Why Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is the Best Investment for Your Frost-Free Hydrant Installation
Since the Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ was released over ten years ago (patent issued a few years later), there have been a few competitors pop up along the way offering a cheaper alternative to the real thing. As with most products, price is a reflection of the quality and features of the products.
With the Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ you are getting a better design AND more features. Here’s a quick rundown of why the Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is the best investment for your frost-free yard hydrant installation:
The Pitless Adapter. The Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is the only hydrant replacement system featuring a pitless adapter. This component is the crux of the Yard Hydrant Made Easy’s patent, and it is far superior to any of the alternatives for removing and reinstalling underground connections.
The pitless adapter is a tried-and-true concept that has been used in the water well industry for decades. The pitless adapter used in the Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is a customized version made to be connected to yard hydrants.
But why is it better?
Here’s why. The pitless adapter allows the hydrant to be slid in and out of the casing without the pitfalls of trying to make an underground threaded connection. The pitless adapter is composed of two parts: one that is permanently affixed to the bottom of the YHME sleeve and the water line (below the frost line) and one that is connected to the bottom of the hydrant. The fixed portion has guide channels that hold the removable portion firmly in place when it’s slid in. When mated, the o-ring on the removable piece forms a watertight seal.
All of the competitors’ systems (that we are aware of) use an underground threaded connection to connect the hydrant. This is risky for several reasons: a. Threaded connections are tricky to make, even in the most ideal conditions. Place a threaded connection several feet underground, and your chances of cross-threading and ruining the underground pipe fitting increase greatly. (We have heard horror stories of competitors’ threaded fittings being misaligned, making it almost impossible to get the hydrant installed.) b. An underground, inaccessible threaded fitting cannot be properly cleaned and is susceptible to debris getting into the joint, leading to leaks and ruined threads. c. Thread sealant cannot be properly applied to the underground fitting, increasing the risk of a poor connection and thread damage. d. The torque of installing/removing the hydrant is applied directly to the underground water fitting and/or water line, which can potentially damage the water line or cause alignment issues. e. Threaded designs preclude the use of a backflow preventer (required by many states) installed directly onto the hydrant, because the backflow preventer may accidentally remain stuck underground or come apart at its body joint when the hydrant is removed.
The Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ avoids all these risks with its innovative pitless adapter.
The Filtered Drainage Compartment. The Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is the only hydrant replacement system with a filtered drainage compartment. This key feature is composed of two injection-molded grates that fit inside the bottom of the sleeve, underneath the hydrant, with a space in between them that is filled with nylon mesh. This protects against a key cause of hydrant failure by helping to keep dirt out of the hydrant’s weep hole. If the weep hole gets plugged, the hydrant won’t drain properly and can then freeze and burst.
The Options. The Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is available with several options and accessories to fit your needs.
• Available with an ASSE 1024 dual-check-valve backflow preventer preinstalled onto the removable portion of the pitless adapter.
• Available in a telescoping or kit version to fit various needs, budgets, and aesthetics.
• Versions available for 3/4” hydrants or 1” hydrants.
• Optional YHME Shutoff Kit fits perfectly with any Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ and allows you to shut off water to the hydrant for replacement or maintenance without shutting off the whole water system.
As with any investment, we encourage you to consider all the benefits and risks and make the decision that is best for you. When it comes to a yard hydrant replacement system, we believe that the Yard Hydrant Made Easy™ is head and shoulders above any of the alternatives.
If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call (we also offer exceptional customer service).