Trenching water lines pex vs. poly vs.soil with no rock vs. lots of rocks

[Cord]

I've used a trencher in rocky soil with pretty poor results. The trencher will drag the rocks out, but you'll end up with a trench that's 4 times wider than intended. That makes progress pretty slow. Ended up breaking the chain before we finished the job. Definetly would have been better with a mini X for that one.

 

[Fesntkilr]

I am also thinking a mini x. I have some other small digging jobs (trees, posts) that I could use a mini x whereas a trencher just won't work.

 

[DaveOmak]

I've seen contractors sleeve water lines in PVC to protect it from rocks, varmints etc... Cheap, and the line can be pulled to replace it...

 

[Fallon]

I don't think PEX is UV resistant. Not an issue buried, but it does come out of the ground somewhere. Not an issue I'd somewhere is indoors.

 

[mjw357]

Any recommendations on a good brand of frost proof hydrants? I hope to find something American made.

Woodford model Y34 (Iowa) frost free hydrants are popular and are American made, sold lots of places and parts are common.

I am in the middle of this type of project, used a 48" ride-on trencher, rocks were no issue. It costs more than the walk-behind though. And there are some advantages to using a mini-ex if you have other types of work to do.

I used 1" 250 psi poly.

 

[dalroo]

This may be a bit late, but I did a project for my place and ran 325" of 3/4" pex to Woodford hydrant, and then a T into barn for indoor uses. Big lessons for me - don't waste time with a walk-behind trencher from rental yard. Get a tractor mounted trencher at least, and for heavy rocks, the excavator would seem to be even better. I rented a walk-behind and spent hours ATTEMPTING to accomplish what I did on the tractor in 1/4 of the time. I used copper fittings and went ahead and bought the tools - will probably need again someday.

 

[franklin2]

I've seen contractors sleeve water lines in PVC to protect it from rocks, varmints etc... Cheap, and the line can be pulled to replace it...

We use the corrugated black drain pipe to protect the water line. Get a 16 oz empty plastic pop bottle, cut the small end off to make it fit over the end of the waterline and then duct tape it to the end of the water line. Then shove it through the corrugated drain pipe. Then throw it into the ditch. No need to couple the drain pipe, so long as it's pushed together before it's buried. This gives great protection from rocks poking through the plastic waterline.

 

[FTG-05]

We use the corrugated black drain pipe to protect the water line. Get a 16 oz empty plastic pop bottle, cut the small end off to make it fit over the end of the waterline and then duct tape it to the end of the water line. Then shove it through the corrugated drain pipe. Then throw it into the ditch. No need to couple the drain pipe, so long as it's pushed together before it's buried. This gives great protection from rocks poking through the plastic waterline.

Good stuff, this is what I plan to do with ~250-300' of 200 psi poly line here. Rocks out the ying yang here. Can't get a shovel to go more than 1/4" in the dirt.

 

[Deere Dude]

Good stuff, this is what I plan to do with ~250-300' of 200 psi poly line here. Rocks out the ying yang here. Can't get a shovel to go more than 1/4" in the dirt.

You should be good to go. I used 160# poly for my last 3 houses without incident. The running pressure was 50-70 PSI so 160 was plenty. Use brass fitting and double stainless clamps. Maybe something new is out there but there are stainless hose clamps with non stainless screw drive. Make sure all is stainless.

I just made sure rock free dirt is under and above the poly. For freeze protection where I couldn't do down as deep as I wanted last time, I laid 2" styrofoam over the pipe before backfilling. Never a problem.

 

[newbury]

It's getting close to me having to do a similar project in northeast Mississippi. Frostline depth about 8 inches.

My main question is how best to protect whatever line I bury so it will be safe from equipment driving over it without raising cost greatly.

Soil will be fairly easy digging, mostly sandy loam, but there are a couple of places I need to drive equipment, like my 6,000 lb M4700, so I want to make sure I don't break the line when bushhogging. There's also an "access road", just a dirt trail to the back of my shops, that it must go underneath.

So do I bury it deep? How deep?