WASHER AND HYDRANT Assuming that a house is to be piped from city pressure, the fixtures of the yard are nearly always a street washer and yard hydrant. The principle of these is the same; but the washer is primarily intended for the attachment of hose for sprinkling purposes, while the hydrant body extends above ground so that vessels may be placed under the nozzle to have water drawn into them. The hydrant may be used to draw either with or without a hose thread on the nozzle, while no use of the street washer is possible without the thread; hence there may be a material difference in the water rates, according to the possible uses the water can be put to.
The valve of these fixtures is placed at the bottom, 2 to 5 feet below the surface, according to climate. The working parts can be withdrawn for repairs without disturbing the body. Waste-holes are open when the pressure valve is closed, so that the stem and body will empty to below the freezing point. The pressure waste-hole is not entirely closed until the hydrant or washer is approximately wide open. For this reason, turning the water only partly on when drawing or sprinkling, while it does no apparent harm, is likely to lead to trouble. if the ground is clay, it does not soak up the waste. If there is a cellar near, it will sooner or later find its way into it.
Even if care is taken in this regard and the hydrant valve fully opened when in use, there is a liability to serious dampness from the wastage into the ground of the water stored in the standpipe above the valve, which is always after a short period discharged below the ground-level through the waste-hole.
The least trouble one may expect from careless use is that the ground around the fixture will be saturated, and the body stand full of water instead .of draining away; and when cold weather sets in, damage by freezing will result. The action of frozen ground in pulling up on the body of these fixtures is severe. To avoid trouble from waste water and frost, certain precautions are taken in good work. The end of an iron pipe is too rigid for direct connection. To overcome this, fittings and nipples ale added so as to make the connection indirect and secure the required spring in the joints and pipe, as well as freedom from torsion. A short piece of lead pipe answers the same purpose. A cavity formed about the base of the fixture and connections, permits freedom of action and greater im munity from frost breakage.
Usually, the only positive way to insure the waste water draining away harmlessly, is to bore a dry-well under the fixture and fill it with broken rock or fragments of hard brick. This filling should extend a little above the bottom of the fixture, and should have a stout cloth folded about the body and tucked down around the brick at the edges so that the earth cannot wash in and choke the crevices of the filling.