Conference noted::equitation

    I WOULD SUPECT THE WATER NOISES YOU ARE HEARING IS WATER DRAINING
    PASSED THE HYDRANT DRAIN . I WOULD THINK THAT THE WATER YOUR HORSE
    RAN PLUS ALL THE RAIN WE HAVE HAD HAS RAISED THE WATER TABLE AROUND
    THE HYDRANT. WHICH IS COLLECTING VS DRAINING... I WOULD SUGEST WAITING
    A WEEK OR SO TO SEE IF THE NOISE STOPS. IF NOT GET OUT THE SHOVEL...

    Sunday night when I fed the horses my hydrant wouldn't work.  I have an
    all electric house, so occassionally the waterpipe going to the barn
    freezes in my basement.  I turned on the heat tape (in my basement),
    and 1/2 an hour later I had water in the barn again.
    
    Monday a.m. I went to water them and the handle of the hydrant will not
    lift up.  I figured it must be frozen and used a hair dryer on it for
    about 15 minutes - to no avail.
    
    How do I tell if it is frozen vs broken?  Do the handles break?  
    I've had it for 3 years and this is the first winter I've had a
    problem.
    
    Thanks,
    kathy

    Is it still "broken"?  Mine freezes, so I have a heat tape on it.
    With the weather so cold the past few days, it could be that even the
    hair dryer didn't thaw it enough, since the hair dryer only heats one
    spot at a time.
    
    -ellie

    Yes, it's still not working.
    
    What freezes on yours?  I've never had it freeze before.  It's designed
    for the water to drain back down 4-5' underground, so I guess I'm just
    surprised it's frozen.
    
    Maybe I'll pick up more heat tape on the way home and try that tonight.
    
    Kathy

    Boy, does that sound familiar! Our hydrant in PeanutButter...oops
    that's Peterborough had that problem rather regularly in the winter. 
    
    It is frozen but not up near the handle. It is most likely frozen where 
    it goes through the floor or into the ground. The &^*%&*^% things
    always seem to accumulate just enough water there to freeze and
    therefore become impossible to open.
    
    If you aim your heat source at that area, it should thaw it out. As ellie
    suggested, a heat tape will thaw it and keep it from freezing in the 
    future. BUT, I am paranoid about heat tapes. I have known too many
    people who had barn fires from defective heat tapes. So, I always just
    struggled with the thing after it froze.
    
    After you get your hydrant working again, you may want to check its
    adjustment. If it is not properly adjusted, it can not drain properly
    and will leave some water in the system...which could be the cause of
    the freezing in the first place.
    
    To check a hydrant, you turn it on and let it run for a couple seconds
    to get a good flow going. Then shut it off and put the palm of your
    hand flat over the spout to close it off. You should feel quite a
    strong suction on your hand if the hydrant is working properly.

    They had this problem at my barn and the owners went with a heat tape
    on the handle and I think down the shaft/pipe.

    One of the barns at the Groton Fair Grounds used to have the tank
    from the well right in the barn.  It was very small, maybe 10
    gallons so they build a box around the tank and just kept a
    light bulb inside the box.  I guess that was enough heat to keep
    it from freezing.

    Never tried it myself but it seems safer than heat tapes.

    Bill

    Sounds like this may be something I can count on happening in the
    future, too,  Ughhh!
    
    My horses have 24 hrs access to the barn/stalls/field.  I'm afraid to
    use anything electrical, as I KNOW they'd play with it or chew it.
    
    Maybe, tho, I can use the heat tape for periods when I'm around to
    supervise, then take it off immediately.  The box idea was a good one
    too!
    
    Thanks,
    Kathy

    We had trouble with our hydrant last winter that required having a
    plumber look at it. The hydrant froze despite heat tape. The plumber
    said that the place where they often freeze up is the little nozzle
    where the water comes out. So last winter and this winter we removed
    the nozzle (put it back on in non-freezing weather because it is a
    safty device) and haven't had any trouble. We don't use heat tape
    anymore. And our barn is cold. There are only two horses and
    they go in and out 24-hours a day. Despite the near-zero temperatures
    we've had recently the water comes gushing out, even at 5:30 am--the
    coldest part of the day.
    
