Putting in water line

Reid1650 · Mar 31, 2011

Can i drag this waterline in? It is the black 1 1/2" waterline. Was wanting to know instead of trenching then backfilling, can i drag the line in with the blade on the trencher like you would tile?? Thanks guys

buickanddeere · Mar 31, 2011

Depending on length but yes for some distance. Behind a moleball works better.

dej(Jed) · Mar 31, 2011

I pulled a line like that about 400 feet using a subsoiler. It took my crawler to pull it, but we did it. When done we cut the crimped end off and disgarded it of course. Also ran an 1 1/2 plastice line up a steel 3" gas line. Now that was a challenge.

old · Mar 31, 2011

Years ago I saw and used a device made for just that type of thing. We put in about 150 foot of black pipe that way but in this area we could not get it as deep as if really needed to be because of rocks. This thing was sort of like a middle buster with a part that feed the pipe down as you went. Took 2 people to use. One running the tractor and the other feed the pipe in

MSD · Mar 31, 2011

You didn't say where you are from. Can you get it deep enough to not freeze up in the winter? Here in SD we put water lines in 6 ft. deep.

Inno · Mar 31, 2011

I would rather have trenched/pulled a water line to our barn but because of the frost we get I had to go deeper than a trencher would go. On the upside, it allowed me to buy a tractor with backhoe from a neighbor because the wife wanted water in the barn. Went down 6-8' and have driven over it lots with no problems at all. Took almost a whole year to make things look pretty again afterwards, what a mess!

DoubleR · Mar 31, 2011

I too used a backhoe due to the cold and frost. Put it in twenty years ago about 5-6ft. down. I never had a problem with it yet. I sure didn't want to deal with a frozen line in the middle of winter with livestock to water. Its was about 200 foot long and cost me 400 bucks to put in back then. Money well spent.

JayinNY · Mar 31, 2011

Thats how they put in sprinkler lines for people to water there lawns, under ground sprinkler systems. I dont think it would be deep enought to prevent it from freezing though.

Reid1650 · Mar 31, 2011

Im in central ky

kyhayman · Mar 31, 2011

All depends..... Black pipe is notoriously easy to cut and nick. If you want a real mess try locating a small leak on a shallow line. Also, there is no real benefit from freezing if the line is only a few inches deep.

The black polyethylene pipe works great on top of the ground for summer temporary water. I've got some sections that have been in place since 1994 and are just now starting to show some solar degradation. Also, by having it on top of the ground the black pipe absorbs a lot of heat. Generally I havent had severe freezing problems down into the mid 20s with it on the surface.

If I was going to bury it at all, I'd do it correctly. Nothing worse than doing a job once and then getting to do it over again right. My personal bias for here is for glue joint PVC with at least 20 inches of cover on the pipe.

bc · Mar 31, 2011

They use about a D8 cat with a vertical blade on back to pull in that size conduit for fiber optic cable about 4 feet deep. See them go right along the right of way fairly fast. No vibrator like the little sprinker system models. Just knife it in. Instead of a front blade there is a carriage for a spool of cable. Sometimes the pipe is laid out in the ROW in advance or have the spool on a separate vehicle. They usually use a backhoe to dig a trench long enough to get it started. At waterways and road crossings and other obstacles, they just start their blade at the surface and go down at an angle to depth and come out later the same way. Then they use a backhoe at each end of the splice point and an angle drill to get the pipe under the obstacle. I've thought about making a blade for my hoe or to pull behind the tractor or pickup. Just need the flex stuff to slide the pipe in. Sprinklers guys pull in pvc as well.

rlp in Co. · Mar 31, 2011

They just put in a fiber optic cable here. They used two crawlers to put it in. The first one only had a blade and it broke thru the hard ground first or two or three times, then the second one came thru with the cable. You can see in the picture where the cable spool mounted on the front and ran thru near the operaters head. The foreman said they can make 5 miles per day. You can see the used spools that my neighbor used to make an excellent wind break.

IH2444 · Mar 31, 2011

In central KY the soil if often pretty shaollow and rocky. If rocky it would cut the pipe if you pulled it in. It also needs to be about 2 ft deep to prevent freezing 30" deep where I am if you are going to run "bought" water thru it.

JMS/.MN · Mar 31, 2011

To do that you would need a curved boot to gently bend the pipe as it goes in. How much can you curve that size by hand before kinking? If you do backhoe it in, consider laying it in larger pipe, or tile, for easier subsequent replacement. Tie the new to the old, and pull out the old.

Putting in water line

Reid1650

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buickanddeere

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dej(Jed)

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old

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MSD

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Inno

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DoubleR

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JayinNY

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Reid1650

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kyhayman

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bc

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rlp in Co.

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IH2444

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JMS/.MN

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