riser stopped working

Paul, can I assume a riser and a hydrant are the same? If so, I think it is a combination of the soil slowly cooling deeper and the cold transmitting down the metal. That being the situation some heat to the riser should carry the warmth down to the blockage and you should be back in water. You agree?

 

PAUL
Make sure that you don't leave the hose conected after you shut it off!A lot of the time the problem is caused by the inability of the water to drain out of the exposed portion
Mr. Wanda

 

I know they nee to be able to drain at the base. When you were replacing it you may have clogged the hole on the riser or the ground below it is solid (should be sone gravel to drain the water into.

 

Yes the gound temps stay above freezing - below the freeze line. My freeze line is 4 foot so all my lines are buried at 6 foot. What's your freeze line?

 

PAUL
Idoubt that you have more than just a riser problem unless you have had a lot off very cold weather. If the riser is in the open you might try protecting it from the wind with some tin and build a small charcoal fire around the base of the riser. It will provide a LOT of heat and no flames to contend with It will also heat the ground under it if that is part of the problem.
Mr. Wanda
Mike

 

Last year we had the riser pipe in the barn freeze up during a week long single digits. I screwed a short cut off section, 2 feet, of garden hose onto the riser. On the other end, I put in a large funnel and poured in a salt warm water solution. It took about a gallon if I remember. I let it set about half hour and tried the hydrant ( riser ) again and it worked! Once the water ran a bit, the salt water was flushed out. After that I wrapped a heavy blanket around the pipe and put some old hay bales on ground . Never had a problem after that. Simple solution.

 

I assume you have snow cover still around your frost-free spigot? If so, it's fairly unlikely that the frost has gone three feet deep, although on one memorable occasion in these parts, folks were freezing up at five and six feet deep.

It was cold enough that I think the water froze in the head or standpipe before it drained out, or as someone else mentioned, the weep hole is plugged.

A fire or torch to the standpipe could damage either the packing in the head/handle, or the rubber stopper at the bottom.

I've had the most luck thawing with buckets of boiling water dribbled on wraps of towel.

If there is no snow cover over the pipe, and there is a lot of traffic in the area, it is possible to drive the frost three feet.

 

Stack straw around it for a few days. Will the handle lift???


mikell

 

Sent too quickly If the handle lifts and no water the set screw at the top may be slipping. It takes a bit to get it adjusted so the valve is not always bypassing thru the drain..

mikell

 

Would a heat tape work?

Kathy

 

Yaknow Paul, It seemed pretty warm today, compared to the last few days, but it was still pretty darn cold.

I was thawing out a tenant this morning and they offered me a cup of coffee that I politely declined. They twisted my arm just a tad and I welcomed it. Drank about half of it and set it down on an electrical pedestal for about 10 minutes. When I crawled back up from under the trailer the coffee was frozen in the cup!

The wind was darn cold and I think your frost free isn't draining and is still freezing up. Heat tape or strawbales surrounding it should fix the problem for the rest of the winter, then you'll have to dig it up and replace it.

 

Of course, a discussion about how to install a hydrant water feed is a bit moot with you out of water - but it is a must to dig below and around the base of the hydrant and place some rock that will help drain the water away from the base. If too much water collects at the base it can cause a problem. For the moment I like the heat tape on the exposed area of the pipe idea. You will have to get the area considerably warmer to unfreeze the problem ;-( Good luck.

 

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