Digging trench for PVC water line, advice on potential obstacles

[ROUSTABOUT]

I'm going to be tapping into my house's cold water line, coming out through a foundation wall, and then making my way to our chicken and duck pen, which is about 75' away. About 30' to one side of where I will trench are a buried 240v line, telephone, and a copper propane feed. I have a good handle on where those are.

What I don't have a handle on: My 1" well line and well power line are somewhere in the area, but I don't know exactly where (house was built 20 years before I bought it, no diagram available). I can get a little insight from the inside of the basement, because I know where the well lines come into the house, but what they are doing outside the foundation, I have no idea. In places where I know I'm clear, I'll use my tractor mounted backhoe. But for places where I think the water line might be, I'm thinking I should dig by hand. I also have a handheld metal detector, was planning to scout with it. It won't penetrate deep enough to find a properly deep well power cable, but as I dig, I figure I can stick it in the trench before digging deeper.

I'm in GA: Our frostline is almost non-existent, so I'm only going down a foot, will be using either 1/2 or 3/4" PVC, terminated at a freeze-proof spigot inside the fence of the animal pen.

Any tips or tricks appreciated.

75 feet? Just dig the whole thing with a shovel. Problem solved. Your welcome. I wouldn't hook a backhoe up for 75' of foot deep ditch. I could be done before you got back from the shed.

 

[4570Man]

75 feet? Just dig the whole thing with a shovel. Problem solved. Your welcome. I wouldn't hook a backhoe up for 75' of foot deep ditch. I could be done before you got back from the shed.

Maybe in Georgia sand. Here you’d be working for days to do that. I’d bring my excavator to dig a 7 foot ditch. 75 wouldn’t even be a consideration to do by hand.

 

[jaxs]

I suggest using HDPE black plastic flexible water tubing rather than rigid PVC. If it breaks you can hook one end to your tractor and the other to new tubing and pull it 75' underground digging only one hole on each end.

And the reason to bury deeper than 12" is to not break the water line when it is run over with the tractor. Or truck. Or whatever.

That's using your head for something other than holding ears apart. I built a single shank root plow and while I was at it I made provisions to bury pipe. Old window weight on 12" of 7/16" chain,open hook welded to heel of plow. Drop end link of chain over hook,drop plow in hand dug hole,tie pipe to window weight and ease away until plow reaches secound hole and raise plow pulling a couple feet of pipe out to daylight. I generally make a couple passes with plow to loosen clay soil before pulling pipe. To connect pipe I use a dutch finger type plug then drive screws through pipe in front of steel washer. Mark pipe at 10-20 ft intervals so you will know exactly where end of pipe is if it come's loose from plow. Unless tractor labors to pull it or someone is watching pipe disappear you don't know when it come's loose. Don't even ask how know that. On long stretches I pull till it break's loose,dig end up,expose an extra foot,start a new pull then come back and splice pipe.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

It’s amazing how many people apparently don’t know this. And I’m not digging all day with a shovel to find a line that’s in this area somewhere. Unless you know exactly where it is I’m digging now and you can fix later.

I buried phone lines all over half the state for a phone company. Used a maxi sneaker. Still have it. Bored roads with the front pto. I know all too well what they do. I called only when we had a bore. That way I knew what side the water system line was on so I could start from that side. They didn't do private property.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I'm going to be tapping into my house's cold water line, coming out through a foundation wall, and then making my way to our chicken and duck pen, which is about 75' away. About 30' to one side of where I will trench are a buried 240v line, telephone, and a copper propane feed. I have a good handle on where those are.

What I don't have a handle on: My 1" well line and well power line are somewhere in the area, but I don't know exactly where (house was built 20 years before I bought it, no diagram available). I can get a little insight from the inside of the basement, because I know where the well lines come into the house, but what they are doing outside the foundation, I have no idea. In places where I know I'm clear, I'll use my tractor mounted backhoe. But for places where I think the water line might be, I'm thinking I should dig by hand. I also have a handheld metal detector, was planning to scout with it. It won't penetrate deep enough to find a properly deep well power cable, but as I dig, I figure I can stick it in the trench before digging deeper.

I'm in GA: Our frostline is almost non-existent, so I'm only going down a foot, will be using either 1/2 or 3/4" PVC, terminated at a freeze-proof spigot inside the fence of the animal pen.

Any tips or tricks appreciated.

bury the pipe as soon as you get it in the ground.

i paid a guy to trench 2600 ft, 3 ft deep and i did not bury the pipe. I glued and I laid the pipe in the trench but didn't bury it. At the least i should have tossed in some dirt every 10 ft or so.

it rained, big time, over and over again.

the entire 2600 ft of 2 in pvc floated and the trench started to refill itself with orange mud.

It was 2 days on my hands and knees fixing that.

 

[dodge man]

Always call the 811 or whatever the locate is called in your area. The truth is it’s just a formality but one you should go through. It’s a huge liability thing.

 

[EddieWalker]

For such a short distance, and so many things to worry about, I would dig that trench with a shovel. I would wait until the ground is soft if I could.

I own a backhoe and a riding trencher. I still dig a lot of trenches by hand. My most recent one was 120 feet long to a yard light I installed at the back of my dog yard. I have multiple water lines in the ground already, and it's a lot easier to dig it with a shovel, then to repair a water line that has to be fixed immediately. It took me a week to dig it, I just dug for an hour or two in the evening, before dark, until I was done. I'm currently working on another trench to my vegetable garden so I can have power there to run automatic sprinklers. That's only 50 feet, but the ground is so hard now, and it's painfully hot outside in the evenings, that I'm not putting a lot of effort into it. My thinking is that I'll have it ready for next years garden.

 

[Fixastuff]

75 feet? Just dig the whole thing with a shovel. Problem solved. Your welcome. I wouldn't hook a backhoe up for 75' of foot deep ditch. I could be done before you got back from the shed.

Lol! As someone who digs for a living I've heard this said many times but never seen it happen.

 

[plowhog]

it's a lot easier to dig it with a shovel, then to repair a water line

I would never advocate intentionally breaking anything, but PVC is so easy to fix using telescoping repair couplings that I can fix a broken PVC line in about 15 minutes.

Would rather fix one or two of those instead of shoveling for a week!

 

[4570Man]

Lol! As someone who digs for a living I've heard this said many times but never seen it happen.

I’ve heard a lot of people that can split wood faster with a maul too but I’ve never seen it happen.