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fire hydrant can be out if plumb

fire hydrant can be out if plumb

fire hydrant can be out if plumb

(OP)
What is the tolerable measurement that a fire hydrant can be out if “plumb”. Our spec calls out that all hydrants shall stand plumb.
Some of the hydrants that were installed are more than ¼ out of plumb.
Does anyone have a specific standard as opposed to our absolute standard? This standard is for aesthetics.

RE: fire hydrant can be out if plumb

I notice you have still gotten no answer to your inquiry.  I am not aware of any consensus standard as to a specific degree at which an installed hydrant can be considered acceptably “plumb”.  I am also not aware of any of the history behind this; however, it could well be that absent aesthetic considerations (and damage etc.) some fire hydrants might actually function acceptably even if installed considerably out-of-plumb.
However, it is obvious that fire hydrants are one of the very few parts of underground water system construction that remain visible long after the construction is completed.  While I don’t know exactly what you mean by “1/4 out of plumb” (nor the reason you are looking for an overall governing standard?), if the lean on the particular fire hydrant involved is such so as to really look bad and there is no definitive or defensible local specification, maybe you could just ask the installer to straighten it out, or take a picture of the offending hydrant and with same at least make a sort of appeal to the nobility of (sort of lean on, so to speak) the installer involved, “Is this the quality of construction the you want (Firm XYZ) to hereafter/forever be known for?”        

RE: fire hydrant can be out if plumb

It seems that you are referring to a workmanship standard for carpentry:

"Walls should be straight within 1/4" and plumb within 1/4" measured from floor to ceiling at corners."

Maybe this workmanship standard is more appropriate:

"All mechanical equipment supplied and installed by contractor should be done so that the completed appearance of the system(s) and piping are level and plumb whenever possible."

Having said that, it should be noted that an optical illusion is possible such that the object appears to be out of level to the eye because of the surrondings where it is installed.

I guess the standard that I would follow is to first use the appearance of the item, and then secondly, use a plumber's level. If the bubble is inside the lines of the level, the installation meets standards.

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