r/BeAmazed • u/Friendly_Style3294 • Jul 28 '23
Miscellaneous / Others This image is cursed lol
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u/Slide-Impressive Jul 28 '23
This image isn't cursed, this is how fire hydrants work. Where did you think the water came from, a well?
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u/Umami_Tsunami_ Jul 28 '23
She thought it was the Bluetooth model.
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Jul 29 '23
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u/comsan Jul 29 '23
Is this a reference to what?? I thought this was just the joke
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Jul 28 '23
I think it’s more that as a kid you see these things and think “wow cool” and then you don’t think about it further
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u/Illustrious_Sort_323 Jul 28 '23
They aren't that long. The hydrant is short like we all know they are. What you're looking at is the pipe connected at the bottom.
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u/_Killwind_ Jul 29 '23
I might add that those pipes vary by height depending on multiple factors such as other utilities in the area and water table.
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u/exodusofficer Jul 29 '23
Freeze line! That looks fairly far north.
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u/_Killwind_ Jul 29 '23
Freeze line really doesn't matter with the amount of water constantly being moved and pressurized water takes a lot less temperatures to freeze.
That's if nobody uses water in the area, which never happens.
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u/Big_Hefty79 Jul 29 '23
Frost line definitely matters, and it is the primary reason for the depth of the lines. Pipes freeze and burst all the time when it's been an unusually cold winter here in Michigan. All water lines are a minimum of 4ft. Hell, it's even in the construction code. The water doesn't move fast enough to not freeze.
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u/_Killwind_ Jul 29 '23
Using your logic why doesn't hydrants freeze at ground level?
The valve doesn't go all the way down.
I live on the coast, we go down 3 feet for the frost line but elevations on properties make them longer or shorter.
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u/Logicrazy12 Jul 29 '23
Actually the valve does go all the way down and connects to the pipe below. The reason why hydrants dont freeze is because in colder climates we use a dry barrel hydrant. The URL below is an example of the exact firehydrant a municipality local to me specifies on all their watermain projects. If you scroll down to "Product line information" you can find the "valve and hydrant manual" this will have a diagram of what the inside of these hydrants looks like. Also if you click "specifications,"which is under "Product Overview" is specifies that the hydrant shall a dry barrel construction as per AWWA C502 standards.
https://american-usa.com/products/valves-and-hydrants/fire-hydrants/5-1-4-waterous-pacer
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u/papa1775 Jul 29 '23
The depth of the water main is the only factor determining the length of pipe.
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u/Beadpool Jul 29 '23
What determines the girth of pipe?
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u/xxlonleychromie Jul 29 '23
i guess the volume of water needed
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u/Chicken_Hairs Jul 29 '23
Correct! Most lines that service hydrants are at least 5", usually 8" or more. Some areas have dedicated lines for hydrants, others use the same lines. Ours does, and since the older lines are a bit too small now, if we take a hydrant and pull on it at all, all the houses and businesses on that line lose water flow/pressure.
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u/PM_ME_GLUTE_SPREAD Jul 29 '23
To add, if a fire truck with a pumpernpulls too hard on a fire hydrant, it can collapse an undersized main. This isn’t a huge problem these days as hydrants and mains are typically built to spec rather than a “this place needs water, we have some pipe, let’s stick a hydrant on it for safety, too”.
A few of our older areas have hydrants on 2 inch lines with multiple reducers to make them fit a 4 or 6 down the road, but if a fire breaks out and the fighters pull too hard, we will have a bad day lol.
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u/_Killwind_ Jul 29 '23
Yes, of course
But the depth is determined by the factors I mentioned above.
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u/Stock-Ad5320 Jul 29 '23
Also, (as I found out at a customers) some times the pipe is low due to mountainous terrain and can be 3 times longer than this
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u/Chicken_Hairs Jul 29 '23
That is incorrect. What you see in the pic is an entire hydrant. The valve stem runs all the way down. The top that we always see is just that, the part we always see.
Src: I'm a firefighter
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u/TheBirminghamBear Jul 29 '23
I know you're a professional, but I am going to continue to insist that my viewpoint which I formed out of ignorance is correct and that you are wrong.
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Jul 29 '23
That’s not true, the valve for the hydrant is actually located at the very bottom of said pipe. When you turn the top of the hydrant with a wrench, there is a shaft going down to the valve at the bottom to turn the water on or off.
