Best choice for under ground water line.

[Larry S.]

I have a well and pump house a little over 100 feet from my cabin and need to run a pressurized water line down to the cabin this summer. The line will be below frost depth but I want to be able to drain it in the winter. I have been considering PVC pipe for the line but am not overly fond of PVC. I like copper but the cost is out of line. I've had enough problems in my sprinkler system with black poly that I haven't considered it. Is PEX an option? Looking for suggestions and recommendations on the most cost effective underground water line material.

[bugman]

I would go with the PVC pipe. It is easy to install and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Years ago just out of high school I put in thousands of feet of in in pressurized irrigation systems and never had any problem with it. The big thing is to bed it with sand so that no rocks can get to it.

Jim

[MarkEkberg]

What is wrong with the black poly? I just did my camp with it 1 1/2 years ago.........

No problems yet. I hope.

Anyhow I have a pet**** at the tank which drains my tank, domestic water, and line comming from the pump. It drains into my sump hole and get pumped out.

[NickKent]

Probably not the cheapest, but they have direct bury water line. I just used some 2" last fall as a sleeve for a future smaller water line. It is nice stuff, and you don't have to worry about it breaking. I'd go for fewer joints method, because if the PVC breaks, you are gonna be pissed. Also, if you backfill the line with clean fill I think you'll be fine. That will save you some money rather than using sand. I would try to pitch the line if possible. That way you can drain it in the winter. Although it is a long run.

[444-4D]

What size line are you wanting to use? I think you can buy 100 ft of 1/2" copper for about $300.

[Larry S.]

What is wrong with the black poly?

I have twenty+ year old black poly in my lawn sprinkler system and it is developing pin hole leaks, a few more each year. I've been told that 20 years is about the lifetime of underground black poly by the sprinkler installers here.

Also, if you backfill the line with clean fill I think you'll be fine.

The soil here is mainly decomposed granite with a few rocks. I can separate the rocks from the fill but the fill will be like a dirt and gravel mix. Don't know if that would be OK or not but I do have a direct bury power line in the same material with no issues so far.

Anyhow I have a pet**** at the tank which drains my tank, domestic water, and line comming from the pump. It drains into my sump hole and get pumped out.

I think I have the draining worked out. I have a good 15 feet of drop from tank to low point of the line. I can put a valve in the low point and pipe the drain in a short trench to an even lower point and bring it out of the surface on a steep hillside. The cabin and tank should all drain from this one low point drain.

What size line are you wanting to use?

Thinking 3/4 but 1/2 probably would do. Tank outlet in 1 inch. I will price copper before committing to buying materials. I did use copper from the well to pump house but that is a short run. Pump is hanging on 500 feet of schedule 80 PVC with threaded couplers.

[NickKent]

the fill I used was trucked in and screened. It was still cheaper than sand. I did alot of compacting though. Compacted everything under the lines.

[SmokeyWren]

I have two wells connected to the same distribution system. Both wells use threaded 1" schedule 80 PVC in the hole. I used 1.5" schedule 40 PVC for the main lines from the pump houses to the house, total of about 200 yards to the edge of the foundation. Then it drops to 3/4" copper as it enters the house under the slab and heads to the two water heaters. From the water heaters I used rolls of 1/2" copper tubing under the slab (no joints under the slab).

Then I have about 20 circuits of irrigation lines that tee off of the 1.5" main line with 3/4" schedule 40 PVC. Hundreds of feet of 3/4" irrigation main lines, manifolds, and sprinkler/bubbler lines. The only 1/2" involved is at each sprinkler or bubbler the fitting is a 3/4"x1/2" "riser ell" or "riser tee" that allows use of common 1/2" risers.

The bigger the line, the less pressure drop you will have from the well to the fixture or outlet. So that's why I used 1/2" lines only after the water heaters and after I arrived at the bush or tree or flowerbed or garden to be irrigated.

My soil is sandy loam with no rocks. The only places I've had to repair is where I ran over it with a full-size backhoe after a rain when the soil was soft. That was plumber error in not burying the line deep enough and in not compacting the backfill hard enough. Or when I got too close with a DitchWitch trying to lay even more irrigation lines. Yes, sandy loam gets hard as concrete when it's very dry, and it hasn't rained much here in years, so a DitchWitch is nice to have when laying a pipeline. But repairing PVC lines is easy.

