Pulling water pipe with the PT425

[MossRoad]

I've always wanted water out at my garden, rather than running a garden hose all summer. So I used my $10.00 soil slicer/trencher thingy today and pulled in about 150' of black plastic pipe from the house to the garden. First, I ran the blade from the garden to the house. I was able to do it in one pass at full depth, as we have pretty sandy soil, and it rained a lot over the past few days.

Next, I dug a 12" hole at the garden end about a foot and a half deep. I then laid out the plastic pipe behind the PT and under it. I folded the pipe over about 6" and tied a stout rope to it and taped it flat. Then I tied the rope through the bottom hole of the blade and lowered the blade into the hole. Then it was off you go. I just re-traced my pre-sliced trench. That is the beauty of things in the front! Surprisingly, it slipped that pipe right along and I was done in about 2 minutes. :thumbsup:Unbelievably easy. The run was mostly straight, except I had to make a left and a right around a tree. I felt the rope snap right at the end. I should have used a chain or steel cable. I figured there was tons of pressure on it. My neighbor was watching and came over. He saw the broken rope and thought it was a lot of pull too. However, I found the end in the dirt, pulled it up with my hand and even with the pipe a foot under ground and an S curve in the middle I was able to pull the pipe back and forth through the entire trench with just two fingers. I really cannot say why the rope broke at all. A child could have pulled it. Perhaps it caught a tree root or something.

Anyhow, all that blade is is a plow share I found at TSC about 8 years ago for $10.00. It works great and I highly recommend it if anyone wants to pull water lines around their yard. It left very little damage that will probably be unnoticeable in just a few weeks. :thumbsup:

I have also used that blade to edge my overgrown driveway and to put edges on softball diamonds when refurbishing them.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I have thought of this as well. I have a number of things electric I want to run.

So you push and don't pull...

How do you stay in your old trench? I doubt I could repeat a move no matter how I tried. Maybe if I went to 4 tires instead of 8

 

[pajoube]

David,

Would this work just as well pulling as pushing? Double sided blade?
What size pipe did you pull?
I will be trenching a water line to the new greenhouse and was considering a 1 inch line but pulling may do the trick as well without as much damage.
PJ

 

[3238dpw]

The only thing I am wondering about is how deep is your line. Are you concerned about freezing. If so do you have a plan for this.

 

[MossRoad]

I have thought of this as well. I have a number of things electric I want to run.

So you push and don't pull...

How do you stay in your old trench? I doubt I could repeat a move no matter how I tried. Maybe if I went to 4 tires instead of 8

Yes, I pushed. On my PT425 I can see the grass between the front of the tractor and the quick attach plate. I was able to put the bottom of the QA just a half inch or so from the ground and keep it there with constant adjustment of the joystick. I strayed from the original slice by no more than 1" here and there, but I'll bet I stayed in it 90% of the way.

As for pulling electric, I think there is some minimum depth required and I don't think this unit would go that deep. But for low voltage wiring, telephone, cable T.V. and water lines for sprinklers, I think it is fine. Just check local code first.

David,

Would this work just as well pulling as pushing? Double sided blade?
What size pipe did you pull?
I will be trenching a water line to the new greenhouse and was considering a 1 inch line but pulling may do the trick as well without as much damage.
PJ

I imagine it would work in either direction. I have that small area behind the house that is still fenced in. I did not want to take down the fence for the last 10' of run. So I used the slicer to pull a slice away from the house, then turned around and pushed the slice to the fence. I then used a flat bladed shovel and spread the slice open and dropped the water line in by hand. The only place I had to step on the shovel was where I ran the opened slice over with the tractor tires, which effectively closed it back up. :laughing: It helps that we have very sandy soil and had a ton of rain last week, too. I pulled 1/2" I.D. pipe, which is a tad over 3/4" O.D.

The only thing I am wondering about is how deep is your line. Are you concerned about freezing. If so do you have a plan for this.

The line is only 8-12" deep depending on how well I followed the terrain with my eye and joystick reaction time. It slopes downhill from the garden to the house about a foot in elevation. Then it slopes back up to the house about a foot. At the low spot I am installing an automatic drain valve designed for sprinkler systems in a small pit of gravel and filter cloth. I have used them at a previous house. When you pressurize the line it closes. When you remove pressure, it opens and drains the lines. I have had drip irrigation in my flower beds for several years and I leave them in all winter. I never drain them. They all seem to drain to the lowest head by gravity anyway.

I have a battery operated two zone timer on the house like this one.
Melnor Product Detail
One zone has fed the flowers for two years. The 2nd zone will be for the garden. It works really, really well for the price. The 4AA batteries lasted all season. I removed them and used them in a flashlight this winter!

So the line will only be pressurized for an hour or so every couple days. The rest of the time, no pressure. I am really liking drip irrigation. I have a 1/2" loop all the way around the house. At various locations I install taps and run the small flex line to flower planters, pots, etc... with adjustable drippers. By our ferns, we have mister heads. They seem to like that. I am going to run one to our bird bath this year so that stays full automatically. I also run them up to hanging baskets.

In the garden I am going to drip each tomato, pepper, broccoli plant, etc... any large plant will get an individual dripper. In other areas I will put a few larger capacity drippers and open them up to flood the areas.

We have some disease in our soil that we cannot get rid of. If I use an impact sprinkler or it rains hard, the dirt splashes up on the tomato plants and the bottom leaves rot off. Then the next higher up leaves rot, etc... by the end of summer there are no leaves left and the tomatoes get sun scalded. Our local farm store recommended drip irrigation and mulching the dirt with straw, so I am trying that this year.

Also, with the timer, we can go away for a vacation and not have to bother people to water the garden while we are gone.

 

[MossRoad]

I also considered using a larger sweeping bent pipe to bury the water line. I would have turned the blade around and mounted the curved pipe behind the blade and fed the water pipe through it, then pulled the trench. You would need some sort of spool or perhaps a 2nd person to help feed the flex pipe into unit, but it would get buried as you went along. I have seen several people here on TBN do that for wires and flex pipe. However, I did not have a large enough sweeping pipe and wanted to try this first. Nothing to lose but my time. Also, I was worried that the PT would have problems with the drag that a larger pipe would put on the unit. With the sandy soil, I now figure that probably would not have been a problem.

Again, I was completely amazed at how easily it pulled in. If I ever do it again, I will use a small section of chain or steel cable instead of the cheap poly rope that I used. That would be the only difference.

Give it a test try in your soil type and see how it goes, if you are interested. If you have a really nice lawn, make sure the blade is very sharp so it doesn't bunch up the sod instead of cutting it.

 

[wasabi]

awesome that such a simple approach worked so well. I've vowed to install drip irrigation in our orchard and berries terraces this year. I look forward to constructing something similar and giving it a try. thanks for posting