putting in water line

rockportred · Jan 1, 2001

I'm getting my new B2710 this week and one of the things I need to do is lay a water line to the back of my property (about 250') I am planning on using a moldboard to dig the trench and then finish cleaning it by hand before laying the pipe. Is this the best way or can you guys give me some pointers?
Have been reading the posts for a few months now and it was very helpful in my decision making process on which tractor to buy. I will rely on this board for help in my implement decisions as well. Thanks in advance.
Rock

Thomas · Jan 1, 2001

rockportred,
Welcome and congratulation on your new purchase. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

A mold board should beable to cut a trench four to six inches,but as I found out you may have to make a couple of passes.

Not sure about your soil,and maybe your local rental store just has the equipment in which would make the job faster and easier.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird · Jan 1, 2001

Rock, congratulations on the new B2710. A moldboard plow is not going to make a very deep trench, but of course, you and I don't have to put water lines as deep as the folks up north. If you're like me, you use whatever tools you have on hand and the moldboard will at least get a good trench started. I have a middle buster (or double buster or bedder) that I prefer because it throws the dirt out both sides instead of just rolling it left to right. I guess you know that you can adjust the depth that a plow goes by shortening or lengthening the top link, so depending on how hard the ground is, I might set it a little shallow on the first pass, then shorten the top link to run deeper and make a second pass. Where did you buy your tractor?

Bird

Rch · Jan 1, 2001

Rockportred, I've buried 100's of feet of plastic 1" line with a subsoiler or single tine middlebuster. There about $85 at Fleet-Farm (King Cutter).
Put a chisel point on it.Take 2" grey plastic electric conduit about 2 to 2 1/2 feet long and heat it up by slipping it on an exhaust pipe and curve it a gentle 75 to 80 degrees. Using 3 or 4 worm gear clamps, fasten it to the back of the tine so the curve points backward at the level of the chisel point. After 2 or 3 passes to get as deep as you can feed the plastic pipe into the conduit as someone drives the tractor slowly. I can get about 6 to 7" deep ; with a longer tine/shank on a true subsoiler you could probably go deeper. Make sure you have plenty of diameter on the conduit; even a 1" water line takes quite a bit space to make the curve, especially with soil bubbling up around things. Here in central WI, I have to blow these out for winter. One hint,don't leave ball faucets closed with water in the ball, they'll freeze and and bust the brass housing. I leave them open with aluminumn foil over the opening if the are pointing up or in an underground access box that can flood in the spring.
By just "slitting" the ground there is minimal damage to the lawn.
Here is a picture of the faucet arrangment so I can blow out the lines.
RCH<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Rch on 1/1/01 01:54 PM.</FONT></P>

Rch · Jan 1, 2001

Apparently you cannot add a picture on "edit", so here it is.

RCH

ERNIEB · Jan 1, 2001

Rock, How deep are wanting to put this line? What size and type of pipe are you planing to use? Will anything be driving over the line once it's in?
When digging in the Hill Country, the first thing I think about is limestone rock.
I'm farther South, but I like to put my lines at 10-12 inches, deeper in areas where it will have traffic over it. It's probably overkill, but I haven't had a busted line yet.

Ernie
"Do not be uneasy about me, I am among friends"
David Crockett 1836 (in a letter to his family)

M. Sullivan · Jan 2, 2001

Assuming you will want it down at least a foot (42" here in MI), stronlgy suggest you price rental of a Ditch Witch. Incredible machine that will make quick work of your digging. Neighbor did about the same as you are looking at--took me an hour to backblade the trench back in with my 2710. Can't imagine doing the digging with anything less than a bh or the above, though. Just depends what your time is worth (and again, how deep you're going). Good luck.

rockportred · Jan 2, 2001

Ernie,
I'm wanting to put the water line about a foot deep. We don't get many hard freezes here in central Texas and I will not be driving over the line. Planning on laying it along a fence line to help protect it from traffic.

ERNIEB · Jan 3, 2001

Well, as a general rule your area gets more hard freezes than mine. But this year I'm not so sure/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I think you will be alright putting it in at 12 inches. You can try the way you suggested. As has already been suggested you can rent a ditch witch. Either way, if you run into rock, your going to have trouble. For my main line I had to go about 850 feet with 1 1/2 . In some places I have some hard clay, so I rented a walk behind ditch witch. It could go through small roots, but the larger ones I had to chop out by hand. The hardest part was keeping the cows from tramping on it before i could get the line put in, and covered up./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Ernie
"Do not be uneasy about me, I am among friends"
David Crockett 1836 (in a letter to his family)

jyoutz · Jan 3, 2001

Wow! Waterlines at 12" or less. Sure seems nice. Mine are all 36", according to local code. For this type of depth the only things I have found to do this are a backhoe or a tractor ditch-witch. But, I'm interested in the subsoiler technique, because it may be a good way to lay plastic conduit for electrical lines. Can't quite picture how this is done. Any pictures of this technique out there?