Sometimes dry hydrant heads end up leaking...most commonly when they are constructed of two materials such as PVC and a metal. This does not mean this style of head is a bad design....it just means that in our line of work we repair more of the PVC/metal insert type than we do all metal types. If we had to guess as to the cause of the defects (absent factory defect) we would bet on overzealous use of a mallet when tightening the suction hose connection on the head. While the head comes with the metal insert nice and secure and water tight...it can struggle to defend itself against the mighty rubber (or dead blow) mallet.

We recently replaced a leaking DFH head...it was leaking at the set screw...not sure of the cause...but it was leaking. We replaced the 6-inch female DFH head with a new 6-inch female DFH head. The client chose a female head so that the engine crew would not need a 6-inch double-female adaptor when hooking up to draft.

The process took about 45 minutes from start to finish.

Remember...be firm but not destructive in your use of the rubber mallet!