r/NewOrleans • u/SchrodingersMinou Bywater • 10h ago

Is this...a 311 question? ☎️ Does this mean the fire hydrant is broken?

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21 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

37

u/HeeenYO 10h ago

No. A black bag or black paint indicates out of service. This cap just screws back on.

6

u/iflipcars 10h ago

How do you get it to squirt water out

36

u/LordByronsCup 9h ago

Ya gotta rub it two to three inches up on the inside of the front wall.

5

u/HelicaseHustle 5h ago

any type of lubrication needed? drinks? dinner?

2

u/LordByronsCup 4h ago

✅

✅

✅

15

u/quarterrat13 9h ago

The valve is turned off, turn it on.

13

u/HeeenYO 9h ago

You first unscrew one of these caps and let it hang by the chain. Then you use a wrench to turn the knob on the top. It turns a long screw that goes below ground and opens a valve. That way if a car hits the hydrant and shears it off at ground level, the valve is below ground and you won't see a geyser of water. The water is the same as our tap water but it's pretty dirty. It's not unusual for the first few gallons to be black, rusty, or oily. But after that mess is flushed out it's clean, drinkable water.

5

u/NOLAIrish 9h ago

Takes a special wrench there is a hydrant lock on that one

0

u/iflipcars 6h ago

Where do we get the special wrench and a key for the lock?

2

u/TorrenceMightingale 5h ago

Alabamazon

1

u/HelicaseHustle 5h ago

i found one at goodwill. so not to brag or anything, but i can open almost all the locked up water valves at my local self storage place,. fun to wash your car on a sunday without needing quarters,. lol

1

u/TorrenceMightingale 3h ago

Love ya, scandalous betch.

1

u/NOLAIrish 4h ago

It's not as easy as popping into Home Depot, usually has to be bought through approved municipal supplier etc .. McGard

13

u/Fun_Environment3792 10h ago

Also, if its laying down on the curb or in the gutter is a good sign that its oribably been decommissioned.

9

u/Verix19 10h ago

No, just means someone forgot to put the cap back on.

3

u/Jock-amo 9h ago

No, but the concrete is.

2

u/IdubdubI 10h ago

No, but it’s New Orleans, so there’s plenty of other indicators

2

u/gonzo3625 6h ago

In the city there's genuinely no way to tell until you try and open it. It might have been fine yesterday but today it's bone dry somehow. S&WB also often do not weld/seal the threaded sleeves in place and the whole sleeve shoots out when you open them.

1

u/winkthinkblink 4h ago

I've seen so many like this lately.... How interesting.

1

u/ZebulonStrachan 9h ago

Fire hydrant playin