trenching

[dirt clod]

I need to rent a machine to trench 3000' of 1" water line. My soil is sandy/loamy with clay layer 2-3' down. A lot of the areas are very soft and muddy. I will be going by some trees so I'm sure I will hit roots. The pipe needs to be at least 24" deep. I can rent a ride on type or a walk behind. Which would be better? Would the ride on type be bad about getting stuck? Is either one faster than the other?

 

[LarryD]

I used a ride on to do 700' of waterline at my house. It took most of 8 hours but I'm in very rocky soil and had to move a few times to let my friend in with his backhoe to pluck out a boulder (nothing bigger than a VW engine...) For 3000' I'd spend a little more and sit down. If memory serves me right, it had some wide turf type tires that would do well in soft ground.

We also did a line for my neighbor a couple years later and for 100' we just got the walk behind.

 

[riptides]

I rented a walk behind ditch-witch. I think it is a brand name. I did some drainage work trying to move water. The trench was down about three feet and wide enough for drain tile. I did about 600 feet. I had it for the day, but after about one hour I was done and walking around asking the neighbors if they needed anything with it. I busted more of a sweat putting in the rocks and tile than I did walking the witch.

 

[flusher]

I need to rent a machine to trench 3000' of 1" water line. My soil is sandy/loamy with clay layer 2-3' down. A lot of the areas are very soft and muddy. I will be going by some trees so I'm sure I will hit roots. The pipe needs to be at least 24" deep. I can rent a ride on type or a walk behind. Which would be better? Would the ride on type be bad about getting stuck? Is either one faster than the other?

I dug about 1100 ft of 24" deep trench with a Ditch Witch 1330 walk-behind trencher that I rented from Home Depot. It worked pretty well.

However, that particular trencher is a bear to line up at the start of a trench since there's no differential steering on the two wheels. You have to muscle the 1330 into position and then start the trencher going.

If you rent a trencher be sure the cord on the recoil starter is in good condition. I was on the last 100 ft of trench when the cord on that 1330 starter broke. Took me 30 minutes to fix it--aggrevating after nearly 10 hours of work with that beast.

 

[Kays Supply]

I hope you don't plan on getting much water out of 3000' of 1" pipe. The friction loss will be so high you could probably pee harder than what will come out the end. Not being a smart a__ but I am a plumber and you won't be happy.

 

[srs]

I can rent a ride on type or a walk behind. Which would be better? Would the ride on type be bad about getting stuck? Is either one faster than the other?

Personally I would rent a rider. 3000' (for me) is quite a long distance and using a walk behind would be tough on you physically. If you decide to get a walk behind trencher what ever you do get one that is self propelled. You body will let you know if you don't!

 

[powerstroke444e]

If you rent one make sure you get a 1820 ditch witch or something bigger that has hydraulic steering or a 4wd ride on 3000' would be a long day with a walkbehind or a boring day with ride on.
If you hire it you should get someone to dig it for about a $1.25 per foot. And may be a cheap way to-go if you haven't ever tied in to a project like this. Don't forget to call for locates on the underground utilities. And be very careful and have fun.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

I hope you don't plan on getting much water out of 3000' of 1" pipe. The friction loss will be so high you could probably pee harder than what will come out the end. Not being a smart a__ but I am a plumber and you won't be happy.

What size would you recommend?

 

[Egon]

Could you Plough the line in?

Make life a lot easier.

 

[tommu56]

I need to rent a machine to trench 3000' of 1" water line. My soil is sandy/loamy with clay layer 2-3' down. A lot of the areas are very soft and muddy. I will be going by some trees so I'm sure I will hit roots. The pipe needs to be at least 24" deep. I can rent a ride on type or a walk behind. Which would be better? Would the ride on type be bad about getting stuck? Is either one faster than the other?

The size is dependent on the flow if you only need a gallon or 2 a minuet 1" would work.

The other thing I would suggest is polyethylene pipe you can get long lengths of pipe and save the splices.

You need to know the pressure to select pipe.

tom

 

[Soundguy]

I burried about 500'+ of 1/2" water line in my pasture a while back.. I got a self propelled walk behing bachine that had a bar deptch of 36" with an effective trench deptch of 32".. made about an 8" wide trough.. I had my friends nephew walk the machine while we started laying out pipe and supplies. we had all pipe glued and inthe trench and pressure testing in a few hours.. started at say.. 8am ( picked machine up at 7:30, then drove to my pasture ).. and returned the mahcine by noon, and got a 'half day rental fee instead of a full day. so say.. the machine ran from 8:15 to about 11:30.. so a lil over 3 hours for 500+'.. so you are gonna need something like that for a FULL day.. or a couple days. I'm not sure what the self propelled machines go for speed.

My pasture was sandy loam on top, and just into about 8" of red sandy clay at the bottom of the trough. perhaps 2" of thatched and small plant material on top, which the machine had no problem whatsoever cutting thru. Only stuck her once when we cut a cross trench and ran the tire into the trench instead over a plank ( nephew was young.. what'd you expect. )

soundguy

 

[powerstroke444e]

whats @ the end of the line IE what is the water going to? Then we can tell you what size pipe would be best I didn't even notice you said 1" over 3000'. If you are only going to water cows it will be fine but if its for a home you would want to go bigger.

 

[Soundguy]

ditto that. mine was just 1/2" line about 350' run from the pump to a fencline, then split off about 100' one direction, and 120' the other direction to feed a total of 3 troughs.. 1/2 is anemic for sure.. but I figure my total water use is only about 50g per day at most.

soundguy

 

[powerstroke444e]

if we were digging that I would use the trencher in my avator its about 70hp and would set the chain for as narrow as possible. It would be a several hour job with this machine, I would plan 5-6 hrs with no utilities, add 45min per line you cross. FYI it must me nice not having to worry about freezing, this time of year up here you would need a frost chain.

 

[Soundguy]

down here.. even if it freezes, anything a couple inches underground is ok

I have some water lines I burried around the peremiter of my barn for auto waterers.. the might be 3" or 4" deep.. but don't freeze ..

soundguy

 

[Kays Supply]

TOMMU56 has a good point. Poly is also much more forgiving if your are going to have much rock in you backfill. Like he said, your flow rate will determine the friction loss. Also elevation will effect the formula. You loose pressure at the end with elevation . I will lookup some basic friction loss numbers.

 

[Kays Supply]

Here are few numbers to play with. 1" PVC @10gpm@3000'= 116psi loss
1"PVC @ 20gpm @ 3000' =438PSI loss
1 1/2" @ 10gpm @ 3000' =15psi loss
1 1/2" @ 20gpm @ 3000' =55psi loss
2" @ 10gpm @ 3000'= 3.7psi loss
2" @ 20gpm @ 3000'= 13psi loss

You will loose 1psi for every 2.3' of elevation you travel from the source to your tap.

I couldn't find a chart for Poly but it would be a fraction less on loss. Like he said, pressure will also effect your choice. Hope this helps.

 

[tommu56]

I just stumbled across this link for flexible pvc never heard of it but here is the link.

Buy flexible pvc pipe at FlexPVC.com PVC pipe, hose, & pvc fittings online @ wholesale discount prices (flexable)

there is flow charts on the site too.

tom

 

[ctgoldwing]

as other psters have already said to properly size the diameter of the pipe you need to know the incoming pressure, flow rate and desired delivery pressure (if you are just dumping into a trough the delivery pressure could be 0). 3000' is a MIGHTY long run tho!

 

[TheGoose]

Don't forget that burying the line is half the work. Walk behind won't help you with that.