1000 ft water line

[ch47dpilot]

May I recommend you placing a trace line in the trench for metal detector to locate the pipe down the road?

Does the trace line have to be a certain gauge wire and what's the max depth they can be read. I'm planning 2" pipe 600-700ft at about 3.5 ft depth.

Any online places that have good prices for large rolls and fittings. What's the best way to splice 2" PEX type pipe, will be using "T" for side runs(garden, in ground sprinkler ect) with smaller diameter tubing

 

[Tigershark]

We are going to run a trace wire for location and I appreciate the recommendation. Going to dig as much as I can with the Vermeer today and the places I hit rock I will be renting either a backhoe or a mini with the hoeram attachment it really depends on how far I can go as to what my next steps will be. Farmer won't be planting until May so I have a god month to decide and get the project done. Just need some decent weather, snowed overnight and rain forecasted all next week. At least the ground is frozen today

 

[EddieWalker]

All my trader lines are 14 gauge stranded copper. Just tape it to the pipe with the ends of the wire exposed.

 

[flingwing1969]

PVC may not be the best choice for your situation.

Think of all your joints that you will have over a 1000' supply line. Each of those joints is a potential failure point. With HDPE, you can get tools of 100', 200' or even 500' from some suppliers making your potential joint failure points much lower than pvc.

I find dealing with a roll to be much easier when laying a line than dozens of sticks of PVC with all the couplers and glue.

The only downside for the average homeowner when it comes to HDPE is how to couple two lines together. They don't use glue and a third piece to splice to lines together. They actually use a specialty heater to heat each pipe then you can fuse the two together making one pipe.

The fuser/heater is something you can rent from most places that sell large rolls of HDPE but there is a learning curve to doing it right. You could also pay a plumber to go out there and do your 1-4 fuses and they probably wouldn't charge much if they didn't have to touch the pipe otherwise.

Don't let the fuser deter you though. HDPE is the only way to go when you go with 2" size pipe or bigger for any significant distance. It's how most municipalities supply water these days shying away from metal pipe from days of old.

Good luck

I love HDPE - ran hundreds of feet of 1 1/4" at my ranch for my water systems. Just remember that it has a tendency to grow and shrink substantially with temperature changes. I always did a wide trench, laid it with a bit of an s-shape in the trench as I went, did an initial back fill with sand then dirt on top of that. I also learned that fusion welding the pipe is really a great idea and so bought a small poly pipe fuser set on eBay.

 

[Tigershark]

Just got back from an initial run of 300 ft, Out of 300 ft I had 5 (4ft) sections where I hit rock at 25-26 inches the rest of the trench I could go between 29-34 inches. Lots of rock, was told the frost line is round 20. I'm starting to rethink the whole house idea and just running something for the barn and garden so. Given that we won't use it during the winter I think I could get away with the depths that I am hitting. Definitely going to go with the HDPE pipe THanks for all the recommendations. Will give another update tomorrow when I dig again

 

[RNeumann]

Just got back from an initial run of 300 ft, Out of 300 ft I had 5 (4ft) sections where I hit rock at 25-26 inches the rest of the trench I could go between 29-34 inches. Lots of rock, was told the frost line is round 20. I'm starting to rethink the whole house idea and just running something for the barn and garden so. Given that we won't use it during the winter I think I could get away with the depths that I am hitting. Definitely going to go with the HDPE pipe THanks for all the recommendations. Will give another update tomorrow when I dig again

U have done most of the work already! Do it once and be done with it- I’d dig through or around the rocks.

 

[woodlandfarms]

You do not have to fuse HDPE. There are other methods.

 

[Billrog]

I've had shc 40 2" in gravel ground 1200" for 25 years now with no problems our frost line is 30" and in 1 place I could only get 12" deep due to bed rock I just laid 2" x 12" wide Styrofoam on it for that section 20' or so.

 

[Tigershark]

Where are you all buying your pipe from ? I am looking for a 2 inch and 1200 ft, the local store is 2.33 a foot which sounds a little high, the PVC I was quoted at 53 cents a foot

 

[Peter 315]

I work for a company that installs water main we use these guys they might be close to you or call them for info Waterworks Services & Products for Professionals