Water supply from well to the house

[brokenknee]

I'd use 200psi roll (flexible) plastic over PVC any day. Jointed PVC would be my last choice for direct burial.

That is what I have, the guy that drilled our well put it in, didn't give me options but all has been fine (about 5 years).

I think he said he put it down around 6 feet, but we do have frost issues to deal with.

 

[CurlyDave]

I would increase the size to at least 1-1/4" pipe, maybe even 1-1/2".

If you just look at pressure drop the smaller sizes seem OK, but there is another criteria. Pipe erosion. If the pipe is too small, particulates in the water will erode the pipe and it will fail prematurely.

For most household uses, 1-1/4" is the minimum based on velocity of water flow, and 1-1/2" is even better.

 

[soal man]

Thank you all for your advice. I feel a lot better about the black poly pipe now. I've always used pvc for running water lines, but I really like the idea of no joints except at the well and at the house. Maybe the guys trying to get me to stay away from it were talking about the lower psi. Or maybe they were PVC salesmen :laughing:

I've already dug the trench between three and four feet deep so I think it makes more sense to put it deeper because it will have cattle, trucks, tractor crossing over. I also like the idea of laying conduit in case I want to wire it to my home. It's wired from an old house that I do plan to tear down soon so I was trying to decide the best way to do this. I do have to check with the county to make sure they can both be in the same trench.

The house is new but the well is existing. It already serves the MIL's house as well as three watering troughs for the cows. I was thinking 1" was big enough but it sure wouldn't hurt to go up a 1/4 or 1/2. The pressure tank is in the well house.

Again, thanks for all of the information. Any more thoughts are welcome.

 

[crazyal]

Around here they are switching from the black PE to a type of pipe that has two layers. The outer is blue while the inner is a translucent clear color. I can't remember why they switched or what the pipe is made from anymore. I guess if you can't get where you are it's not an issue.

 

[soal man]

Around here they are switching from the black PE to a type of pipe that has two layers. The outer is blue while the inner is a translucent clear color. I can't remember why they switched or what the pipe is made from anymore. I guess if you can't get where you are it's not an issue.

I'm not familiar with that but I'll definitely look into it. Thanks!

 

[troutsqueezer]

Home Depot: 1" schedule 40 PVC, Red Hot Blue Glue. So simple, a caveman could do it.

Been working for me for 30 years.

 

[ctpres]

Run TWO pipes if you will ever have water softner or filter at well. One for household use and one for toilets, lawn watering, animals etc. I made mistake of only one and have to go shut off softner every time I water lawn - PITA. I did plumb house with two cold systems one toilets/outdoor faucets and one for houshold use drinking bathing and laundry. At least I got it half right.

 

[gerard]

Run TWO pipes if you will ever have water softner or filter at well. One for household use and one for toilets, lawn watering, animals etc. I made mistake of only one and have to go shut off softner every time I water lawn - PITA. I did plumb house with two cold systems one toilets/outdoor faucets and one for houshold use drinking bathing and laundry. At least I got it half right.

A lot easier just to T off the incoming line before the water softener and use that to feed all your outdoor faucets or anything you don't need to soften. Not sure why you would want to run two main feed lines from the well.......

 

[AHNC]

I'm getting ready to do the same job. I'm going to run 1 1/2" water lines. As noted, pressure drop and you (well I can't ) simply cannot anticipate future use/loads. Cost of the pipe is insignificant. I am crossing and running down one edge of my driveway. I'll put in a 6" sand bed and cover, then backfill. I'm running a new electrical service as well. extra conduit for comm/phone cable. If you are crossing a roadway, throw some 2, 3 or 4" under the road and cap off both ends. Again, you never know what other things are going to present themselves to be done. Oh, I intend to move my LP gas line so a new gas line will go in too. Good luck

 

[flusher]

The new house is coming along nicely and I'm about ready to run the water supply line from my well to it, about 150 feet. I have been planning on using 1" pvc buried about 8-10 inches since there is no frost line to worry about. Does anyone recommend using anything other than pvc these days? I've heard from several people to stay away from the black flexible piping (can't think of the name).
Any other ideas/advice you may want to throw in on this will be appreciated.

1" pvc is too small--1-1/4 or 1-1/2" is what you want.
Bury it at least 18" deep
If you're not running electric service in the same trench, then lay an insulated copper wire, 6ga or so, in the trench next to the water line and leave one end of the wire exposed above ground. That way you can locate that plastic line with an electric oscillator and simple detection equipment if you ever need to fix a problem.