Underground Water Pipe

[JW IN VA]

Here's a tip if you go with PVC. Lay it out and glue it together (behind where you want to start). Take a one row subsoiler and run your trench. Go back to the beginning, wire your PVC to the bottom of the foot (put a cap on pipe), put it in your lowest gear, and you can drag it right in. When you get to the end unhook the pipe and run both sides of the trench with your front tire. No digging and no covering. Have drug in 2000' foot this way.

See the posts about rocks! Around here we consider anything head size or smaller to be gravel. Sadly we don;t have much gravel, mostly rocks the size of cars.

+1

 

[John SD]

Here's a tip if you go with PVC. Lay it out and glue it together (behind where you want to start). Take a one row subsoiler and run your trench. Go back to the beginning, wire your PVC to the bottom of the foot (put a cap on pipe), put it in your lowest gear, and you can drag it right in. When you get to the end unhook the pipe and run both sides of the trench with your front tire. No digging and no covering. Have drug in 2000' foot this way.

See the posts about rocks! Around here we consider anything head size or smaller to be gravel. Sadly we don;t have much gravel, mostly rocks the size of cars.

+1

Yep. I've even got a rock the size of a big van or small motorhome above ground that a guy can look at. God musta put it there. Right in the section line fence corner, this rock is part of the fence :lol: :lol: :lol:

I should add that the team of D9's did not plow in the water line on their first pass through. They made 2 shallower passes with the subsoiler first before they socked it down the full 6'. HDPE is quite stiff stuff and requires some digging with a backhoe around tank locations for the finish work.

The tools available to hot weld the pipe together are either electrically heated or with acetelyne torch. Heat,twist,and push. You got ONE shot at doing it right or you screw up the joint.

My water line job was done 2 different years with 2 different contractors. One used the torch tool. The other had a generator in the pickup.

2nd guy had a huge modified track hoe with ripper mounted on it and a big Komatsu crawler in front. 2nd guy was kinda fancy, even brought a microwave along and used the generator to warm up lunch :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Newberry Creek]

I also run a small wire with it so I can locate it when I dig in that area. Learned the hard way digging post holes and worst of all when putting up the tent for my daughters wedding. Hit the darn water line three different times!

 

[msplmtneer]

Whatever you use bury it at least a foot below freeze line in case of a unusual cold winter. :tiphat:

 

[John SD]

Whatever you use bury it at least a foot below freeze line in case of a unusual cold winter. :tiphat:

X1000. Neighbor has water to a lot that was put in back in the early 60s and is only 4' deep. Freezes every year :roll:

 

[HDRider]

What would a reasonable cost per foot installed using 1 1/2 schedule 40? It is a 2500 foot run.

 

[John SD]

What would a reasonable cost per foot installed using 1 1/2 schedule 40? It is a 2500 foot run.

I dug out some old paperwork from the largest single portion of my water line projects that was done at one time.

1 1/2" 200PSI rated PVC was 45 cents/ft for the pipe, $1.05/ft for the trencher. 600 ft of backhoe work to get through rock was $2/ft.

160 lb rated 1" poly pipe for the close-in work was 60 cents/ft.

The grand total for 10000 feet of water line, all trencher/backhoe work, all hardware and float valves was $18650.45 The 5 water tanks I installed on this line are not included. 10' round fiberglass water tanks were an additional $949 + tax each.

These are July 2006 prices. Like most everything else, likely costs more now than 10 years ago.

 

[HDRider]

Thanks John.

Reading that, you are saying $1.50 a foot. I don't have rocks to worry with.

Was that turnkey?

Pipe is between .65 & .70 a foot now.

NRCS is saying they'd pay $1.51 per foot. I'm not using a NRCS program. I just use their pricing as a reality check.

 

[John SD]

Thanks John.

Reading that, you are saying $1.50 a foot. I don't have rocks to worry with.

Was that turnkey?

Pipe is between .65 & .70 a foot now.

NRCS is saying they'd pay $1.51 per foot. I'm not using a NRCS program. I just use their pricing as a reality check.

Sounds about right then. My project was turnkey as far as the water line itself. Tank installation, a neighbor helped me with. Those 10' fiberglass tanks are just about more than enough for a couple guys to manhandle by hand

I also forgot about gravel in my above figures. I hired a neighbor who owns a short bellydump to haul 2 loads of pit run gravel to each tank location. I dozed the gravel around after the tanks were installed.

Tire tanks on other portions of water line I did before and after this particular section the contractor put the tires and plumbing in place. I did the concrete work.

I did have a 5 yr EQIP contract with NRCS for cost share for all my water projects, so I had to play by their rules. I planted and fenced out a small shelterbelt and fenced out a dam to accumulate enough "points" to qualify. Seems it took about 3 tries over that many years to get approved.

It can be like getting in bed with Satan when you deal with Uncle Sam, but likely I'd still not be finished if I had done it all on my own. I wrote a check to the local contractor for his work upon completion. I'm certainly not used to writing checks that large :shock: I charged the fiberglass tanks on my Farm Plan at a local place and let that ride a bit until the cost share came back from Uncle.

One thing, our local NRCS staff are local people have always been helpful, efficient, they give you straight answers and bust their rears to do their job and do it right. Not your typical government workers Some have now moved on to other things or passed on, but I can't say enough good about them.