Water main broke :(

[Westonium]

Well, I was telling people I didn't think much of a sch40 PVC main spanning 650+ feet, that I hoped it made it through the winter, but it didn't.

It broke about 50 feet up from the pump house about 3 hours ago. I think I am going to patch it and wait for warmer weather.

I'll most likely be installing Wirsbo PEX as the main this time when I do.

Oh what fun.

 

[ByronBob]

My line broke the night before Thanksgiving dinner one year with 17 people coming in. I had to run a line from the neighbors house to mine for water. Oh what fun.

Sorry to hear about your issues. I remember it's never the right time but you have a good handle on how to do it right when the weather breaks.

 

[slowrev]

I like to use the heavy black poly roll pipe fed inside a larger pipe. The outside pipe protects the inner pipe from abrasions and makes the replacement of the inner pipe easy, just hook a new piece on one end and pull it thru. All water pipes flex just a little every time you turn the water on or off and a rock will eventually wear a hole in it, therefore the main reason for the outer pipe.

Ben

 

[Westonium]

That's a pretty good idea. I am going to bury some copper wire with it so it is easily locatable in the future. Today I am fixing it (just woke up, drinking coffee), but I want to stay on it and get my plan together.

So general best practices:
* Bury wire with the pipe - how heavy a gauge?
* Bury pipe inside another pipe - I'll be doing this plus burying a second conduit for running fiberoptic network cable (i'm geeky like this)

Of course, I'll be using a trencher and I've done plenty of trenching before, but any major pro tips out there?

 

[_RaT_]

I don't know what pressures PEX can take. I don't know what sizes it comes in but for the length you have to run, it is probably going to have to be at least 1.25" to keep the pressure drop to a minimum once the pressure tank is depleted. Even at that, 1.25" for 600' will definitely drop the pressure depending on flow rate. What you want to do is decrease the velocity of water in the pipe. The greater the velocity. the more likely damage will occur.

 

[Westonium]

I agree. The current pipe is 1.25" PVC. I don't know what the I.D. difference is between the PEX and PVC, but I am expecting the PEX to be thicker. I am looking at a chart in mm and I think its telling me that it would be about 3/16" thick for a 1.25" O.D.

I may go 1.5" instead. 2" seems overkill. 1.5" seems to be a slightly more common O.D. around here for some reason. I'll lay it fairly slack since I've read it can have as much as a 1.5% longitudinal change.

 

[Boondox]

I love my PEX, but never thought of using it for the line from the springhouse. Our springhouse is about 1/4 mile up the hill from us, probably 150' higher than the house, but only a 3/4 inch PVC line. It's buried shallow so we have a constant trickle into the basement cistern so it doesn't freeze, but being that shallow it gets a lot of action from stones and roots, so must be replaced every few years. I'm thinking that time is near. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

PEX. Did I mention how I love that stuff? We had a 1/2" line in the basement freeze solid one winter. The line swelled up to slightly more than one inch, but didn't rupture. We thawed the line and it shrank right back to normal size. It sure doesn't like sunlight, though. Gets all discolored and brittle!

Pete

 

[Westonium]

I've got the rupture uncovered. Its a bad glue joint at a 90 degree angle bend. It looks like it was botched before too because it has 2 different colors of glue around it, and doesn't go straight into the elbow but into a joiner and then the elbow. I'd never have done that. I'd have cut the elbow out and joined everything together fresh priming the pieces well and good with glue on all touching bits hammered into place with a rubber mallet if necessary (priming makes the PVC swell a bit). A joint done right won't come apart before the pipe does.

 

[_RaT_]

The purpose of the primer is to actually soften the exterior of the pipe. If you prime it and can't scratch a small amount of PVC up with your finger nail, it needs more priming. The older the pipe and particularly, the more UV it has been exposed to, the longer the primer takes to "eat" into the PVC. Gray glue is typically what I use. It is medium bodied so doing 2" pipe in the summer gives me some time to get the joint together. It also has the greatest fill ability and can be used on up to 12" pipe as I recall. I always try to turn my joint after the joint is glued. It's not always possible, but it does help. I prime everything except lateral sprinkler lines when all the PVC is brand new with no sign of oxidation. I also like to use duct tape to tie my cans of primer/glue together. I often find my ratio of primer is 30 joints and then I spill it on the ground. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Westonium]

30 joints? You're good. Very good. I spill mine in about 25 /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Right now I'm using RainR'Shine glue over the primer - more aggresive since its only 40 out there. I usually prime like mad especially when talking about joints that hold higher pressures.

The rupture is only about 20' from the pump house, so the pressure is pretty high. I'm waiting over night to turn the water back on. I want to make sure its good and cured.