BEST way to set up a long water main?

[Westonium]

I am going to be replacing my rapidly failing water main that is roughly 600 feet long and rises about 60-80 feet. Currently it is extremely thin PVC (thinner than SCH20).

I am leaning toward SCH80 1.5" or perhaps even 2" since the pump exit is 2". I would buy 20' bell-ended pieces.

Questions:
<ul type="square">[*]Better materials to use than SCH80 PVC?
[*]Some special considerations in geometry? (Like keep it very straight with minimal turns or do turns every X feet help in some way)
[*]Any special considerations with connecting endpoints?
[*]Can I do this such that the pressure switch is at the house instead of in the pumphouse where it is trial/error/luck to get the pressure at the house right?
[*]Any reason NOT to go 2" other than cost?
[*]??? Anything I am completely ignoring or should be warned about?
[/list]
Help! I have done plenty, plenty, plenty of 100+psi sch40 connections for irrigation purposes, but this whole giant long line is a new thing.

I also want to T-off an irrigation line - ideas? Suggestions? (Backflow preventer is assumed but other than that?)

 

[Westonium]

I am going to be replacing my rapidly failing water main that is roughly 600 feet long and rises about 60-80 feet. Currently it is extremely thin PVC (thinner than SCH20).

I am leaning toward SCH80 1.5" or perhaps even 2" since the pump exit is 2". I would buy 20' bell-ended pieces.

Questions:
<ul type="square">[*]Better materials to use than SCH80 PVC?
[*]Some special considerations in geometry? (Like keep it very straight with minimal turns or do turns every X feet help in some way)
[*]Any special considerations with connecting endpoints?
[*]Can I do this such that the pressure switch is at the house instead of in the pumphouse where it is trial/error/luck to get the pressure at the house right?
[*]Any reason NOT to go 2" other than cost?
[*]??? Anything I am completely ignoring or should be warned about?
[/list]
Help! I have done plenty, plenty, plenty of 100+psi sch40 connections for irrigation purposes, but this whole giant long line is a new thing.

I also want to T-off an irrigation line - ideas? Suggestions? (Backflow preventer is assumed but other than that?)

 

[HammerFour]

I can't really give you any recomendations on the laying of the pipe....

But our pressure switch is situated at the house, and that works fine.

 

[HammerFour]

I can't really give you any recomendations on the laying of the pipe....

But our pressure switch is situated at the house, and that works fine.

 

[Highbeam]

-Nothing wrong with PVC
-Straighter and fewer fittings is better, turns don't help and add restriction and potential leakage.
-Pressure switch at the house to give the desired pressure to the home since you speak of an eleveation change. The pressure at the lower well head will be much higher than at the home.
- The 2 inch line will have a lot of water in it that sets around a long time and gets stale. The velocity of water will be low so sediment may accumulate.
-How deep? You can use a ditch witch for this installation if the rocks aren't bad.

 

[Highbeam]

-Nothing wrong with PVC
-Straighter and fewer fittings is better, turns don't help and add restriction and potential leakage.
-Pressure switch at the house to give the desired pressure to the home since you speak of an eleveation change. The pressure at the lower well head will be much higher than at the home.
- The 2 inch line will have a lot of water in it that sets around a long time and gets stale. The velocity of water will be low so sediment may accumulate.
-How deep? You can use a ditch witch for this installation if the rocks aren't bad.

 

[EddieWalker]

Schedule 80 is for above ground applications and rediculous overkill for buried lines. I've never even seen it for water lines, just electrical conduit, but I'll take you word for it that it exists.

For long runs, it's very rare to glue pipe together. Gasketed pipe like C-900 (or is it C-9000? I forget the numbers) is used by most water utilities.

The advantage of gasketed pipe is that is moves when the ground moves. Do you have clay soil? Does the ground freeze and thaw in your area? Does it rail super heavy, resuling in ground saturation and flooding? Does the land dry up real bad and crack? If so, then your dirt moves. If your pipe doesn't move with the dirt, than something will have to give. That means busted water lines.

When I put my 500 foot line in, the Water Department sealed off the end. They were supposed to block the end of the pipe with a dozen sacks of concrete, but forgot. When the rains saturated the ground, and the dirt moved, the pipe kept moving until the last section slid all the way out.

Be sure to block the end of the pipe real good!!!!

