Flushing a fire hydrant - GIF

**Altair** · Dec 11, 2021, 08:27 PM

Flushing a fire hydrant.

Previously:

Fire hydrant wrench and flow meter - GIF
Firefighter gets blown away by fire hydrant - GIF
Fire hydrants pulled from the ground - photo
Vintage hydrant flow gauge - photo
Fire hydrant cutaway - photo

**Frank S** · Dec 11, 2021, 10:26 PM

And just think, if you are on city water that brown gunk will form at every cast iron hydrant connected to the mains throughout the city.

**mwmkravchenko** · Dec 18, 2021, 05:37 PM

Originally Posted by Frank S

And just think, if you are on city water that brown gunk will form at every cast iron hydrant connected to the mains throughout the city.

I ran hydrants for a friend of mine for a week off and on one summer about 8 years ago. This is potable water. And this is nothing compared to what I have seen. Areas where the water lines are 60 and 80 years old are like tomato soup when you flow them hard. Kind of gives them a good flushing out. 8 inch lines are nothing to fool around with. If you turn the valves to quickly you actually shake the ground with the water hammering. And risk a lot of damage in the surrounding houses. The pressure spikes are huge.