Posted by Hal/Eastern WA on January 24, 2013 at 17:35:48 from (97.115.191.41):
I am going to have to replace the water line between my pump house and my house and am trying to decide what type of new water line to use.
About 36 years ago, I got my property. I had a well drilled, built the pump house and set up a mobile home. Between the pump house and the mobile home, I buried a 1" galvanized steel pipe as my main supply line. I bought the best quality pipe I could find and it was supposed to have been U.S. made. Burying it 5 or 6 feet deep, I hoped that I would never have to mess with that line again.
Years later, I built a house and got rid of the old mobile home. I connected the water line, also 1" galvanized pipe, for the new house to the existing main line.
Things went fine for more than 10 years and then I started getting increased rust in the water, and less volume out of the hose. Now I am sure that I have an or maybe many underground leaks in the original galvanized pipe. It seems to be leaking several gallons per minute and is not showing above ground--yet. But we also have been having temperatures down in the single digits and the ground is frozen down at least a foot.
It is obvious that I am going to have to replace the water line, however we have decided to try to wait until the weather gets warmer on the advice of a friend who will do the excavation. I am turning off the main valve in the pump house at night and opening it in the morning to conserve water in the fairly low producing well. I also turn off the main valve in the house, or the water in the house pipes will drain down and leak out the bad pipe. This works, but is certainly a hassle. Also, the water that comes through the piping when I slowly open the pump house and house valves has lots of rust in it. But switching the water on and off may be a way to make it through until the weather is better for doing the excavation and line replacement.
I am trying to decide what material would be the best for the new water line. It will not be galvanized! Suggestions I have had are to use the 200psi Poly pipe, which I understand is not the easiest to work with if it is cold, or to use PEX tubing. I plan to put whatever I use inside 2" PVC conduit for protection from rodents and rocks (I will be doing some bedding with fine gravel or sand) and the diameter of the line will be 1". The length of the line will be about 100".
Any experience with underground heavy Poly pipe or PEX tubing? Would you use that material if you needed to do a similar job again? Or is there another material that would be better? I would prefer something with the least amount of joints, as in my experience with other piping, joints tend to be the places where leaks develop.
The job is going to cost quite a bit and be a lot of work, no matter what I do. I am mostly interested in never having to redo the job again. I probably will not replace the galvanized I installed with the new house, at least this Spring.
Any opinions about which piping will work the best, long term? I sure wish I had installed plastic pipe 36 years ago, but the conventional wisdom at that time was to use galvanized, for long life, and also to achieve a good electrical ground.
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