But I built that house 13 and 14 years ago, and most of those irrigation lines more than 10 years ago. Today, the plumbers all use PEX plastic pipe and fittings (not PVC) from the water heaters, and go under the slab to the outlets. PEX, or polyethylene cross-linked, is flexible enough to follow curves and turns and strong enough to be approved by all major building codes as a general water supply pipe.
Cross-linked polyethylene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My next-door neighbor built a nice $350,000 two-story house last year, and the plumbing is 100% PEX, from the wellhouse to the foundation, then under the slab as well as up the wall to the bathroom upstairs. The plumbing subcontractor was a real pro, and he said he hasn't used copper for a dozen years or so.

And for bigger pipe, the oil company that drilled and services the oil well near my back yard used 3" and 4" PEX as the pipelines from the wellhead to the temporary storage tanks for the crude oil and salt-water waste water. The well also produces natural gas that goes into a PEX line that goes a mile or so and joins with other similar lines to a pump station. So I'd get smart about PEX before I used the old-fashioned PVC from the wellhouse to the cabin, and I'd use PEX inside the cabin instead of copper. Last time I looked, this was 2009, in the 21st century.

[OMCUSNR]

Originally Posted by Larry S.

I have a well and pump house a little over 100 feet from my cabin and need to run a pressurized water line down to the cabin this summer. The line will be below frost depth but I want to be able to drain it in the winter. I have been considering PVC pipe for the line but am not overly fond of PVC. I like copper but the cost is out of line. I've had enough problems in my sprinkler system with black poly that I haven't considered it. Is PEX an option? Looking for suggestions and recommendations on the most cost effective underground water line material.

Good ole' sched 40 PVC is really hard to beat in that situation. Get it 12 to 16" deep, put 2" of reject sand in the bottom & backfill with native. Run a tracer wire with it. A good PVC glue joint is great, but if you want some give for repairs, they make PVC unions that work fine.

One thing about PVC, is to get it out of the sun. The UV will deteriorate it over time. When underground & under the frost line, it'll last a good long time.

OMC

[444-4D]

In a couple of thousand years when this planet is discovered by beings from another solar system, They are going to wonder what happened to the humans that once ruled this planet. After their investigaton is complete they will determine that we were wiped out from a total collapse of our industry and infrastructure because of all the plastic items we used.

[Super_Dave]

Originally Posted by 444-4D

In a couple of thousand years when this planet is discovered by beings from another solar system, They are going to wonder what happened to the humans that once ruled this planet. After their investigaton is complete they will determine that we were wiped out from a total collapse of our industry and infrastructure because of all the plastic items we used.

Yeah, like spending our time on computers.

[deadeye58]

pvc is fine

[Larry S.]

I'm leaning very strongly toward PEX. I cannot make a flat run to the cabin and the flex of PEX is a real advantage. Also the freeze tolerance of PEX provides a second layer of protection beyond burying below frost line. I am willing to spend more for those two features.

As far as bedding goes: trucking in sand is very exprensive. I am 40 miles from the nearest sand source. I do have a big pile of powdered granite rock from the well that I plan on using for bedding. According to an internet source powdered rock is acceptable bedding for PEX.

[griffy71]

I can tell you that mos likely PVC will not meet building code for domestic water piping. I do this for a living. Black poly is acceptable for undeground, copper tubing is acceptable, even galvanized is OK. Send me a PM with the location of your cabin and i iwill research the code for you.

[OMCUSNR]

Originally Posted by griffy71

I can tell you that mos likely PVC will not meet building code for domestic water piping. I do this for a living. Black poly is acceptable for undeground, copper tubing is acceptable, even galvanized is OK. Send me a PM with the location of your cabin and i iwill research the code for you.

Que?! Where/when did this happen? Around here Sched 40 and Sched 80 PVC are fine for domestic water. In a house it's not great - PEX is much better, but to the structure PVC is fine, and legal.

OMC