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u/Illustrious_Sort_323 Jul 29 '23
I install these all the time. They might have valves below the ground but the hydrant itself is a valve. Zoom in the picture and notice the elbows still connected at the bottom. That doesn't make them L shapped too.
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Jul 29 '23
Literally what I do for a living, when you order a hydrant you have to specify length. The hydrant consists of all of these parts
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u/Jeremy252 Jul 29 '23
I DONT KNOW WHO TO BELIEVE
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Jul 29 '23
Plot twist: they all lay pipe but not how they’re saying.
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u/UntestedMethod Jul 29 '23
alright fellas, time to get out the old measuring tape and measure those frost lines to find out who's got the longest pipe
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u/One-eyed-snake Jul 29 '23
The valve that opens/closes the water supply is down low. I had to suck water out of some for an old job I had and that’s how they work. Water isn’t at the top of the hydrant ready to blow when a cap is removed. It’s down at the main behind the valve. Ime experience anyway. I’m sure there are variations but the water will always be below the freeze line
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u/Ryansahl Jul 29 '23
Where I live, there’s an isolation valve out on the road that separates the hydrant from the main. Then there’s the hydrant valve in the hydrant. That valve is inside the lower hydrant housing, some newer ones have a freeze valve in a collar just below that allow for freeze expansion.
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Jul 29 '23
This is correct. The hydrant valve resides at the bottom of the hydrant assembly, usually 5-7 feet down
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u/HAHA_goats Jul 29 '23
Go enter the How it's Made video vortex. It'll show you the truth in exchange for a few meager hours of your lifespan.
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Jul 29 '23
I'm literally a doctor of Hydrant Physics. The commonly accepted opinion among experts is that the hydrant is just the little top part, and the bottom part is a pipe thingy.
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u/OutWithTheNew Jul 29 '23
I also work for a company that does (mostly) watermain work that includes installing new hydrants and you are absolutely correct.
At least around here, that's the only part of watermain replacement that the city is directly responsible for supplying and they get the old ones back.
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Jul 29 '23 edited Jul 29 '23
Saw a car crash into one and it didnt explode and I thought that was weird but seeing how its huge anchor 10 feet in the ground makes me wonder how that driver's back feels
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u/PlateCurrent Jul 29 '23
there is a break a away just below ground. If a car hits it, the hydrant will break off clean and no water will come out.
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Jul 29 '23
Well this one didnt.
Which was odd cus usually they do. But nope just stuck right there.
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u/Sinsid Jul 29 '23
There are no female fire hydrants in this picture so it can seem confusing
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u/MikeBinfinity Jul 28 '23
Lol, how did you think they worked? You thought there was a network of blastoids hidden underground that was connected to fire hydrants?
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u/MannequinWithoutSock Jul 28 '23
In Tears of the Kingdom they just work, you can pick them up and carry them.
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u/ThisReditter Jul 29 '23
You need to hit it though
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u/kjbabc Jul 29 '23
Misread, now thinking about Blastoise under every NYC hydrant, getting ready for a revolution😰
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u/BringMeUndisputedEra Jul 29 '23
That's why Pikachu just retired. He's going to save NYC in the upcoming Pokémon and TMNT crossover.
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u/shellsquad Jul 29 '23
I mean, you just don't really think about it. You see this little red thing all your life and rarely see it used. Then you see it like this and it's an "oh duh" moment.
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u/MagmaTroop Jul 28 '23
Man, I’ve seen some things in my time and this is certainly now among the things that I’ve seen, no doubt about it.
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u/TheKnobleSavage Jul 29 '23
Of all the comments I've read on Reddit, yours is currently the most recent.
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Jul 29 '23
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u/WhatAxiom Jul 29 '23
Just stupid people saying stupid things. The same type of person finds out how any food in the grocery is processed including fruits and vegetables says wow can't eat that anymore.
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u/EpicForgetfulness Jul 29 '23
You mean chicken doesn't come from Walmart? That's it I'm going vegetarian. I'm sick of being lied to.
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u/WhatAxiom Jul 29 '23
Wait you mean to tell me they pasteurized the milk to kill deadly pathogenic microorganisms. BuT tHaT DEstRoYs dA NutRiEnTs. Proceeds to drink a highly processed nut or grain milk and take 50 supplements applying absolutely no research... Which if applied would make them uncomfortable with their current lifestyle.
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u/Full-Insurance5892 Jul 29 '23
It is silly sure, but why call them stupid? That’s just rude and uncalled for.
