Trenching water lines pex vs. poly vs.soil with no rock vs. lots of rocks

[Deere Dude]

In TN it seems they bury the lines at 18" and have no problem with equipment driving over it. But a cement truck would be a little different.

 

[Fallon]

It's getting close to me having to do a similar project in northeast Mississippi. Frostline depth about 8 inches.

My main question is how best to protect whatever line I bury so it will be safe from equipment driving over it without raising cost greatly.

Soil will be fairly easy digging, mostly sandy loam, but there are a couple of places I need to drive equipment, like my 6,000 lb M4700, so I want to make sure I don't break the line when bushhogging. There's also an "access road", just a dirt trail to the back of my shops, that it must go underneath.

So do I bury it deep? How deep?

As long as it's back filled properly you could run a loaded dump truck over waterline a foot down just fine. I would go a lot deeper if that would happen a lot like on your driveway or a road, but freezing will be a bigger issue than crushing. I run my 3500lbs l3200 over 4" PVC buried maybe 2" down (ghetto bridge in front of a gate crossing a swale the previous ownershould put in). The ends are busted up where they are unburried & hence unsupported, but the center is fine.

 

[franklin2]

I would bury the line 18-24". Things happen sometimes, and it's always nice not to have to worry about hitting the line in the ground.

I would also sleeve the line with PVC pipe under the roadway. The power company here always sleeves their wires under a permanent roadway or driveway, no matter what the road surface is.

 

[newbury]

I would bury the line 18-24". Things happen sometimes, and it's always nice not to have to worry about hitting the line in the ground.

I would also sleeve the line with PVC pipe under the roadway. The power company here always sleeves their wires under a permanent roadway or driveway, no matter what the road surface is.

Any special grade of PVC pipe?

 

[bcp]

The power company here always sleeves their wires under a permanent roadway or driveway, no matter what the road surface is.

That may be as much for ease of replacement as for protection.

Bruce

 

[daybreak1998]

Howdy,
IMHO,
When I put water pipe in the ground, I never want to go back there again.
Use the 200psi HDPE black poly, and always use brass connections. Real complete stainless steel hose clamps, doubled under planned cement. Iowa Woodford frost free hydrants are the only way to go. Constructed with brass fittings compared to the cheaper plastic fittings. Very well supported, replacement pieces easy to get, and they plain work. Anytime water pipe will be under a driving area, it should also be protected again with a sleeve. Corrugated drain pipe works well. If it will be under a real heavy load driveway, you can sleeve it with electrical conduit. If the water pipe goes through a rocky area, it can be sleeved with the corrugated drain pipe for protection.

When placing the hydrant, always make a larger area than recommended for drainage. After I have it all finished, I then place something over the drain gravel before I back fill with dirt. Trying to keep the dirt from going into the gravel area as best as you can.

For a cement pad around such hydrant. Always sleeve the hydrant for movement with frost action. Remember, after it is in, you never want to go back there. If it is installed correctly, almost all surgery on the hydrant can be done to fix just about anything from the top. Will the hydrant be free standing? Properly installed it will be fine. Will it have any pressure from livestock? After the hydrant is situated, I will place a nice pressure treated 6x4 post with it, and pipe clamp the hydrant a few locations going along the post. The weep hole for draining just needs to have plenty of drainage area.

Depth will be a location thing. It depends on what area you are in with the frost line depth. No one has ever had a problem with going deeper than necessary.

 

[franklin2]

That may be as much for ease of replacement as for protection.

Bruce

That could be. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Regular schedule 40 PVC should do.

 

[CurlyDave]

...Screw all that and just pour gravel instead of concrete

This is the right answer.

 

[jenkinsph]

Any special grade of PVC pipe?

Schedule 40 PVC bell end pipe in 20' sticks is what I would recommend for your locale. Bury it 24" depth and never have a problem with it, you could drive a drilling rig over it. If you have red clay fill dirt surrounding the pipe that would be best.

 

[newbury]

I would bury the line 18-24". Things happen sometimes, and it's always nice not to have to worry about hitting the line in the ground.

I would also sleeve the line with PVC pipe under the roadway. The power company here always sleeves their wires under a permanent roadway or driveway, no matter what the road surface is.

Well it was done, 18" deep. No sleeves. The excavator was going to go 12" deep. My soil for the entire run was virtually stone free.

That could be. But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Regular schedule 40 PVC should do.

When in Fulton do what the Fultons do - The excavator and plumber said no sleeve needed, they just ran 3/4 PEX. They wanted to run about 400' of 20' PVC but I DID NOT WANT JOINTS. They agreed to PEX but complained about the cost difference. /edit because the material cost more

I get tired doing all the research then find the locals believe in other reality's. Based on info garnered on TBN I first asked to use 200psi black poly well pipe, they claimed nobody used that and they didn't want to put it in because it would leak.