Water Supply

[bky]

hello i just put in a 1200 ft line this past summer and i used black pipe with a rating of 180psi it was 3/4 ip size.
i had to replace my old pipe because rocks were poking in it.
with the ground movement, the previous owner had installed it and it didnt look like it had been backed filled with anything but what was taken out to put the pipe in.
so when i did it i used sand and put min 6" on the bottom and the same all around it.
i found all the leakes were on the bottom of the pipe from the rocks.
after fixing it atleast 3-4 times a year .
i would not recomend using 10 or 20 ft lenghts.
black pipe that i used comes in 400ft 200ft and 100ft lenghts and can be purched or ordered at local supply house

 

[JJT]

I have an 800' run and used heavy duty 1" black plastic, (160psi), run in 4 inch ADS N-12 10 years ago. No problems to date. Most folks around here use the standard 80psi and direct bury it. At my local farm store you can get the HD in 660' coils. I don't splice, even if they are o-ring. I think a continuous run is the way to go, (or in your case and mine - 1 splice).

 

[Hillbilly]

<font color=red>I too would install continuous pipe and try and eliminate all of the joints possible.</font color=red>

Well said,the less joints,the lest chance of a leak.

 

[gerard]

whichever way you go I'd listen to the advice re sand back fill etc. My father in law is a retired engineer type from a large electrical company. When they used to backfil for electrical lines they'd sandwich the lines between two 1x6 pressure treated boards for the whole run just to prevent rocks from abrading the cable over time.

 

[buckeye]

Thanks for the info. When we built a new processing plant at the chemical facility I work at, we used this type of pipe for our underground firewater mains. This stuff is great. I didn't know they made it in sizes down to 1/2" For our plant we used 8" size rated for 200-psis pressure. The contractor used a special machine to weld each piece together. Pretty neat stuff.

 

[Bird]

80 psi pipe? What kind of water pressure do you have? The only time I've put a pressure gauge on mine, it was 84 psi and I like to have some "cushion" well above the maximum pressure I ever expect.

 

[GlennT]

I'm surprised to read that you hve 84 pounds pressure. I've had two systems in two rural homes and the pressure tanks in both were set so that the pump would turn on at 30 pounds pressure and shut off at 50 pounds pressure. 84 pounds is more like what I've experienced in a small-town municipal system.

 

[Bird]

GlennT, we don't have a well; we're on a "community" water system. Our system buys the water from the City of Corsicana and then we have 4 pump stations, and I'm a couple of miles slightly downhill from the pump station that supplies our water. I have a shut-off valve AND a pressure regulator on the line coming into the house, and have that regulator turned down so we only have about 40-50 psi in the house, but the outside hydrants have the full pressure (sometimes hard on garden hoses, but pretty nice when you want to wash something like the tractor)./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[GlennT]

Thanks, Bird. I thought for a minute there that my system wasn't performing "up to snuff."

 

[JJT]

Bird, Standard black plastic is rated for 80psi, I prefer the heavy duty/thick wall 160psi. I have a 40/60 psi pressure switch. The heavy duty pipe is only 30% more than the standard. I also double up on the clamps, using 4 clamps per splice, instead of 2. Overkill I know, but if you're going to do something, do it right and do it once! JJT