Frost free hydrant problem solved

[Ed Norman]

Mystery explained finally. We put it in about 7 years ago, 6 foot buried. Gravel was put under it, and a couple of feed sacks were laid over the gravel and weep hole. It ran great for 6 years, we rebuilt it once. Last year it started freezing up. We fought it half the winter then it won and was frozen until spring. Yanking on the handle must have sprung something so it worked really hard, even with the packing nut removed.

In October, it froze again. Way too soon. We finally decided to replace it and find the problem. Today the backhoe man came and busted through the 8" layer of frozen ground and dug down to it. When he got to 6', there were some tree roots. About 10 feet away there is a hybrid poplar that grows really fast. He got the line exposed and we were looking at the roots as big as a finger in the area. He brushed off the weep hole and came up with a ball of root hairs as big as a pea. I think they slowed the draining enough to let it freeze.

We replaced the hydrant and ran 100' of ditch and put a brand new one by the hog pens. Hurray for not hauling water in winter. While he was backfilling, I took the valve off the old one and found one more mass of root hairs down inside the weep hole.

When we put in the new hydrants, we cut holes in 5 gallon buckets and inverted them over the valves. The roots at the one hydrant may grow over to the wet area by the gravel, but they won't jump up and reach for the water squirting from the weep hole, so I don't think they can plug it again.

[nehimama]

Glad to know you've got that problem fixed. Nothing more taxing and tiring than hauling water in the winter time, bucket by bucket!

[nehimama]

I like the 5-gallon bucket idea!

[rambler]

Originally Posted by nehimama

I like the 5-gallon bucket idea!

I didn't get one quite installed this fall, trenched it & got it there, but not hooked together or backfilled properly.

I'm gonna have to consider something like that, like the idea. Tho, as heavy as dirt is, wonder if the plastic bucket holds up, or will fold in? Have to be 5+ feet deep here as well.

--->Paul

[motdaugrnds]

Glad you got it fixed before bad winter arrived. Nice idea about the buckets too.

[Bearfootfarm]

Tho, as heavy as dirt is, wonder if the plastic bucket holds up

A large clay pot would work, or plastic drain tile

[Ed Norman]

He put several scoops of dirt on the bucket while I held the hydrant straight, then he packed down with the backhoe then got out and jumped on it to pack it more. Bucket didn't seem to budge.

I once dug up an old 35 gallon drum used as a drain system in an old house. It was deep underground but still supporting the soil and hadn't caved a bit.

And those two feed sacks he put over the gravel years ago came back out of the ground in pristine condition, so we used them on top of the buckets.