Plowing Over a Waterline

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Bill VA

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Anyone moldboard plowing over a waterline? What are the chances of snagging it?

Depth and exact location of this waterline is unknown.

 

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wfw

Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

I buried ours at two feet deep. if unknown I would try to find out if I could how deep it is.

 

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Roger Tomfohrde

Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Here in West Wisconsin it had better be 6 to 7 feet deep.

 

jon f mn

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Lol, just like Roger, any water line not over 6' deep won't be flowing water anyway. Even electric has to be a few feet down or frost will break it up. One thing that always amazed me was that you can't get a cool drink of water in the south without refrigeration because the lines are so shallow.

 

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Two Dogs

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Your chances of snagging it at my place would be nearly 100%. In the South we bury water lines just deep enough so we don't hit them with the lawnmower. TDF

 

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DaveBN

Member

Location

Western lower Michigan

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Have your local water witcher(dowser) find the line for you. Yes, I beleive the right guy would be accurate.

Dave

 

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rrlund

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Look at it this way,if you plow it up,you can bury it deeper so you won't hit it next time.

 

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rustyfarmall

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

(quoted from post at 05:16:39 03/25/18) Here in West Wisconsin it had better be 6 to 7 feet deep.

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Here in southwest Iowa, water lines are minimum 4 feet deep. Many are 6 feet.

 

grandpa Love

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Hey Bill Va, here is a trick we use to find water lines. Sprinkler systems are a nightmare for fence installers! We cut a wire coat hanger in half and bend it like picture #1. Then you hold them sorta loosely in your hands like picture #2. When you walk slowly across the yard the sticks X when you cross water lines. Also works on gas lines electric wires and sewer drain field now if you are plowing 1000 acres this may not be a great idea. But if you have any idea where the pipe is this will put you on it. Then dig down to find how deep is. Good luck. Kevin in Central AL

 

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wvfarmboy

Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

i would say you are ok to plow over it as long as its below the freeze line thinking you will plow 7 or 8 inches at most freeze line is what 14 to 16.

 

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newhollandnut

Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

If you have lots of rock in your area and it is a fairly large line that was dug in with a hoe I would avoid it. There was a 12? main installed over 30 years ago on two sides of my grandpas farm. Didn?t matter if you barely scratched it with a disk or plowed it you would be picking up rocks forever. I finally just started avoiding it all together

 

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David G

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Up here waterlines are 6-8' underground, pretty small chance to snag.

 

kcm.MN

Well-known Member

Location

NW Minnesota

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

No chance of hitting our water line. We helped install it, and the excavator operator said it needed to be at least 9' down. So, that's what it is -- a minimum of 9'. Even with that, it gets awful cold in the wintertime!!

 

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JD Seller

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

Well you can "witch" the line an then try and probe down to it to see if you can tell how deep it is. I know lines are shallower in the south but even there I would think they would be at least two feet or more but may not be. Anything shallower than that you should be able find pretty easy. If you can't find it assume it is deep enough.

Any I have put in you would not have to worry about. Under grass or farmed land I go six foot. Under driveways I like to go ten feet but will settle for 8 foot If I hit rock. The frost will go deeper under a traveled driveway. On one farm we had a carbide rock saw come in to get the water lines even to three foot deep. We laid a 4 inch PVC pipe with the one inch water line inside of it. Where I could I back filled all I could extra. That was ten years ago and so far it has never frozen. We have not really tested it in the last few decades. In the 1980s there was one month we did not get above zero. That really stresses things. Made chores fun too. LOL

 

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carvel minne farmer

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

no chance of that up here bill, all water and sewer lines are between 8' and 10' down, frost line here can go down to 7' some winters :lol:

 

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john in la

Well-known Member

Location

What part of in La do you not understand

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

You would think in Va it is deep enough.

But like Two Dogs said; in the deep south we bury water lines so we can cut the grass.
I put in 150 feet of water line to my daughters house with a middle buster.

 

Gary Mitchell

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

In central MO. our practice was to make footings and waterlines be at least 24" deep. gm

 

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Ian Beale

Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

How do you find a leak in that?

We don't have frost problems so the lines are a foot or so deep. In sandy soil it takes about 10000 (imp) gallons for the leaks to show.

 

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Cliff Nelson

Well-known Member

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

In WI we bury water lines as deep as we bury people.

 

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JMOR

Well-known Member

Location

TX

• Mar 25, 2018

• #1

(quoted from post at 12:06:42 03/25/18) You would think in Va it is deep enough.

But like Two Dogs said; in the deep south we bury water lines so we can cut the grass.
I put in 150 feet of water line to my daughters house with a middle buster.

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o true! In Texas, I have found power lines 4 INCHES deep! And this is not bull!

 

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Kansasredneck

Member

• Mar 26, 2018

• #1

Depth and exact location easily determined with said moldboard plow. Plus side, free showers.

Years back owned a rental house in the country that had a rural water line cutting across to the neighbor's house. My tenant had a horse, and it used the hydrant for a belly scratcher. Small puddle in yard when they moved. Called digsafe, and they were to have had every thing located by 4p.m.
Well, just after I started digging, the rural water guy showed up and told me he hadn't marked, but said I was ok since their line was ahead of my tractor. I put the bucket back in and came up with pvc and a geyser. RW guy laughed at me for not turning off the water before I started. Double checked, meter wasn't turning. I'd found his main that was just ahead of my tractor. Oops! We had to mend it live.

 

John Deere D

Well-known Member

• Mar 26, 2018

• #1

All water lines on our property are trenched 8 + feet deep. All electrical lines (220 Volts )on our property are trenched 4' deep:

Bob..850 miles North West of the Montana Border: