Another interesting point to some is that, because the valve is located so far underground, if a car shears off the hydrant in an accident, water does NOT come shooting up like a fountain (as seen in movies).
The hydrant is attached at ground level with what is called a “breakaway flange” - allowing it to come free in an accident without damaging the underground structures. In rare cases, the impact of a car can cause damage below ground, including cracking the water supply pipe. However, the water would still not “fountain” up - it would look more like a bubbling pool at the surface.
I think that would depend on where you live. here in sunny Southern California, I can tell you for a fact that a car hitting a fire hydrant causes an impressive amount of water to spray into the air. I have personally seen this several times over my life time.
Except that no one in the fire service does that. The valve is closed to permit removal of the hose(es) which were attached, and then the caps are reinstalled. We don’t crank the caps down like head bolts, nor are there gaskets within. Although not everybody remembers to do it every time, when I went through training 30+ years ago, we were instructed to observe the column of water inside the hydrant barrel. A properly functioning hydrant, when wound closed, also opens a drain beneath and the standing column is observed to verify that it recedes. If it doesn’t, there’s a problem with the hydrant, and it was reported to Public Works.
We were flushing hydrants one night, and broke the valve on one while it was open. We had to call the water department guy to shut off the main, let the flow stop, and then we capped the hydrant, and the WDG turned the main back on. It was that, or lose the use of a gate valve until the water department came around to replace the hydrant.
When I did the inspection 5 months later, that hydrant was still on and capped. I officially put it out of service, and I still don’t know if it was fixed. It’s a poor county I live in…
I sure as hell would not want to be within 100’ of the thing if someone tried to uncap the thing under pressure, but I doubt that it would be possible anyway.
You aint kiddin. We emptied 80,000 gallons of water out of the city water tower when we hit a main while attempting to bore under a city street. Lifted the road up 6" and there was water everywhere coming out of every crack in the road up and down several blocks. Lots of pressure there!
I’m not surprised, especially after hearing of the origins of Chicago.
The origins of Chicago? Well there was a bunch of New Yorkers talking one day, and one of them says “I love the crime, I like the overcrowding, but it just isn’t cold enough here.”
