Backyard Fire Hydrant

Ever wish you could be the proud owner of a shiny red fire hydrant? Maybe you have doggos who could use a good target, or have some neighbors who love blocking your front yard with their car. Its super easy to create this look alike, and you get a more realistic sized product for your money than you could find online. You can even customize it a bit by adding hinges to the top piece to allow for storage inside.

For this project, you need to hit the local hardware store or dig through your leftover PVC stash. You can change up the sizes listed here for a smaller or larger hydrant.

Supplies

1 Sanitary Tee - START YOUR SHOPPING HERE, as its the most expensive piece and is priced based on size. I went with 4" diameters for mine to deliver the most realistically sized hydrant.

Pvc Pipe to fit into the the above mentioned Tee (at least 12" but can be longer and cut to desired length. Dont forget to account for the length of the pipe which will be buried to secure the hydrant in the ground. I bought mine at about 2 ft long and cut it to approx 15")

1 PVC toilet flange ring

1 PVC cap to fit over the flange ring

2 PVC plugs for the two arms of the Tee (these will be smaller than your other items, 3" fit mine but be sure to do a rough assembly in the store. Some tees have 4 equal sized arms and some do not.)

1 smaller PVC plug which will be glued to the top of the cap, but will NOT actually fit into any of your other materials.

1 can of spray paint in your choice of color

Construction adhesive

Poo bags and poo bag dispenser (found in pet section or local discount store/dollar store)

Cement (optional, to secure it into ground to prevent theft)

Gather Materials

As with any project, we will begin by gathering our materials. Most of what you need will be in the PVC pipe aisle at your hardware store. Its important to do a quick and dirty assembly of it in the aisle at the store to ensure all your pieces will fit together and will give the size and look you're going for. I used 4" PVC for my project, but would've been fine (and more cost efficient!)

Don't be afraid to stray from this materials list a bit too. Find a piece that fits better than a toilet flange? Go for it! Like the look of no flange at all instead? No rules here!

Glue Caps Into Sanitary Tee

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Take the 2 larger caps you purchased and place them into the arms of the sanitary tee. Add a bit of construction glue to prevent it from falling apart.

Glue Plug to Cap

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Next, take a bit of construction glue and attach the top plug (which might be smaller than the others based on what you've chosen) to the rounded cap. Allow all glued piece to dry before proceeding.

I considered at this point drilling a hole through the center of the cap and plug, allowing me to dispense potty bags though it. Because of crime in out area we opted to leave no storage in ours and did not end up seeing that up. If you go that route, I'd love to see your photos of it!

Attach Flange to Tee

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Generously apply construction glue to the "stump" part of the toilet flange. This took a LOT of glue to secure it as it was smaller than the piece it was going into. Allow it to dry before you continue.

Place Top Piece Over Flange

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Take the cap-and-plug set and place it over the flange. Glue to secure.

Place Entire Hydrant Over PVC Pipe

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Place entire hydrant over PVC pipe and cut the PVC pipe to desired size if you didn't do that before beginning. Don't forget to account for 8"-12" which will be buried to secure the post. Once the pieces are together, either glue or you can simply screw the pieces together. This would allow them to be used for storage such as potty bags, and even dispense them through the top if a hole is drilled.

We live in a high crime area and chose to secure ours as a solid piece with glue.

Paint

Don't forget to remove any barcode stickers and to lay down ground protection before painting. Paint the PVC pipe in several coats, allowing the paint to dry between each coat to prevent streaking.

If you want to secure a poop bag dispenser, glue it on with construction adhesive after the final coat of paint dries.

Optional-Secure to Ground

If you would like the hydrant to be a more permanent feature in your yard, dig a hole at least 8" deep and "plant" the hydrant. Mix wet cement according to manufacturer guidelines and pour around the PVC pipe in the hole.