We have encountered a major leak (22k+ gallons a day) in my original poly line that we cannot locate. Well, we know where it is but we cannot get to it safely as its greater than 5 feet under a cement landing at the top of our cement stairs. The hole we started digging trying to get to it already collapsed once and without shoring it up, its just not safe to continue. Complicating things is we live on a slope so we dont exactly know how deep it is buried. We'd have to rip out the cement stares, landing and move a lot of dirt to find it which may cause more erosion issues of the house and side buildings than its worth. This take us to our next option(s) 1. I have called out few plumbers and have a quote for $10k to Line Bore a new 100 foot line that will have a 2" conduit then PEX run through it. This would make it easy for future replacement if needed. (most costly) 3. Dig new alternate trench down side yard then to the house through the side of foundation to main connection. Quoted @ $6k - Could use PEX or POLY but not sure which is better for directly buried in the ground. (2nd most costly though I could probably dig it myself as I have an Excavator - this just makes a big mess doing it this way) 2. Trench-less replacement. I have been researching this one and I can get the tools myself for under $1k then pull a new line. Back to the PEX vs Poly for underground water line. Which is better? Cons on this is the cable that pulls the old line out (or splits it) can get caught, snag or break then I'm stuck going back to one of the other options. I have high confidence I can get it done and it may be worth the $1k buy-in on tools to save $$. Anyone have experience pulling a trench-less line or using PEX vs POLY for an underground water line? Total distance will be 90-100 feet.
Can you pull 1" pex thru the existing poly line and use the poly as a conduit? I've dug up pex intentionally when I ran a new line to my outdoor boiler, I wrapped it around the teeth of an excavator and pulled, it never broke, I was surprised at how strong it was/is
You can do either really. My house was built in 2017 and they used PEX. The only thing to watch for is that PEX doesn't sustain damage as well as HDPE. Our builders here have taken to running a PEX line through a larger HDPE sleeve so that if the line ever has an issue, they pull the line through the sleeve and run a new one without having to drill.
I had a similar leak a few winters ago, and was able to feed a 3/4" pex line down through the old 1" poly line. I turned up a wooden plug for the end and rammed it through from the basement side. It was to be a temporary fix until I could dig it up in the spring, but there's nothing more permanent than a temporary repair...... When I replace it, I'll put in a 2" conduit so I can easily slide in new line whenever it's needed. Well is only about 40' away. I tried to repair a poly line running to the barn, and could never get it to stop leaking, so I just eventually abandoned it. If you try a repair, good luck. I had zero fun trying to fix that line working down in a 4' hole. Less fun digging the hole too.
Hmm, didnt think of that, I will have to check the inner ID of the poly. might work if I ran a new 3/4 in pex line vs 1" Thats the idea behind the line boring and putting in the 2" conduit sleeve. Can run a new line whenever its needed. Trying to avoid that cost though. Going to look into that, running the 3/4 down the middle. Do you get enough water flow/pressure still? The digging sucked! Irony is I have an excavator to dig for me but because its between my house and small out building, there is no room for it there. Has to be manually dug out. 5' down and we (my neighbor and I called it quits because of safety.
Surprisingly yes. My well is right at the limits for a shallow well pump, but there's never been any noticeable difference. At first I was really careful about running the dishwasher and laundry etc all at the same time, but now a few years later anything goes. I say that, and I'll come home tonight to a blown well pump or something lol. We've been planning on a basement reno for a while, which is the reason I haven't done anything about it. I want to change where the line comes in, and there are a few barrier projects in the way before I can do that. Maybe next year..........
How old are you.....just running some plastic pipe should last 20-30-40+ years...will you be around long enough to need to pull another pipe thru? Will you still own the house? You wont get $3k more if you sell and tell people they can easily run a new main water line. Just run a new smaller line through it and leave it for the next guy to pay $$$$ to replace.
I know it is different, but a couple years ago, I switched my building water from a 1-1.5 inch main to .75 because it dropped my base monthly water bill price 50%. We still have plenty of pressure. We have 4 bathrooms and a couple showers, but in reality never have 2 showers going at once.
Whatever size you decide on I would get some electrician wire lube from Home Depot to make the pull easier https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Premium-Synthetic-Wax-1-Quart-Bottle-56117/100660155
Assuming his meter is like mine, you can call the utility and they can give you real time usage on the daily.
Plan to give the house to our only child (he's 14 - I'm 52) so want the best we can. That's always a solid call getting new tools! Turns out after calling the trench-less tools company, I'm over the length they recommend and as I have a 90 degree bend, they dont recommend trying to pull it. The meter is pretty easy to read. On revolution of the needle is 1 cubic foot of water or 7.45 gallons. It takes the needle 30 seconds to go around once so 15 gallons a minute. We finally did a bypass and shut it off completely as it was just flowing way to much.
True...as long as you don't run any water. As soon as you start flowing, though, pressure drop will occur, The higher the velocity of the flow (ie smaller diameter pipe) the more delta-P for foot of pipe. Someone who has laid a lot of pipe ought to know better!
