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Yard Hydrants 101: What they are and Typical Uses

Written by Braedlyn McEwen | Jul 31, 2020 12:42:30 PM

Yard hydrants are used in many applications in a variety of Industries due to its rare features. Yard hydrants help provide water and are a non-freeze design making them ideal for all environments and can be used all year round since they will not freeze.

In this post, we are going to look at how these products operate and some common places that they are used. Let's get started!

What is a Yard Hydrant?

As you can see in the picture on the right, a yard hydrant is a very simple product. There is a handle on the head that controls the entire operation. You simply lift the handle up to start the flow. When you need to stop the water, push the handle back down. The water is then drained from the pipe below the frost line ensuring there is no water that could freeze when the temperature falls in the colder months.

The Mechanics of Yard Hydrants

Opening the Yard Hydrant

By lifting the handle, the connecting rod and the plunger are raised off of the valve seat. The plunger allows the water to flow through the valve body and travel up the stand pipe. When the plunger is raised it also closes off the drain port allowing water to flow through the valve port, directly past the plunger. The water can then flow through the flow channels up the stand pipe and the out the discharge spout. 

 

Closing the Yard Hydrant

When you close the handle, it lowers the connecting rod and plunger onto the valve body seat. The plunger then stops any water from the service line, opening the drain port. This allows the water that is inside the stand pipe to drain down and out the drain port.

In order for proper draining to occur, air has to be able to enter through the spout. You can attach a hose or another device to the spout to prevent air from getting in, stopping the draining process.

It takes around 45-60 seconds to completely drain a 4ft bury yard hydrant. The risk of any water above that is drained out of freezing is eliminated because the drain port in the valve body is below the frost line.

Typical Places Where Yard Hydrants can be Found

Farms

Farms are one of the most popular locations for yard hydrants. Water is generally needed in many locations throughout the whole year. When you include a yard hydrant, you are able to effectively get water to any location no matter the temperature outside. By having a yard hydrant in many places, it saves you having to lug water from one building to another in order to get the water to the animals.

Rural Residences

Another popular place you may find a yard hydrant installed is in rural residences. There are many houses that are not on farms but have buildings or larger areas of land that may require water may be an advantage.

Campgrounds

Campgrounds are also popular homes for yard hydrants. Since there is a larger amount of water needed in a variety of locations, yard hydrants are often installed all over so people have easy access to water. Having yard hydrants available all around the campsite saves time for people accessing the water and also increases the serviceable area that you can have. For smaller campgrounds, centralized water sources may be the best option but larger campgrounds will benefit from having multiple water sources to eliminate people needing to walk far to get water.

 

Yard hydrants are the easiest way to provide running water outside no matter what time of year it is. They are simple to use making them the perfect addition to any application for which you require water to get from the ground to the surface.