level.

(quoted from post at 13:12:40 08/22/11) fordtractor hit the nail on the head...the most important part of the install is to dig 3 feet deeper than necessary and fill with peagravel/ loose stone. The whole deal to stay "frostfree" is it's ability to siphon water out of the hydrant and into the ground below the freezing level.

Click to expand...

ose, two hours detention for inattention and not reading whole post. JD seller covered the need for, and use of stone for Dave2 earlier on in an earlier part of this thread on July 15th. Tell Ford tractor 2000 he can go home now.