Water line bid

[JRobyn]

Hi TBNers,

Well after several years of trying to decide if a well would be adequate at our remote homesite, we got the bid to run the water line down our road to the homesite yesterday. Just shy of $30k. This also includes regrading and gravelling the road, and totals over 3800 ft. I guess it's not too bad, considering that several neighbors have recently sunk (pun) between $5k and $9k in wells, one of which was dry, and one is producing only a little over 1gpm. The waterline itself, including trenching through mostly rock, 2" class 200 slip-joint pipe, all valves, meters, fittings, etc., is about $20k of the total. I'm thinking that $20k for a sure thing beats what we and my in-laws would have in two wells that may or may not be adequate, and would cost between about $5k minimum to as much as $20k max. Plus, I can branch off the main line for a few yard hydrants along the road that will be useful for fire protection.

My question now is what size main tap/meter to have the county put in. They want a bunch more for a 2" tap than they get for just a "regular" 3/4". I think that the only time I'd really need high flow would be for fire. I'm thinking of 3/4" or 1" hydrants anyway, so I don't know if I'd really get much advantage from having the larger 2" tap and meter. The area that I'm in appears to have very high main line pressure, I'm guessing about 100psi or more. What do you guys think?

 

[gws]

Thats a lot of money for water, is this a fulltime or partime home? If its a primary home then maybe its worth it, if its a vacation/getaway then maybe not.

1gpm is low but with wa cistern/holding tank in the mix would be fine. A few hundred gallon under ground take feed from 1gpm would meet most family needs.

 

[JRobyn]

Right now it's the in-laws barn and 12x24 cabin. Within a year or so we will add our full-time primary residence (probably about 2000ft2, 2 or 2-1/2 bath) plus our barn. Another year or so should add the in-laws full-time primary residence.

Also after reading curlydaves post about water temp, I thought it might be useful to add that the main line at the road is at about 980 ft elev, and our line will mostly drop from there. Our end will be at about 920 ft elev. So I have a little gravity on my side.

 

[_RaT_]

Right now it's the in-laws barn and 12x24 cabin. Within a year or so we will add our full-time primary residence (probably about 2000ft2, 2 or 2-1/2 bath) plus our barn. Another year or so should add the in-laws full-time primary residence.

Also after reading curlydaves post about water temp, I thought it might be useful to add that the main line at the road is at about 980 ft elev, and our line will mostly drop from there. Our end will be at about 920 ft elev. So I have a little gravity on my side.

Without water you have nothing. I think the investment is well worth it. Even if for nothing less then the additional benefit for resale. It will cost more down the road. If you simply need water for domestic and not irrigation, the smaller tap should work out fine. Putting in the 2" pipe is smart. Your friction loss at those lengths would be substantial. If you do indeed have 100 PSI at the main, thats a bit high and will be higher if you drop down in elevation from it. The easy solution is to regulate it. I always put one garden valve in before the regulator for full flow for maximum flow/PSI just for emergencys.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I bought my land I didn't have any water to it, but there is a water main right at the highway. I talked to the water department and told them what I wanted. They said I had to have it installed by a licensed company. It's a six inch line that runs 700 feet into my land.

The best bid I got was $30,000.

That was rediculous, but over time I made friends with the guys at the water department and the guy in charge. When it came time to put the water line in, they got me the materials at there cost and tax free. Pipe, valves and meter for $9,000. I sold the land I was originaly going to use to bring the water in, so I had to do a road boar under a State Highway. They took care of it for a cost to me of anther $3,000.

Then they let me install the line. They inspected it to make sure I did it right, and that was about it.

You have a much longer run than I do, but it seems kind of high at $20,000 for materials. Who's giving you that number? Here, the water company isn't allowed to make a profit on materials, just water.

A rule of thumb when sizing pipe is that every half inch up in size you go, you increase your volume by 250 percent. This is a rough figure, but works fine for general figuring.

A one in meter would be fine for a single home, but it's on the light side for two homes plus a cabin. I'd go inch and half.

They run 2 inch lines down the county roads here to service dozens of homes along miles of road. One 2 inch line will handle an allot of homes. It's way more than you'd ever need.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[RobertN]

Double check what is required to put that main in. We looked in to putting a main down our road, for ourselves and 4 neighbors. To hook up, we needed a Fire Department checkoff. We would have to run a large main and install a fire hydrant for the codes in our area. As a fire fighter, I would not mind having a hydrant in front of my property. It did, raise the price of the project. We're still thinking about it.

Also, split it with you neighbors. You could really cut the price per property.

The subject of your post caught my eye. A friend had a band called "Waterline". He got the idea from a toilet In the tank, there was a mark that was labeled, "Waterline" for the fill line.

 

[_RaT_]

Double check what is required to put that main in. We looked in to putting a main down our road, for ourselves and 4 neighbors. To hook up, we needed a Fire Department checkoff. We would have to run a large main and install a fire hydrant for the codes in our area. As a fire fighter, I would not mind having a hydrant in front of my property. It did, raise the price of the project. We're still thinking about it.

Also, split it with you neighbors. You could really cut the price per property.

The subject of your post caught my eye. A friend had a band called "Waterline". He got the idea from a toilet In the tank, there was a mark that was labeled, "Waterline" for the fill line.

Robert, I'm on the board in our valley to put in a whole new system. Since it is private, it is our cost. We want/need new full flush hydrants, fire dept wants 1500 gpm minimums with 20 PSI minimum at that flow. That means 8" pipe to have less then 7 fps flows. Our system is complex as we have raw water for irrigation which is deleivered to us via variable frequency pumps, a 30 HP and a 25 HP secondary. Consequently, we have 2 water lines servicing each residence. Anyway, we have 162 residences to feed and 3 or 4 lakes to supply. Our main lake is our emergency reservoir as well as our swimming lake. I am in the middle of reading the engineers study to add some input as to how best to proceed. Besides the logisitcs of how to run the new lines with minimum disruption, we also need to analyze material. Ductile iron pipe or DIP, C900 PVC, steel and HDPE (high density polyethylene) All have benefits and disadvantages but the cadillac system is DIP as well as the most costly.

 

[BillyP]

My question now is what size main tap/meter to have the county put in. They want a bunch more for a 2" tap than they get for just a "regular" 3/4". I think that the only time I'd really need high flow would be for fire. I'm thinking of 3/4" or 1" hydrants anyway, so I don't know if I'd really get much advantage from having the larger 2" tap and meter. The area that I'm in appears to have very high main line pressure, I'm guessing about 100psi or more. What do you guys think?

A 3/4" meter is rated at 15 GPM. That's a lot of water.

 

[RobertN]

Our main lake is our emergency reservoir as well as our swimming lake. I

You are on a lake? Now we have to meet, so I can put my RC sailboat on the lake

Yes, we need one hydrant in our system if we go forward with it. Ours is a simpler single line system. It is still expensive though!

 

[turbo36]

A 3/4" meter is rated at 15 GPM. That's a lot of water.

I would bet it would be a lot less then 15 GPM at the end of the 3,800' line, that is a lot of friction loss, my guess would be around 5 GPM at the hose end. I would do a google search for a friction loss calculator and see what you come up with.