Running water line 900'

[WayneB]

I have a run of approximately 600 feet and the elevation is about 150 feet up hill. I ran the line using 1" poly and the pump is a 1 hp jet pump and the pressure at the pump is 50 PSI. Around here the poly is around 75 dollars for a 300 foot roll. I tried the run with 3/4" poly but it just didn't provide enough volume.

Depending upon your elevation, maybe 3/4" poly would work for your application?

 

[SCRich]

GREAT thread! I am looking to do the same thing but slightly different distances, 400ft to the road with a 20ft rise maybe and then about a 700ft run to the back feed plot with a 40-50ft gentle drop and a 50 or so steep rise back to just about equal elevation from the house/well.

I ran 1in PVC 20ft lengths from the house to the road before the driveway was done but never connected it. Eventually I plan to complete the run to the well head where I have a hose bib.

Hopefully it will all work but but I do think I will need a pump to push the water up the hill to the food plot. I hope the water run to the road will do just fine, it is no different than a large hose going down the driveway except I burried it and it's 1in PVC.

 

[johnsonmopar]

I ran 1/2 inch black polly line about the same distance to a stock tank. The pressure is still good with it. I bought one 500' bundle at walmart and the other at our farm ranch store. Matt

 

[tommu56]

I suggest looking for well pipe at a plumbing supply store I got a 400 ft roll of 1" they had 600 ft rolls too it

here is a link to a manufacturer with flow data.
http://www.cresline.com/pdf/cresline/flexiblepipe&ftgs/pe161cts.pdf

tommu

 

[Steve_Miller]

2.306 feet of elevation equals 1 psi for water.

Online Conversion - Pressure Conversion

Steve

 

[SCRich]

Great info continuing to come in even though it's a bit older of a thread, thanks! Sounds like Poly line so far is not only the way to go but also the least expensive way, wow is that rare! It sure is easyer to carry a 600ft roll in a pick up truck than hundreds of feet worth of 20ft sections of PVC.

Now my problem is coming to terms with parting with the money to rent or hire a trencher and possibly run electricity for a pump. As with most people in America now you either have no cash or you are one of the lucky few with cash but are very selective on what you spend money on. A month ago I was more lazy than cautious, now it's the other way around!

 

[kenmac]

when you don't have alot of pressure to play with . You can use a larger pipe for volume. If I were running 140 ft to supply a house . I would run atleast 1''

 

[hayden]

Did you ever tell us what the elevation change is between the house and garden? It's one of two factors that will impact your pressure at the garden.

As mentioned earlier for a change in elevation, you will see a drop (or gain) of about 1 PSI for every 2.3 feet of rise (drop). This is the net difference in elevation between the house and garden. It doesn't matter how much up and down there is in-between.

The second source of pressure loss (and it's only loss, never a gain) is friction as the water flows through the pipe. The loss is a function of the amount of water flow and pipe size and type. If you do a google search for Pipe Friction Loss you will find a number of calculators that will tell you how much pressure loss you will get over the 900' for different flow rates.

Add together the two sources of loss, and you'll get your number. I'd suggest running the numbers just to be sure. Anecdotal advice is great, but everyone's circumstances are different. All the work is cutting the trench and installing the pipe, and you really only want to do it once. The difference in cost between the pipe sizes is unlikely to be very large. Also, I'd suggest the 160 PSI poly pipe, not the 100 PSI stuff the home depot and other box stores sell. You'll see a notable difference in the wall thickness and durability of the pipe. The heavier stuff is also much less kink-prone, and kinks in the light stuff will often lead the leaks.

 

[tommu56]

MPrewitt

Even if you have to go to 2" to cut friction loss and eliminate a pump it would be cheaper in the long run pumps aren't cheap and electric is getting worse by the minuet.

tommu

 

[RonMar]

Well concidering it is a flower bed that you have been watering with buckets, and you are not planning on running a shower with it, you probably don't need much volume. You only get pressure loss from friction when there is flow. If your head isn't too great already, you could probably run it in 3/4" and be just fine. Most flow tables I have seen express the friction loss in the form of additional head. For instance, in my little black book-o-knowledge, 3/4" PVC at 2GPM flow has a head loss of just under 2' per 100' of pipe length. For a 2GPM flow at the end, that would be like pumping up an additional 18' of hill for your 900' run. 4GPM would add around 50' of head losses in 3/4" pipe.
Since friction is a factor of pipe cross section area, going to 1" pipe for the same 2GPM would only add about 1/4 the head, or 4.5' for a 900' run. 4GPM thru 900' of 1" pipe would add about 15' in additional head thru friction.

The smaller pipe would probably quite happilly run a soaker, drip system or small sprinkler head just fine, without overwatering/flooding the flowerbed. With this in mind, I would put in whichever size I could get and install with the least expense.

Good Luck.