Do frost proof outdoor faucets have shut off valves?

[amodoko]

I'm trying to find a shut off valve for my exterior frost proof faucet. I don't want to shut off the water to the whole house, just my exterior frost proof faucet since the faucet is leaking and I need to stop the leak for the time being till I can actually work on it. I can't seem to find it, my house is about 30 years old.

Anyways, do they ever make frost proof faucets with shut off valves, or do all of them usually not have a shut off?

 

[IFIXH20]

Water lines to Hydrant usually do not have shutoff valves, Hydrant do not have a shutoff - you will have to shut off your service entrance valve ( House main water valve) to make a repair/replacement.

 

[IFIXH20]

Cap didn't work

 

[amodoko]

Haha, IFIXH2O, you're right, the cap didn't work. I tried various caps, valves, bib attachments, and they all shut the water off but the pressure that build up from the leak caused the water to leak out of the handle of the frost proof faucet, so I'm trying to find other ways to buy my time.

 

[amodoko]

Worst case scenario, if I just run out of time or I find I can not actually fix it, what is the average cost to hire someone to do this for me if they provide both the labor and parts? I really want to work on this myself, but I don't know if I can do it quick enough right now with my schedule.

 

[IFIXH20]

prices very from co. to co. -- call a couple local plumbers for pricing. If the basement is unfinish, find the water line that feeds the hydrant and cap it with a shark bite fitting cap until you can make the repair.

 

[speedbump]

Usually Frost Free Hydrants are tapped off the main line from the well. Unless it was an add on after the well was installed, then the pipe to the hydrant could be in the house/basement/crawl space etc. There may even be a valve there.

 

[amodoko]

Thanks for the advice guys, I went to my parents' house to try to look at the faucet again (I'm trying to fix it for my parents' so I don't get to work on it daily since I live far from them) and even though their basement is finished they had a few holes cut in the ceiling from when some HVAC guys did some work last year. I was able to see the line running through the faucet, and I got lucky that it had a shut off valve! So for now, the leak is stopped without shutting off water to the whole house. This has bought me some time to actually fix it now.

As some of you may remember, the faucet has been a big pain to fix for me simply because the bolt that holds the faucet head on is rusted on and won't come off so I haven't been able to do the simple repair of just replacing the washer. I've tried using PB blaster, tapping with a hammer, and nothing. I spent a little time drilling into the bolt to see if I could just drill it out, but my HSS drill bits may not be hard enough to make quick work of the job (it was taking very long). So I was thinking about just heating the bolt up with a torch and using some penetrating oil (like Kroil oil or even transmission fluid) to see if I that will loosen the bolt up. Are there any concerns I should have when doing this? Or is it better to just try to drill out the bolt? Or should I just replace the whole faucet simply due the stuck rusted bolt?

 

[havasu]

I surely would not mix PB Blaster and a torch inside the walls of a house. If you have the line shut down, Just replace the entire faucet.

 

[speedbump]

Although I have never worked on a Yard Hydrant, I don't know how hard it would be to replace the top half. And that's not what's leaking, it's the valve down in the ground. That's the reason it's freezeless. The handle up top is what moves the valve down below. There is no water at the top until you pull up on the handle. That opens a valve down at the bottom of the pipe the faucet sits on. That's how it doesn't freeze. When the handle is down a little bleeder is opened up to let the pipe drain back down.

I did a lot of typing when I could have just said, you MUST dig it up and replace the bottom part to make the repair.

 

[amodoko]

Great advice speedbump, but the problem I've been having in "digging up" the frost proof faucet is the exterior bolt has rusted heavily, the bolt that you need to remove to get to the valve/washer inside to make the repair. If it hadn't rusted, the repair would have been done real quick. Due to this rusted bolt, I have had to go in a more roundabout fashion by trying to drill out the bolt, etc to access the valve inside the faucet/hydrant. It is very likely I will have to cut the faucet from the copper pipe inside the home and install a new faucet simply because of that rusted bolt.

 

[speedbump]

Realize that I've been in Florida for 30 years and we don't need Frost Proof Hydrants. But if that Hydrant is the kind I think it is, you can't work on the valve from above ground. Basically you have to dig the hydrant up and either totally disassemble the entire device or just replace it. The valve is the bottom most part of the Hydrant and can't be repaired from up above if I remember correctly.

 

[IFIXH20]

If you have the line shut down, Just replace the entire faucet.

I agree completely

 

[IFIXH20]

Realize that I've been in Florida for 30 years and we don't need Frost Proof Hydrants. But if that Hydrant is the kind I think it is, you can't work on the valve from above ground. Basically you have to dig the hydrant up and either totally disassemble the entire device or just replace it. The valve is the bottom most part of the Hydrant and can't be repaired from up above if I remember correctly.

He is talking about a different type of frost proof hydrant, they are not plumb under ground, it's plumb off the water piping from inside the home, basically a hose bibb

 

[speedbump]

He is talking about a different type of frost proof hydrant, they are not plumb under ground, it's plumb off the water piping from inside the home, basically a hose bibb

I guess I missed something. He was talking about digging and about a rusty bolt that he can't get out. That's why I assumed it was a yard hydrant.