Water Line to barn questions

[CliffordK]

The well is unknown. I tried to find out some information from the county but they did not have any records of it since the well was put in, in the 1960's before they began keeping records on wells. Any ideas how to determine what I have water wise in the well?

Do you know how big of a pump you have?
Does the starter capacitor have a HP rating?

Have you ever pulled the pump (and thus know the depth) (and water depth, which can be significantly less than where the pump is located).

For your current pump, you could disconnect it from the pressure tank, then run it wide open and time how long it takes to fill a 5 gallon bucket.

That, of course, won't tell you if you can put in a larger pump and run a 6" irrigation line from it.

 

[Lou66]

I ran about 800 foot of 1 1/4" 160psi black poly,, from the well to the barn,, I get more water than I need.. garden, stalls, wash down, rest room, equipment washing,, The reason I run a big pipe was I buried it three feet deep and run it along the fence line.. the reason for the 3 foot was if I decide to move my fence or someone else I or them won't have to worry about cutting the water line.. all of my fencing is two foot to thirty inches deep..it came in 300 ft lengths..so every 300 ft or less I came up with a riser,, all connection are above ground at a H post on the fence line.. but the main reason I ran inch and quarter was if I get a leak,, I am not going to dig it up.. it will become a casing for a smaller piece of piping.. Good luck on your,, there is lots of good information here.. Lou

 

[don45640]

Well,if it were me,I'd encase it in 3" thinwall,since it's only 200' . That way,replacement down the road is easy as pie.Also,if the thinwall is pretty tightly glued, it'll indicate a leak by filling up around the 1" line. don-ohio ^)

How much water do you have at the well?
What are you doing with the water in the barn?
Livestock?

My parents ran 2" PVC from their well to their barn. They added PVC risers every 40 feet or so with the thoughts of later installing fittings for irrigation, but never did it, and periodically would break off the risers... (driving over them or something) not the best of plans.

However, they have lots of water at the barn. They use a 1" firehose to wash stuff such as washing out horse stalls, or washing down the concrete outside of the stalls. It is nice to have lots of water and lots of pressure.

Are your pipes buried?
Are you irrigating?
Watering plants?
Do you need water elsewhere, near the barn?
How much water at the pump?

I just bought 300 feet of 1 1/4" black poly which I don't think was prohibitively expensive. Is it better to bury poly or PVC?

 

[schweizer]

it will become a casing for a smaller piece of piping..

Excellent idea.

I would run at least 1" diam PVC, and probably more like 1 1/4". You just never know what you'll need it for. 3/4" is just too limiting. For my own barn which is about 200' from the house, I ran a dedicated 2" PVC line for a fire hydrant (gravity fed from 5000 gallon tank), and separate 1" PVC for faucets inside and outside the barn. It all depends on your fire risk, possible future irrigation needs, # of animals, etc.

 

[Ranger Rick]

I repaired the pipe to the old barn with a coupling yesterday. The existing pipe is only one shovel length into the ground. I missed finding the leak initially by less then 6 inches. I turned the water back on for a couple of minutes to find out which way I had to go. The pipe had a split in it. I had a dump truck load of gravel drive across that area a few month ago and that may have caused the problem.

I did some research into the pricing of pipe. I was surprised that the 1" coil pipe is a lot more expensive then PVC. The prices I found were $.82 per foot for a 300' coil. The 1" PVC in 20' bell end sticks was only $.40 a foot from Lowes. The 1 1/4" PVC is $.51 a foot in 20 foot pieces.

Right now I am thinking I will put in the 1" PVC when I finish getting the siding on the new barn. I have water for the time being so I will try to finish one project before I start another one. It will also give me time to think about where I want to run the line and other places that I want to have water at. Thanks for all of the insight from everyone. Lots of ideas and things to think about. Rick

 

[LD1]

Wow, that seems high for the black coil pipe.

I can buy a 800' roll of 200psi black pipe here at menards for $335. Thats about The same as your sticks of PVC per foot, but all one run with no connections...

 

[Ranger Rick]

Wow, that seems high for the black coil pipe.

I can buy a 800' roll of 200psi black pipe here at menards for $335. Thats about The same as your sticks of PVC per foot, but all one run with no connections...

I will definitely look around to see if I can find a good price when I am ready to do it. Rick

 

[eddie48]

If you are planning to run just from the old barn to the new one and are concerned about water flow, why not put in a pressure tank in the new barn (perhaps in an underground sump)? That will give you short term flow at much higher volume than you can get through small diameter pipe all the way from the house. Doesn't seem to make much sense to run large diameter pipe from one barn to the other if you have only 3/4" to the first barn.

 

[CliffordK]

Personally I would use the heaviest grade pipe you can get. You are replacing the pipe you have because it just isn't cutting it. That is, unless you get a super deal on something else, and can economize the installation.

I forgot how much of a drop you said you had. But, water has a pressure of about 0.43 psi per vertical foot.

So, say you have 70 psi at the well head, 50 foot drop (22psi), that gives you about 90psi at the barn. It may drop when you're using the water, but it could be high when it is just sitting in the pipe.

 

[cisco]

I used 2 inch Sch 40 (20' lengths - easy to connect, and also bend a bit) the 300' needed from well to tractor shed and garden (level ground). I've a 1 inch outlet and hose for washing down stuff, and the rest are conventional. Note I dropped down the pipe diameter at a junction where the pipe to the garden, pipe to the shed plus a third capped off "in case of future need" go their separate ways - all 1 1/4 inch Sch 40 dropping to 3/4 inch at terminations. The cost of 1 or 2 steps up in diameter pipe is not prohibitive, and no way I want to trench 300' (2' deep - mild weather climate) again.