What Color Is Your Hydrant?

[Doc Tinker]

I was noticing, today, on my commute to work that my township has painted all the fire hydrants white. They used to be red. How hard do you think they will be to locate with snow drifted around them next winter?



Doc

 

[Shovelhead]

Some are Red, some are Hi-Vis Green/Yellow whatever you call that color.



The ones on the side of major highways have little 3 foot poles with flags on them so they can find them in the snowbanks.

 

[nickleinonen]

we got a dull pastel yellow here. that is across the street from my house

 

[lschultz]

We don't have that problem down here. They are pretty easy to find.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

Fire Hydrant Colors

NFPA Data on hydrants





Body Colors:

Since they are needed upon an immediate basis during an emergency, fire hydrants should be immediately recognizable to fire fighting forces as well as to the general public. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) specifies that fire hydrants are to be painted chrome yellow, however it accepts other body colors which were already in use at the time the standard was adopted in the 1970s. Other highly visible colors which have been used include white, bright red, chrome silver and lime-yellow.



In jurisdictions where no standard color has been established, the most important aspect is consistency. Standard colors should be adopted which, preferably, are the same throughout the region.



NFPA also recognizes that there are often functional differences in service provided by municipal and private hydrant systems. Therefore NFPA specifies that non-municipal hydrants be painted a color that distinguishes them from municipal hydrants. Furthermore, violet has been established as the international color code for non-potable water. Therefore hydrants supplied by non-potable sources should be painted violet (light purple).



FireHydrant. Org recommends the following body colors for fire hydrants:





Supply

Municipal System:



Private System:



Non-Potable System:

Body Color

Chrome Yellow



Red



Violet (Light Purple)





Flow Indicators



The NFPA standard calls for bonnets and caps to be color-coded to indicate the hydrant's available flow at 20 p. s. i.



Standard color codes are as follows:





NFPA 291, Chap. 3

Class C Less than 500 GPM Red

Class B 500-999 GPM Orange

Class A 1000-1499 GPM Green

Class AA 1500 GPM & above Light Blue

 

[klenger]

What is this snow you speak of?



Doc, I sure hope you donate your brain to science when you pass on. It might unlock the mystries of life.

 

[big jake 1]

Originally posted by Doc Tinker

I was noticing, today, on my commute to work that my township has painted all the fire hydrants white. They used to be red. How hard do you think they will be to locate with snow drifted around them next winter?



Doc

OHHHHHHHHH... ... ... .





thought you were wondering about



MY



hydrant











and its none of your business.





and I would never allow local governments to paint it... ... ... ...





Since I never take it to the snow, thats no problem... .







but thanks for asking













big jake



THE FORD GUY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lschultz]

I think Doc is a clone:--) But is the one here the real Doc or is he the clone?Does anybody know?



klenger are you sure you want Doc to donate his brain to science?

 

[paccool]

hell Doc, if snow was drifted around it, the thing would probably be froze up anyway!



Stan

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Naah they cant freeze. The shutoff transfers down below the frost line. However just look for the yellow snow to find it

 

[Shovelhead]

So THAT's why Firemen and dalmations hang out together. :-laf

 

[paccool]

Which one makes the yellow snow?:-laf :-laf



(Didn't realize the shutoff was that far down toolman)



Stan

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

No biggie Stan Up nawth they gotta be. You can snap one off and it wont do the classic holywood shoot water in the air thingy as there is typicly a keyd rod that goes from the top nut of the hydrant down to the main for the hydrant. Down south I dunno if the same holds true. Nevertheless they are heavy as heck by themselves.

 

[MMeier]

Snowbanks/ snowdrifts??

:-laf :-laf

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

Originally posted by ToolManTimTaylor

Naah they cant freeze. The shutoff transfers down below the frost line. However just look for the yellow snow to find it

Unless you're real cheap like the company that I used to work for and they put in the non draining type of hydrant around the plant in the northern half of Maine so that every fall you have to go out and suck the water out of them and fill them with anti-freeze so that water can't get into them.

 

[waterdonkey]

The kind that have the valve or seat below ground is referred to as a "dry barrel" hydrant, and yes they can be hit without a geyser.



The other is called a "wet barrel" with valves for each hose connection on the hydrant itself. When they get hit, can you say old faithful.



The dry type is use primarily in snow country. The wet type is cheaper to install and maintain.

 

[jmeehan]

Fire hydrant trivia

Thanks everyone, I now know more about fire hydrants then I ever thought possible. Man I love this site, you never know what you'll learn next.

As to colors, I remember my home town in MN. painted all the hydrants like historical figures for the Bicentennial back in '76. One on fourth street was painted like a flag, I thought that was pretty cool.

 

[Camara]

Most hydrants are dry. The valve is below the frost line and buried on the average 5 1/2 feet deep. City of Boston, MA hydrants are black with a yellow top. Brockton, MA are black with a silver top. The one infront of my house is blue with an orange top. The only thing that all the water departments agree with is that they are visible in the snow and that residents dig them out after a snow. My neighbor has a guy come and plow out his driveway and it never fails he buries the hydrant. Last year the snow froze and I had to take the backhoe out and break the ice.

 

[TowPro]

The idiots that installed them on my road put one directly across the street from my Brothers driveway (Bro lives next door), then they painted it black.



The first time he backed out of his driveway and hit it he painted it bright gold. Then the company came around and painted it black again. This year I think they changed them to red.

 

[Camara]

Unfortunately I'm one of those guys that installs hydrants. It's not like we put them anywhere we want. The engineers pick the place to put them we just follow their plans. Let me tell you the engineers pick some awful places. Don't worry I'm not offended. While we were on a job in Dartmouth Ma one of the operators hit an old style wet hydrants. Ooh boy-------Water everywhere!Oo.