Horizontal boring under driveway, costs etc.

[newbury]

BACKGROUND:
In Mississippi I've a water line that runs from the water main at the road to my out buildings and house (blue line).



I'm pretty sure it passes under my driveway as indicated. On either side of the driveway the ground slopes down about 6 feet lower (vertical)

Someplace the water line must be leaking because it used at least $20 worth of water while we were not there for a couple of months last summer.

I usually turn off the water at the main when we leave because I'm concerned about a potential burst pipe, especially during the winter.

My concern was validated the winter of 2014-2015. An outside pipe "blew it's cap" literally. I came down to the big shop bldg and the water was gushing, I capped it and we lost only about $10 of water.

I've asked a local plumber about looking for leaks and he advised me "just run new lines".

SO:
I could see myself digging the trenches to replace the line EXCEPT under the driveway. We are well south of the 5" average frost depth and the soil is sand and loam (NO rocks) so renting a trencher would be easy. But the driveway looks like a job for a horizontal drill. It looks like I can rent a 4" one for about $1K for a week.

I've also run across some horizontal boring equipment on auctions and they went for less than a weeks rental.

The driveway is about 30 feet wide where I would have to go under it, and I could trench right up to the edge on both sides.

So before I start calling up plumbers to get quotes I'd like to get an idea of the cost of doing it myself (with some help from male relatives).

Is it feasible? Cost effective? Any other TBN'ers done it?

 

[Billrog]

There's no need to drill either tie on to the old pipe and pull a new one threw or run a cable threw the old pipe tie it to the new pipe and pull the new and old pipe threw at the same time. I've done this many times under slabs, driveways, foundations & verandas.
I use my backhoe to pull the pipe but I'm sure there's many ways to do it.

 

[Stimw]

Or just jet the pipe through with water!

 

[Sprinklerman]

I am an irrigation contractor , I do this weekly . You can pull thru the old pipe sometimes . Or you can get 1 inch pvc and attach it to a 185 cfm compressor and blow your way thru with air , or you can arrach it to a hose and water jet it thru. Or you could use a missile , or a mole and shoot that under the drive . Thats about a $ 500 to 600 job in my parts . You could call a local irrigation contractor . They should have a missile , or bore rods . A horizontal drill is overkill , unless you want to drill the whole run.

I generally use the missile over 20 feet , in sandy loam , 30 feet takes about an hour if everything goes right , thats 2 ft under a drive , 5 ft is a deeper entrance and exit pit


When the drills hit the auctions , they are generally done . Unless you get one with the rods , and the head with the transmitter and a locator , its basically useless . Used transmitters and recievers are not cheap . A buddy of mine does drilling for plumbers , the machine is high maintenance .

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm with the others in either pulling a new line through the old line, or jetting a new line. I've never heard of missles, but like the idea of hiring an irrigation company to do it. Never thought of that before. I've done several lines under driveways with pvc and the tip sold at Home Depot and Lowes. If you do that, be sure to wait awhile before starting after gluing it together.

I would never, ever, buy a used boring machine and hope it would get the job done, or even think that I could figure out how to work it. While not rocket science, I still don't want to waste my time running old equipment when it's so simple to go a short distance using something cheap like water jetting.

What type of pipe is in there now? What are you going to replace it with?

 

[Sprinklerman]

HammerHead Mole(R) Pneumatic Piercing Tools Operations Training - YouTube

here is a missile in action .

 

[paulsharvey]

You asked, so I'll try an answer; somewhere between $2500-5000 for a HDD, horizontal directional drill; ie Bore, that's because it takes roughly half of a day, and a bore crew is priced at roughly $5k/day. That's not what you nees, as others said, missile, jet, or reroute.

 

[Handloader109]

You are in a rock free area, no boring needed.

 

[LittleBill21]

I am an irrigation contractor , I do this weekly . You can pull thru the old pipe sometimes . Or you can get 1 inch pvc and attach it to a 185 cfm compressor and blow your way thru with air , or you can arrach it to a hose and water jet it thru. Or you could use a missile , or a mole and shoot that under the drive . Thats about a $ 500 to 600 job in my parts . You could call a local irrigation contractor . They should have a missile , or bore rods . A horizontal drill is overkill , unless you want to drill the whole run.

I generally use the missile over 20 feet , in sandy loam , 30 feet takes about an hour if everything goes right , thats 2 ft under a drive , 5 ft is a deeper entrance and exit pit


When the drills hit the auctions , they are generally done . Unless you get one with the rods , and the head with the transmitter and a locator , its basically useless . Used transmitters and recievers are not cheap . A buddy of mine does drilling for plumbers , the machine is high maintenance .

you have a link to this tip your talking about

 

[Billrog]

If it's pvc or poly or anything but galv. under the driveway and you wish to run a larger pipe than what's there run a cable through the existing pipe make up a slitter or splitter of some sort hook it to the cable then your pipe to it and pull it through. Goes far easier than you would imagine.
When I worked for a natural gas company they would go under roads with a hydraulic thumper aprox. couple ft. a min it would pull a cable through then we'd hook to the cable and pull that gas line through.