    -Andrea-

	There are basically 2 things that can go wrong with the "basic" barn
Hydrant:

1) Adjustment wrong.  This will prevent the valve (4 feet in the ground)
	from opening/closing correctly.  We have a MARK IV, and the 
	final 6" of rod comming up the pipe used to come loose, thereby
	changing the 'travel' of the rod.  Also, the rod usually screws into
	the plunger @ the botton, and that can come loose as well. Winter repair
	involves CAREFULL thawing of the pipe with a large heat source
	(space heater), then disassembling the hydrant "head", locating, the
	fixing the problem.  Always fun on those 5 degree nights!

2) drainage valve clogged undergound.  Get those shovels ready, as there is no
	easy (read cheap-$$$) way out of this one, unless you have a free
	weekend, a spare backhoe, and are able to do-it-yourself...

	a)I have helped fix/dig up/repair 12 Hydrants and most of the problems
	  were caused by improper care in designing the pit under the drain.
	  Good pits go  down 2-3' beyond the trench depth of 4', and 4-5' across,
	  then backfill with rocks about softball-sized.  After seting the
	  hydrant in place, build rocks up another 6-12", then install plastic
	  over the top, like an umbrella, tying it tightly around the pipe.
	  This will prevent fill from settling down over time (from above)
	  due to excess water from the hydrant during normal usage.  Its the
	  "plastic umbrella" that most plumbers/installers skip.  Done correctly
	  the Hydrant should wear out before you have dranage problems.  Not
	  alot of fun diging 4 feet into the ground this time of year...

	b) "stuff" in the water.  Anyone with rust, silt, etc... in their water
	   should install a SEPERATE water filter on the line that feeds the
	   Hydrant.  What looks relatively clean can occassionally pickup flakes
	   from the "older" household pipes.  Additionally the well can generate
	   silt during extended usages which cause "drain-down" in the well
	   itself. When this occurs, the silt buildup in the well is exposed and
	   collapses back into the well.  This usually clears up quickly, but
	   the well pump picks it up and cheerfully pumps it into your house &
	   barn hydrant.  This seems to occur with people who have large, sudden
	   water usages (barns, new thirsty lawns, filling a waterbed, flushing
	   a boat's motor  on "gardenhose headphones" in your yard,  etc...),
	   as opposed to constant, continual usage of the same volume.  Same
	   solution as (a) above.  Again, usually not many volenteers to be
]	   found for a January "BIG DIG"!

	Either way, take the time, find the cause of the problem, and get it
fixed.  God forbid you need the hydrant for something *IMPORTANT* (midnight vet
call, fire-{yours or a neighboor}, etc...) only to find your hydrant is only
useful as a coat-rack!...

Cheers,
Garrry

    Re .10.....Ughhhh
    
    It would not be fun to try to dig it up this time of year, particularly
    since the horses tend to knock the water over in that specific spot,
    making the group frozen.
    
    After that cold spell, when it got up in the 40's one day, it thawed
    and has been fine since.  
    
    Not being very mechanical in nature, I'm not sure how to determine if
    it is adjusted correctly.  The trench was about 3' wide, and a total of
    5-6'deep.  The hydrant is down approx. 4', with sand and rocks making
    up the difference to the 6' depth.  I then have more rocks for about 3'
    then the dirt.  I never even thought of putting plastic to prevent the
    gravel from washing down.  Guess that might account for the "dip"
    around the hydrant:-(
    
    Kathy

    Re .11     that should've been 
    
    			ground frozen (not group frozen:-)

    Anyone know where I can get a new hydrant in the greater Lowell/COncord
    area -- or even farther away.  I need one!  I just had my old one dug
    up, knowing they Agway had at least one avaiable.  Well, they have
    exactly one, and it's defective.  I've tried UCF in Littleton, who told
    me that "any hardware store: had them -- HAH!
    
    -ellie