How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

Well, I did something stupid. Turned off the water hydrant but left the hose connected which prevented it from draining properly and the remaining water froze down into the ground. Does anyone have an idea how to thaw the hydrant? I put a heat tape on the portion of the hydrant that sticks out of the ground and then wrapped that with insulation. So far, no success. Please post your suggestions.

Thanks, O F

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

Sorry, should say frozen, not froze. No wonder, I left the hose connected . . .

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

Point a Salamander type heater at it, the heat will transfer and thaw. Don't be in a hurry heat it gradually. Good Luck

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

House fire!

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

Slowly pour hot water on the hydrant pipe. Works best using a old tea kettle or something similar. This lets you control the flow much better than pouring out of a pail.

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

OF

This has worked in the past:

If you have a portable ice shack such as the Clam, Frabil, Voyager, Otter,...ect. (or know someone who does) Deploy the shack over the frozen hydrant, make her air tight, turn on you portable heater, and go back into the house, grab a cup of coffee....browse the walleye central message boards.

Within an hour or two you should be set.

Good Luck

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

If you're talking about the type of hydrant like the frost-free barn spigots that are buried in the ground, I've seen this work before, assuming the pipe is all metal back to the supply.

Take an arc welder and connect one end to the hose spigot end and connect the other electrode to the supply end (you might have to connect it with some romex house wire if its a long way off).

Put the welder on its lowest setting and turn it on for 10-15 seconds at a time and wait for the pipe to warm up. I watched the local city utility do this during one real cold snap where the house water supply lines were freezing from the meter to the house. They hooked ut one end at the house and the other end in the meter pit. Worked like a charm.

If the supply line is plastic, I think you'll be waiting for the weather to change.

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

use a bag or 2 of charcoal, spread over the ground around the hydrant lite the charcoal and cover with a piece of tin or something that won't burn and will direct the heat down. that should do the trick. keep the charcoal in a 12" or so area and stacked 3" or 4" high around the hrdrant.

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

Years ago we had a gizmo made from a piece of rigid copper pipe with an adaptor to screw a garden hose on. Take the top of the hydrant off and stick the pipe into the hydrant pipe and hook the hose up to hot water and turn it on. It'll melt it's way down very quickly. BTW the copper pipe was about 1" as I recall. Should look for that thing as I haven't used it in years and it'd be nice to know where it endedup.

RE: How to thaw a froze outdoor water hydrant?
 

Hi guys. Thanks for the tips. The heat tape and insulation overnight did not make any progress. So, after work today, I will try another method.

This hydrant is like in a barn. It is right next to my dog kennels. We recently had a fairly warm day, so I used it with the hose to top off the hot tub. I turned off the water, but left the hose connected which prevented proper drainage out of the bottom of the faucet underground.

This evening, I will try the kerosene heater pointed at the hydrant. Hopefully that will transfer enough heat to thaw down into the ground.

I'll post an update tomorrow. Thanks again, O F