If there's Rock in your soil, than it doesn't matter what type of pipe you use, the rock will cut it in time unless you backfill with sand. Different areas have different requirements on how much sand must be around the pipe, but usually a foot is plenty.

What size water meter do you have? Running a two inch pipe off a one inch meter over that long of a run will result in stale water. Over the years, the pipe will store the water and you won't be able to use what's in there. This water will age and give you an old, stale, nasty taste to your water.

I have to flush out my water line twice a year because it's so much large than my current needs. In time I'll need the large capacity, but until then, I have to flush it out by opening a large valve at the end of the line and letting the water just run out. In my case, I have a 6 inch water line with a 2 inch valve to flush it with. I have to let it run for half an hour to flush it out.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Schedule 80 is for above ground applications and rediculous overkill for buried lines. I've never even seen it for water lines, just electrical conduit, but I'll take you word for it that it exists.

For long runs, it's very rare to glue pipe together. Gasketed pipe like C-900 (or is it C-9000? I forget the numbers) is used by most water utilities.

The advantage of gasketed pipe is that is moves when the ground moves. Do you have clay soil? Does the ground freeze and thaw in your area? Does it rail super heavy, resuling in ground saturation and flooding? Does the land dry up real bad and crack? If so, then your dirt moves. If your pipe doesn't move with the dirt, than something will have to give. That means busted water lines.

When I put my 500 foot line in, the Water Department sealed off the end. They were supposed to block the end of the pipe with a dozen sacks of concrete, but forgot. When the rains saturated the ground, and the dirt moved, the pipe kept moving until the last section slid all the way out.

Be sure to block the end of the pipe real good!!!!

If there's Rock in your soil, than it doesn't matter what type of pipe you use, the rock will cut it in time unless you backfill with sand. Different areas have different requirements on how much sand must be around the pipe, but usually a foot is plenty.

What size water meter do you have? Running a two inch pipe off a one inch meter over that long of a run will result in stale water. Over the years, the pipe will store the water and you won't be able to use what's in there. This water will age and give you an old, stale, nasty taste to your water.

I have to flush out my water line twice a year because it's so much large than my current needs. In time I'll need the large capacity, but until then, I have to flush it out by opening a large valve at the end of the line and letting the water just run out. In my case, I have a 6 inch water line with a 2 inch valve to flush it with. I have to let it run for half an hour to flush it out.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[Westonium]

The pipe will be buried DEEP.

The tip on backfilling with sand sounds like a good idea. There may be a negative side effect of all the sand running out if there ever was a pipe break though. Perhaps sand and occasionally have some clay?

There is no water meter. There is only a 2" pipe coming out of the 3HP well pump.

How about 1.5" sch40?

What kind of pressure switch can I use to turn on and off the pump? The off-the-shelf switches I find are basically for use with the 110V AC. In my case it is 110V that tells the pump controller to turn on/off because the pump is *3HP*.

Any links to explain this gasketted pipe approach?
Any ways I can run direc-bury low voltage AC (like irrigation controllers use) to turn the pump on/off? Should this be buried in its own ditch?

I am going ot use a trencher that can dig 4' with a 6" trench width. Realistically I will probably go no more than 30" deep. I believe 18" is code depth, but may be insufficient (rarely) at my altitude.

If I could only transmit free beer over the internet - you guys would be set!

 

[Westonium]

The pipe will be buried DEEP.

The tip on backfilling with sand sounds like a good idea. There may be a negative side effect of all the sand running out if there ever was a pipe break though. Perhaps sand and occasionally have some clay?

There is no water meter. There is only a 2" pipe coming out of the 3HP well pump.

How about 1.5" sch40?

What kind of pressure switch can I use to turn on and off the pump? The off-the-shelf switches I find are basically for use with the 110V AC. In my case it is 110V that tells the pump controller to turn on/off because the pump is *3HP*.

Any links to explain this gasketted pipe approach?
Any ways I can run direc-bury low voltage AC (like irrigation controllers use) to turn the pump on/off? Should this be buried in its own ditch?

I am going ot use a trencher that can dig 4' with a 6" trench width. Realistically I will probably go no more than 30" deep. I believe 18" is code depth, but may be insufficient (rarely) at my altitude.

If I could only transmit free beer over the internet - you guys would be set!