trenching

Soundguy · Dec 16, 2009

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.

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soundguy

powerstroke444e · Dec 16, 2009

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 · Dec 16, 2009

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 · Dec 16, 2009

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 · Dec 16, 2009

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 · Dec 17, 2009

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 · Dec 17, 2009

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 · Dec 17, 2009

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 · Dec 17, 2009

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!