water drill

[the viking]

I need to get a 1" conduit under my paved driveway without cutting it. I heard of people using a hose shoved into a pipe with a nozzle to water power drill the hole for the conduit. Anyone tried this method and have a how to?

 

[denchen]

I`ve used the method where you connect the water supply to a tube and push the pipe through soil. It works but doesn`t like big stones.

 

[Roadworthy]

It depends a lot on they type soil you've got. You need to dig a hole deep enough on one side of the driveway to get beneath the concrete and compact gravel. It is helpful if this is a trench allowing your pipe to lay level so you're not angled down. On the other side you need a hole of similar depth for the pipe to appear. If using rigid conduit you can connect your water line directly to it to clear the path. Expect to have to apply some force to move it through the dirt. There are also companies which can push a rod under your driveway them pull it back with the conduit attached (for a fee).

 

[herm0016]

i have done this under a sidewalk, but it was only about 4 or 5 feet. it was still a bit of a pain, lots of rocks, just to pull the dsl and comcast lines under. how wide is your driveway?

 

[bcp]

One of the ideas here may work best for your situation and equipment.

pipe under driveway at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

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Bruce

 

[grsthegreat]

How wide is the driveway. Ive run pipes under walks up to 10 feet across, but not easy. I use a kit made by Borit. Under Ground Boring Kits

works pretty good unless there’s lots of rocks.

 

[Diggin It]

I'd love to get a tube under my blacktop driveway, but with very, very tightly packed red rock gravel featuring baking potato sized rocks, I don't think it's an option.

 

[grsthegreat]

I placed 3” pvc at several points throughout my 300 driveway As it was built. Have used them for landscaping over the years.

 

[ns_in_tex]

I placed 3” pvc at several points throughout my 300 driveway As it was built. Have used them for landscaping over the years.

We pushed a 30' x 2" steel pipe with jet on one end and hose connection on other end, under our drive. Used our hydrostat tractor to push & pull with. When reached other side, cut off water, held a 1-1/2" pvc pipe tight against leading end by 2 men, while pulling steel pipe back out with tractor. Worked good for us.

 

[4570Man]

We pushed a 30' x 2" steel pipe with jet on one end and hose connection on other end, under our drive. Used our hydrostat tractor to push & pull with. When reached other side, cut off water, held a 1-1/2" pvc pipe tight against leading end by 2 men, while pulling steel pipe back out with tractor. Worked good for us.

I’ve never attempted one that long but I’ve pushed pipes under footers and sidewalks. That’s the method I would here.

 

[JK22]

I’ve seen another method with steel pipe and a sledge hammer. That’s basically how the guy I hired did mine, except he had this cool hydraulic rig. Much less effort.

 

[denchen]

Just as an idea, but I`ve never tried it, but I`ve bought a long flexible pipe that fits on my pressure washer, for unblocking drains. This pipe has a spring on the end with an inverted brass cone held by the spring. When the water is on, it forces the cone to thrash about so unblocking the drain. Now as I said, I`ve not tried this, but if that pressure washer pipe was pushed through a even a small plastic pipe with just the end sticking out, I think it might act like a drill.

 

[sodamo]

I was able to get 1 1/2” pvc under 12ft wide drive. Used to run 1” poly gas line.

Sadly, I wasn’t able to replicate success under the 42ft section and had to cut the concrete

But wife approved of results

 

[Egon]

There are nozzles available for water jet tunnelling.

 

[the viking]

My road is 12' wide with mostly clay soil. I thank you all for the helpful suggestions and will do a full description of my project with pictures upon completion! I built the road 40 years ago and I think if I go 12" deep I just might avoid rocks? I should have put more than just the water line under it!

 

[JethroB]

I’ve seen another method with steel pipe and a sledge hammer. That’s basically how the guy I hired did mine, except he had this cool hydraulic rig. Much less effort.

My brother had a fellow do the same under a paved county road but he used a TLB to push and hammer/bang the steel pipe under the road. The pipe‘s cap had a hole drilled through it with a bolt w/nut sticking through to act as a point. I’m pretty sure they didn’t ask the county for permission back then.

 

[stuckmotor]

There was a very informative thread on this topic on TBN several years ago. Since we don't seem to get a list of similar threads below the current one anymore the improved search feature might pull it up.

 

[jmargue1]

I`ve used the method where you connect the water supply to a tube and push the pipe through soil. It works but doesn`t like big stones.

Yes, I've gone over 20 feet under a driveway using water jet and pvc pipe and a garden hose. As noted elsewhere you need to be sure you don't start angling down and rocks or concrete are a problem. I had to start over on mine a second time because it angled down too much. The nozzle and hose fitting that you glue on are available at most big box stores. I think it might work on clay but may take a little more patience than in my sandy loam soil.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004S23H/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glc_fabc_QERPRA3TN1GMZVVZAM41

 

[PILOON]

Once had a culvert that was blocked from sand and silt.
I used a length of 1/2" electric conduit, hammered the end somewhat to form a crude nozzle and brazed a garden hose fitting on the open end.
Patience and my 60 PSI water pump did the trick.
Probably took an hour or so but then that was 8 years ago.

A new collector pit at the high end made for a more permanent solution.

 

[Diggin It]

I'm thinking of a variation on this. I'm laying 1" PVC pipe around the perimeter of the house to be able to inject insecticide in the future. Each section has a series of holes drilled at 6" intervals. The idea is to be able to pour the mix (using sweep ells that come up to the surface at each corner) in and let it seep out through the holes.

But I have one or two sections of concrete about 4' wide I'd like to get under. Obviously I can't use the sledge hammer trick to drive the PVC, especially with all the holes. I don't think it would survive without shattering somewhere.

I'm thinking about driving EMT to cut the hole, then extracting it to insert the drilled PVC. The extraction part has me wondering how much force will be required and if a chain, steel cable or something like a recovery strap wrapped around the EMT as a self tightening loop and tied to the tractor will hold the EMT enough to pull it out. Or maybe through drill the EMT and insert a bolt/pulling eye?