Extending well feed to a second structure

[rbstern]

We are building a home on our rural property. There is already a vacation house on the property. That structure is going to become an office/workshop for our business, and a guest house.

We have a 1" PVC line coming in from the well pump to a pressure tank (44 gallons, I believe). The tank is in the basement of the existing house. The pressure side of the 1" line then goes to a whole house filter, reducing to 3/4". Pressure settings on the tank are 40/60psi. All works well, with decent water quality and good pressure at the existing fixtures.

Most of what I've read about serving multiple structures from a single well has basically said to treat the additional building as a fixture of the existing pressure tank. So, my current plan is to tee the 1" line after the pressure tank, and run a 1" line through the basement wall, trenched about 150' toward the new house site, where I'll terminate in a valve box with a cutoff valve. It's a slight downhill slope to the new house site. Perhaps a 5' to 6' drop from where the pressure tank sits in the basement of the first house.

Questions:

- What pipe to use for the supply line to the new home? Keep it rigid PVC? Pex or HPDE inside a PVC conduit? The soil is clay and does have rocks, so I don't think direct bury of a flexible pipe is ideal.

- Any reason I can't run a direct bury cat6 ethernet or fiber optic cable in the same trench? The two houses will be networked and sharing a broadband feed, and I prefer not to do that wirelessly.

- Our frost line (north Georgia) is somewhere between 6 and 10". I was planning on trenching to 18". Anything else to consider about that? Will that be ok if a heavy vehicle goes across the filled trench? I suspect all kinds of heavy vehicles will be driving all over the property during construction. I could route them to the build site in way that doesn't cross the water line tench, but the water line trench would still need to be able support normal vehicle/driveway traffic over the long term.

- At the valve box for a line servicing the new house, is PVC ok? Does it need any special consideration for protection from freezing, if the line feeding it is below the frost line, right up to the box?

- I suspect the power company will dig a parallel trench for 240v service, within about 10' of my water trench. Other than clearly marking my trench, any issues?

 

[Passattdi]

Whatever you run you need "cushion", be it sand or crusher dust. That will protect the burried pipe, regardless if rigid or flex. Without it you will inevitably have a puncture. Now being in Georgia, you don't or shouldn't deal with frost, but ground still settles. That being said, flexable is better. I ran conduit to my shop with the intention of electric, water and some type of fuel. Electric is done, the other conduits still empty. Prolly over kill for your area, but.... and it is all surrounded by crusher dust. No leaks and we are going into our 4th winter on our installation.

 

[rbstern]

Whatever you run you need "cushion", be it sand or crusher dust. That will protect the burried pipe, regardless if rigid or flex. Without it you will inevitably have a puncture. Now being in Georgia, you don't or shouldn't deal with frost, but ground still settles. That being said, flexable is better. I ran conduit to my shop with the intention of electric, water and some type of fuel. Electric is done, the other conduits still empty. Prolly over kill for your area, but.... and it is all surrounded by crusher dust. No leaks and we are going into our 4th winter on our installation.

You're saying flexible if properly bedded with sand or crusher dust. Is it better because it's easier to install? More durable?

 

[TheMan419]

Since you are digging a trench anyway I would drop a conduit in there as well for any future cables. Not just the one you know you want to run now.

 

[Passattdi]

You're saying flexible if properly bedded with sand or crusher dust. Is it better because it's easier to install? More durable?

Pex is just as durable as copper. PVC, if stressed will fracture. Pex will give. Conduit and Pex is best of both worlds. Crusher dust makes it pretty much bulletproof.

 

[rbstern]

Since you are digging a trench anyway I would drop a conduit in there as well for any future cables. Not just the one you know you want to run now.

Good point. I could run a cat 6 initially, and if I'm not happy with the performance, I could pull a fiber optic cable.

 

[rbstern]

Pex is just as durable as copper. PVC, if stressed will fracture. Pex will give. Conduit and Pex is best of both worlds. Crusher dust makes it pretty much bulletproof.

Any reason why I would choose Pex over less expensive HPDE, which seems to be very popular for potable water supply deliver from well or meter to home?

 

[robstaples]

I tee tapped my well head and ran in two directions to existing home (with outside faucets, get to this later) and to a new building where there is iron remover and water softener. In the new trench, like yours, I ran an additional pipe between the two locations. Raw water goes to new building and the precessed water back to home in new pipe. Raw water to home only for existing outside faucets. I put the main well pressure tank in new building and a second tank on the precessed water in the house. Duel pressure tanks supply the instantaneous demand....so to speak. Good short term response without relying on connected pipe diameter.
I now don't have to carry bags of salt down the stairs to where the original water softener was.
With that trench open, like others have said, I'd add a 2" + poly pipe with 4 numbered pull ropes for future connections. Pulling thru with existing cables is hard. Sometimes you have to remove existing wire, bundle all, and then pull one bundle.

 

[RNeumann]

HDPE is best. Pex isn't designed for outdoor use- don't use it outside! The proper HDPE doesn't need, nor should it have conduit.

1" at 18" is fine if the frost line is 6". The typical is 1' below frost line and deeper under driveways or other locations where the snow is packed down. The packing tends to drive the frost down.

Don't direct bury low voltage. Put in a 1" conduit.

The conduit and water line can go in the same trench. The typical 1' trench would work fine. HDPE water line at 18" on one side of the trench. Then add 6" soil and place the conduit on the other side of the trench. Then fill trench.

Run a tracer wire with the water line so it can be located before the electrical goes in.

Skip the valve box. Have a shut off on the new line at the well. Go directly into the new building basement and keep the shutoff inside the new basement. No need for an outside shutoff where it freezes.

Unless you are having a second electrical meter set the electrical company won't be doing the 240v wiring. An electrician will. It is typical to have all the underground done at once. One tractor is onsite and would dig all the needed trenches and place the needed conduit, water lines etc.

 

[rbstern]

I tee tapped my well head and ran in two directions to existing home (with outside faucets, get to this later) and to a new building where there is iron remover and water softener. In the new trench, like yours, I ran an additional pipe between the two locations. Raw water goes to new building and the precessed water back to home in new pipe. Raw water to home only for existing outside faucets. I put the main well pressure tank in new building and a second tank on the precessed water in the house. Duel pressure tanks supply the instantaneous demand....so to speak. Good short term response without relying on connected pipe diameter.
I now don't have to carry bags of salt down the stairs to where the original water softener was.
With that trench open, like others have said, I'd add a 2" + poly pipe with 4 numbered pull ropes for future connections. Pulling thru with existing cables is hard. Sometimes you have to remove existing wire, bundle all, and then pull one bundle.

Rob, where is the pressure switch in your setup?