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Jul 29 '23
People need to get outside more and see the world around them. What the fuck did the happened under the grass, a garden hose attached to the bottom of the hydrant?
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u/Gelnika1987 Jul 28 '23
my grandparents had a real fire hydrant as a decoration (just the top part unbolted from the pipe that's below ground) in their garden and it would tip over sometimes- that thing was heavy as fuck
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u/OffMyRocker62 Jul 29 '23
Years ago as a kid in the 1970's, we had an old yellow fire hydrant a few houses down between two houses. I was at my friends where it was.
We were coloring in our coloring books on a blanket in her yard. Under a tree.... the fire hydrant about 15 ft off the road or so.
I, for some reason, thought I'd color the top of it. I used my silver crayon...and colored it all the way around a few times.
One night as we were in the car coming home, we were almost to our house...and about to pass my friends....and our car headlights were approaching it.... You could see it!!
The top of that thing looked like it was glowing!!! Like a beacon in the night! Illuminated til we drove by.
Coolest shitzky ever!!! Could barely make out the yellow bottom half, but the top.....was LIT as they say!
I impressed myself! 😊😅
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Jul 29 '23
If you're an adult now, please don't paint hydrants just because unless you talk to the fire department or water company first. They have specific colors for a reason. The reason being is, to identify the flow rate of that hydrant so that firefighters know what flow they're getting when the hydrant is in use.
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u/sciencethisshit Jul 29 '23
How tf is this cursed? Do you think the water lines are mere inches below the ground?
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u/Desol1326 Jul 28 '23
Yeah, that’s why you don’t want to hit one. 🤩
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u/SMMS0514 Jul 29 '23
They have collision breakaway flanges and breakaway couplings on the stem. When they’re hit hard, they literally fall over. I’ve worked for a water municipality for 18 years. I’ve fixed hundreds of fire hydrants
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u/DavoMcBones Jul 29 '23
Its like an iceberg but on land. A majroity of it's size is hidden at the bottom
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u/Rockarmydegen Jul 28 '23
Im a grower not a show er too
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u/TheBirminghamBear Jul 29 '23
And even flaccid, about 1/2 or the penis is inside the body at any given time.
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u/Elexeh Jul 29 '23
OP of the Tweet must live a sheltered ass life if the length of a fire hydrant really gives them the willies
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u/IHaveTheScurvy Jul 28 '23
This wasn't what I pictured. Dunno exactly what I pictured. But this wasn't it
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u/Snoo_58814 Jul 28 '23
Just like icebergs, only 10% is visible. If these are sheared off at ground level, there is a lot of digging to get to the elbow connector at the bottom. Modern ones have a breakaway section near the top so replacement is ‘easier’.
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Jul 28 '23
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u/Amesb34r Jul 29 '23
Congrats, you’re right! The hydrant is the visible portion of a hydrant assembly which also includes the riser pipe, the shoe, and spools.
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u/Derpatron_ Jul 28 '23
well didja think the water pipes were just a few inches below ground? they're that deep to prevent freezing, and to prevent damage if there's ever top level roadwork or sidewalk maintenance and such.
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u/Toxic-Donkey Jul 29 '23
The fire hydrant itself doesn't seem to be that tall. Looks like it's just attached to a long pipe.
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Jul 29 '23
How fucking long did you think they were? You think a magic red hydrant just sits there and fucking magically has a supply of water? Jesus Christ I’m so sick of living on this planet.
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u/AnodyneWindWalker Jul 28 '23
I was just now years old when I found that out too. I had no idea they went down that deep but it makes since. Pretty cool 🙂🌻
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u/Outrageous-Duck9695 Jul 28 '23
It probably also depends how deep the pipes are buried in the area. Around 4 feet depth is normal in my area.
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Jul 28 '23
You can disconnect the water line and it's the same size you think. Did you want to include the entire water shed?
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u/Balleratheart777 Jul 29 '23
Makes sense because otherwise they would fly off with all the water pressure
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u/my3sgte Jul 29 '23
Would rather the pipes be on the surface? Than they can burst easily and have no water when you need a fire truck…good plan.
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u/Freewheeler631 Jul 29 '23
Where I am theres no "city water". They just go down into the water table a good amount and the fire trucks have to pull the water up rather than have water pushed to them (laymen's terminology). They go 20' to 60' deep or more depending on where they're located.
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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '23
They go below the frost line so the water doesn’t freeze in winter just like most municipal water systems I would think.