underground water lines, what size plumbing

[v8only]

no thoughts?

[triplemoutdoors]

If you have a tractor, you can use the subsoiler to dig and pull the PVC line.

JJ do you have a thread on how to pull PVC with your subsoiler? If not can you tell me how?

[Carl_NH]

no thoughts?

V8 - yes your deisgn should work fine. One question tho - you say "house bibs" do you mean hose bibs I presume?

We have a Goulds 10GPM 1.5 HP set at 365' and the level drops to 220-250 when irrigating and it works fine. We have 1" in the well and to the tanks and 1" throughout the irrigation system probably 900-1000' of main line and hose bibs at 7 points on the property.

With the 1" mains and 1" distribution to each sprinkler head it works well. The only thing I have done is combine some of the 3 and 4 head zones to a single zone to better match the pump output and keep it running - less cycling.

Carl

[J_J]

JJ do you have a thread on how to pull PVC with your subsoiler? If not can you tell me how?

You can either weld a chain to a 3/4 gal cap that the PVC screws into, or purchase a ready made pipe puller.

http://youtu.be/1L-VHtPoDvM

PE & PVC Pulling Eyes - PE & PVC Pulling Eyes, pipe puller, O-Rings, O-Rings in Sleeve | Condux


I uploaded an attachment called Puller, anybody know how to delete it?

[Gary Fowler]

Why would you not just run a 1" pipe and install a 1" freeze proof hydrant. The 1" schedule 40 PVC pipe rated at 450 PSI at Lowes hardware is $1.60 per 10 foot joint. Coupling about $.68 each so 20 couplings for about $14 buck + $32 for the pipe and about $6 for a can of blue glue. For about $100 you can put in a 1" line x 200 feet in length and hydrant that will handle your needs for ever. The flow is going to be whatever the pump will supply and size of header will not change anything.

[jenkinsph]

no thoughts?

I am late to this thread but like all the others here who have spent lots of time with sprinkler systems I agree to go with the larger pipe. I have some long runs from my pump room to the farthest sprinkler in the system close to 650 feet and will tell you that unless you use larger pipe sizes the friction loss will eat you up. Whatever money you attempt to save using small pipe sizes is insignificant when you start watering and using the system.

I use a 1 1/4" mainline to four valve boxes then run 1" pipe to the first sprinkler and then 3/4" pipe to the second sprinkler on each circuit. Long and short of it is I have 22 sprinkler zones with a total of 34 sprinkler heads. My well pump will deliver 15 gpm (approximate) at a delivery pressure of 65psi continuous for days on end while the sprinklers are running. I selected the nozzles to best fit the system so that the pump runs continuously but still have enough pressure to feed the house without any problems. Since my system will run 65 psi with the spriinklers running I set the pump shut off pressure to 70 psi, when the sprinklers shut off the pump quickly pressure up to 70psi and shuts off too. I have tested my delivery pressure to the farthest sprinkler head while running and it is 44 psi. So in the worst case scenario I have a 21 psi pressure loss in 650' run. I have about 6200' of pipe in my system and mention this because I have learned a few things the hard way. Being a plumber by trade certainly helps but you still learn as you go, if I had it to do over again I would run 1 1/4 mainlines everywhere and feed remote operated valves with short runs of 3/4 or 1" pipe to the individual sprinklers. I would reduce the need pipe for the system to about 2800' (less than half of the present setup) and have a lot less friction loss to boot. Less pipe and less fittings means less chance for problems too.

You might think none of this applies to me but understand that the best way to do your project is to do it right and do it once. Listen to the guys who are saying to go with the larger pipe, install the pipe where you can tie into it at a later date with automatic sprinklers and bury control wire with to future valve box locations. Plan your future system and run the mainline once, you can substitute a hose bibb or hydrant for the future valve boxes to do your current watering.

[v8only]

so i finished my system as per the sketch with 1" pipe running to all four sides of the yard, now i am wanting to run soaker hose underground from each post to water my young trees, i am planning to run the soaker hose 5' away from trees as shown in the attached sketch.

What do you guys think.


The black lines are the 1" lines going to a 2 way valve into each soaker hose shown in red that will run about 200'+/- at 10 psi as that is what i have read is adequate water pressure not to exceed the pressure rating on the hose. The green lines indicate the trees

[jenkinsph]

v8only,
So from your diagram I gather the rows of trees are ten feet apart with a soaker running up the middles. If this is the case it should work but might have a hard time getting water to the opposite side of the trees. I live in a dry area and will usually run a soaker or perforated hose in circular pattern around the tree with the radius dependent on the size of the tree. I would have had a mainline running around the perimeter and would have tapped into it with small tubing to run around the trees.

My concern with your soaker hoses would be whether you can get to them easily to make repairs and whether the roots growing around them will choke them too much. I say this because I generally consider the small tubing to be sacrificial to a degree, amd is shallow enough to be replaced easily without the need for equipment to dig it up. My soaker or perforated tubing is about two inches below the surface and the pvc pipe is thirty inches deep with risers as needed.

How deep is your soaker hose and can you get to it now and in the future as the trees grow?

[v8only]

Jenkinsph,

you are correct my trees are all 10' apart, i also thought that the opposite side of the trees might not get much water but i thought that if the water is running for 3 hours or so there will be enough water in the area that the roots will be happier this way, than me going out and spending my whole evening once a week with a hose doing tree by tree (800 or so) for a minute. If i do the soaker hose route i can run the water and walk away and do other chores. I would like to keep to one soaker line at 5' in the center of the rows of trees and bury it with 2" clean stone 8" below ground so i will always know where it is and it will not get punctured by the tiller or a shovel, i also feel that if i keep it at 5' this will also work well when the trees are mature as the soaker hose will be in the middle of both root systems, right now the roots maybe a bit far but dont the roots travel to water?

[jenkinsph]

v8only,
I think your method will work but you might find that you need to put out more water to get to the trees if it isn't dispersed as I mentioned. You can run the water until the ground is soaked around the trees and has spread out enough to satisfy the far side of the trees. Maybe water less frequently but for longer intervals.