Installing water service soon

[Mike058]

Anybody know how big a roll of 1-1/4" PE, 200' long is? I'll find out when I go the hardware store, but I'm curious. Will it fit in the short bed pickup, the 4x8 trailer with the 2' sides or do I need to bring the big 7x14 enclosed trailer?

 

[WayneB]

I would think it would fit in your truck okay. Not that heavy or big around. If you don't tie it down though it might roll pass you.

 

[Highbeam]

It should fit easily between the wheel wells. I've picked up and placed the 1" x100' rolls in the shopping cart. Light weight too. Let the stuff set out in the sun before working with it to help it become more flexible and lay flatter in your trench.

Now the 2" diameter rolls get very hard to deal with.

 

[KennethBrown]

At our rural weekend place the water company can turn up the pressure if needed. I run about 100' with 3/4" and if I turn on the hose full blast you'd better hold on. I actually called them to have it cranked down a bit.

Rob

Its plenty for me. I can run two hoses at the same time and still have ample water in the house. Our old house had a 3/4 main feeding 6 houses. That was slowwww....

 

[tallyho8]

Many people have said that there are no problems with an oversize water line but I have to disagree with this. We have a small rental house that is set back 1000' from the road and the water dept. ran a 2" pipe back to the water meter which is next to the house. The water meter is only 3/4" and the home uses little water. The water stagnates in the 2" pipe from lack of flow and turns cloudy. The water dept. had to come out and put a hydrant on the line right before the meter and about once a month we have to run some water out the hydrant to flush the lines. They said they would not have had this problem if they had used 1 1/4" pipe instead of the 2".

 

[_RaT_]

Many people have said that there are no problems with an oversize water line but I have to disagree with this. We have a small rental house that is set back 1000' from the road and the water dept. ran a 2" pipe back to the water meter which is next to the house. The water meter is only 3/4" and the home uses little water. The water stagnates in the 2" pipe from lack of flow and turns cloudy. The water dept. had to come out and put a hydrant on the line right before the meter and about once a month we have to run some water out the hydrant to flush the lines. They said they would not have had this problem if they had used 1 1/4" pipe instead of the 2".

What you say is correct. Loop systems are almost always designed by water companies for this very reason. Water companies also know that dead ends need periodic flushing. Remember, in many parts of the US, we now have code that requires "X" amount of flow for the fire department hydrants in residential areas. In our area, that minimum is 1500 GPM. In order to eliminate such large pipe to supply these flows at safe levels, loop systems are designed that allow water to feed a hydrant from both directions. The other obvious advantage is that you have continuous new water bringing in chlorinated water to keep things from getting fouled up. It is easy to design and select the right size line. Your little rental may never need more than 5 GPM. In that case, going to the sizing chart for the length of run you require, the type of pipe your using, you can get a perfect match. If in the future you ever decide to increase the flow demand, you are stuck. I'd rather slightly oversize my pipe and do a periodic flushing than to suffer from inadequate pressure as a result of an undersized supply line. In your case, a 1 1/4" 1000' long in just a matter of a week of no use will start developing HAA/THM's, the remnants of what is left after the chlorine has ozidized bacteria.

 

[ultrarunner]

I know a guy that used a $25 battery sprinkler timer to flush his main line for 5 minutes once a week... this was in CA... so freeze-up wasn't a problem.

 

[_RaT_]

I know a guy that used a $25 battery sprinkler timer to flush his main line for 5 minutes once a week... this was in CA... so freeze-up wasn't a problem.

Yep, quick and easy solution. You only have to do it once a week at most too.

 

[Highbeam]

Well sure taken to the extreme of a 12" dead end water main with a seldom used single service on the end would be a bad idea. Even the 1.25" line if you just let it sit for a year will get nasty. There is a balance where you need the line to be sufficiently large to prevent restrcition of flow but not so large as to have excessively stale water. Sometimes you have to decide which is more important, and I have never had someone willing to sacrifice water flow for the sake of fresher water. Sometimes you deal with it by flushing, sometimes irrigation.

I wish I was 1000' from the road!

Water companies don't design water mains. Engineers do. We loop systems for large peak flows, usually to meet fire demands.

Still Tallyho, good point, and I'm glad you brought it up.

Hey Mike: Iwas out on the Key this whole last weekend and found a freaking winery near Home! The girls loved it.

 

[_RaT_]

Water companies don't design water mains. Engineers do. We loop systems for large peak flows, usually to meet fire demands.

My local water company is home to many engineers,
well that and other stuff! Curious how folks up there do their water and comply with the clean water act. We have gigantic fresh clean water reservoirs in the ground. The largest is around the corner from me. It is a 62 million gallon reservoir. Water is treated at the rate of 120 million gallons a day being pulled from a lake through a 84" diameter pipe. The whole process is pretty amazing to see.

 

[Highbeam]

That is amazing. 120 MGD

Well Mike's water surely is a well fed system. The system typically serves 2-100 people from at least one well and usually includes at least a smallish reservoir for power outages and peak surges in use along with the typical expansion tanks. These systems do not provide fireflow in most cases and they are usually chlorinated only.

I work in a city with about 10,000 people and we also draw water from wells and springs. We use these sources to fill our reservoirs which are between 2 million and 50,000 gallons and up on the hill to provide gravity flow. We chlorinate also with no need for pH adjustment or filtration. Water mains are between 6 and 18".

The neighboring city of Tacoma built several dams on rivers and uses the reservoirs to supply vast amounts of water by gravity. These systems adjust for pH, add chlorine, and also flouride but don't filter as far as I know.

I would love to work for a water district/company/utility. It might be a little boring but water lines are easy compared to the other stuff. Clean water act doesn't get used much on the fresh water side of things, our sewage is treated and sent to the river though with pretty strict guidelines.

 

[mrfrosty]

I am fixing to dig a trench for my water which will be around 340+ ft from the meter to the house. I currently have a tap right next to to the tap I am fixing to hook onto and the pressure is poor. I call the rural water district and complained. They told me to take a psi reading and I did well it was 26 psi. The minimum is 25, so if my pressure was under 25 they would crank it up. The reason my pressure is so poor is because i am pretty much level with the water tower that supplies my water. I ran 1" black rolled pipe last time. I know it probably wont help but I am thinking on running 1.5" black rolled pipe. Is there any advantages of running larger pipe even if your pressure at the meter is low?

 

[_RaT_]

I am fixing to dig a trench for my water which will be around 340+ ft from the meter to the house. I currently have a tap right next to to the tap I am fixing to hook onto and the pressure is poor. I call the rural water district and complained. They told me to take a psi reading and I did well it was 26 psi. The minimum is 25, so if my pressure was under 25 they would crank it up. The reason my pressure is so poor is because i am pretty much level with the water tower that supplies my water. I ran 1" black rolled pipe last time. I know it probably wont help but I am thinking on running 1.5" black rolled pipe. Is there any advantages of running larger pipe even if your pressure at the meter is low?

You bet. Plan on or (fixin) to run a size larger, it will indeed help. If the utlity company has all gravity feed and your the only one with low pressure, you can fix or plan on one of two things, live with the low pressure or pay increased pumping costs per unit (748 gallons) of water.

 

[Mike058]

Hey Mike: Iwas out on the Key this whole last weekend and found a freaking winery near Home! The girls loved it.

Don't tell my wife