Water volume and pressure question

[Kenneth in Texas]

ok i have a 3/4 line running to the house from the meter, I need to tap on to this and run a line 255' to a shop. Dont need much pressure at the shop since it will only run to a outdoor faucet, used for washing hands basically. Now i have excellent pressure in the house, so how will I figure how many gallons per hour I will get at the shop? Obviously im sure i need to know that figure for the house to be able to figure it for the shop. The land between the house and shop is basically level with just a slight rise (1 foot). I want to tap on to the line running to the house before it comes into the house and put a cut off on the new pipe to the shop for winter weather, etc. Guess my question is will i have decent pressure and volume at the shop? Anyone know how I should go about figuring this?

 

[SPYDERLK]

You will have full static pressure at the shop, but as you try to get flow the pressure will drop due to friction in the [long] 255' line. For washing hands you can do fine with moderate flow ... like a strong spray, etc. If you want a strong bulk flow you will need to run a larger line to the shop. 1" coil pipe tubing would do well.
larry

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

so you saying it would be best to tap the 3/4" line with a 1" to the shop?

 

[Deere Dude]

Do you know what the pressure is at the place you want to tap into and do you have a water regulator before the house. Not knowing the pressure I would use 1" also like spyderlink. If the pressure is huge, like 120 PSI or so, maybe a smaller hose or pipe might work, but not much cost difference would be saved anyway.

For example, I have 120 PSI from the meter to the house and a regulator in the house dropping it to 50 PSI.
I would hate to go through the work putting that in and finding I was very unhappy with the flow and pressure.

As a test, string 5 or 6 water hoses together and see the flow you get.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

225 feet I might even go to 1 1/4 or 1 1/2. Rolled black poly is available in large rolls. Price to jump from 1" to 1 1/2 " probably won't break the bank. Add a little more length and tap in close to the meter.

Ron

 

[randy41]

you don't need much pressure to wash hands. 1/2" garden hoses strung together would deliver enough water to wash hands at 225'.

 

[k0ua]

you don't need much pressure to wash hands. 1/2" garden hoses strung together would deliver enough water to wash hands at 225'.

Agreed, I used to run 300 foot of 5/8 garden hose down to an area, and had plenty of water for hand washing.

 

[Sberry]

Yes, tap the 3/4 with 1 inch, it will give good service at that distance.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have way more than 350 feet of service line to my garden area from my meter. It is all 3/4" and I have excellent pressure and volume from my end of line faucet even going thru another 100 foot of hose. I have over 100 PSI at the meter so that may be a factor that you don't have.
My brother in law feeds his house with 3/4" which is about 400 feet from the meter with no problem. He then ran a full 10 zone sprinkler system for his yard that works fine even with another 300 feet of distance to the end.

I wouldn't worry about volume to the end of 225 feet for your shop and use the same size as your house feed line. Be sure that you tap in to the line before you get to a pressure reducer for the house. I have all my faucets on straight from the county water supply. I added pressure reducer at the house and again at my shop to reduce it to 45 PSI before entering the building but leave the 100-120 PSI for my faucets and sprinkler. By the way my longest run on the sprinkler is over 250' from the meter and all run with 3/4" pipe. It runs 10 sprinkler heads and they will spray a good 20 feet radius off each head.

 

[oldnslo]

Are you on a well or city water? Most well pumps have flow rating of 10 - 20 GPM depending on the HP etc. My well pressure switch is a 60 PSI kick out and 40 PSI on with 10 GPM pump. 1" line run 150 ft and I get full flow out of a frost free faucet for the garden.

 

[EddieWalker]

You are not going very far and you are only planning on one source to use the water from. I would stick with the 3/4 inch size since you will never notice any difference by going up in size for that length of a run. I doubt you would notice if you did the whole run in half inch, but that would limit you if you ever wanted to add onto that line, so stick with the 3/4 inch pipe. If you can find a single roll of 3/4 in PEX, go with that. If you go with shorter lengths, you will create bottle necks in the line because the connections fit inside the pipe and they are considerably smaller inside diameter. PEX is best when it is run without any breaks in the line. I know you can get 300 foot lengths, but it might take awhile to order it and you might not want to pay for it. I've done longer runs with 20 foot lengths of PVC. Remember , purple primer and heavy duty clear cement. Nothing else works anywhere as well!!!

As for your spicket, I only use copper from my underground connection to the supply pipe to my threaded male fitting at the end. I don't trust anything else, and once done, you never have to worry about it.

Eddie

 

[SPYDERLK]

so you saying it would be best to tap the 3/4" line with a 1" to the shop?

You wont need it with your stated/handwashing purpose. You could even take a shower with no problem. However; if, like for many, things may escalate with time, the slight extra cost of 1" to the shop would give ample flow at good pressure for most anything.
larry

 

[charlz]

I have way more than 350 feet of service line to my garden area from my meter. It is all 3/4" and I have excellent pressure and volume from my end of line faucet even going thru another 100 foot of hose. I have over 100 PSI at the meter so that may be a factor that you don't have.
My brother in law feeds his house with 3/4" which is about 400 feet from the meter with no problem. He then ran a full 10 zone sprinkler system for his yard that works fine even with another 300 feet of distance to the end.

I wouldn't worry about volume to the end of 225 feet for your shop and use the same size as your house feed line. Be sure that you tap in to the line before you get to a pressure reducer for the house. I have all my faucets on straight from the county water supply. I added pressure reducer at the house and again at my shop to reduce it to 45 PSI before entering the building but leave the 100-120 PSI for my faucets and sprinkler. By the way my longest run on the sprinkler is over 250' from the meter and all run with 3/4" pipe. It runs 10 sprinkler heads and they will spray a good 20 feet radius off each head.

At 100psi for your sprinklers and faucets you really need to be careful about water hammer....

 

[Trkrd]

Being the "cheapo" that I am I only ran 1/2" 250' from pump house to barn. There is more than adequate pressure for garden sprinkling, car washing, etc.

 

[Xfaxman]

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As for your spicket, I only use copper from my underground connection to the supply pipe to my threaded male fitting at the end. I don't trust anything else, and once done, you never have to worry about it.

Eddie

Why not brass?

I didn't see any threaded copper to PEX fittings when doing my project.

 

[kidr]

If you can find a single roll of 3/4 in PEX, go with that.


Don't forget, pex uses internal fittings which reduces the flow. Its the equivalent of 1/2 inch pipe or tubing with external fittings.

 

[EddieWalker]

Why not brass?

I didn't see any threaded copper to PEX fittings when doing my project.

Guess I was just being lazy with my typing. Yes, I use brass PEX fittings that I sweat to copper pipe and copper fittings. I mix them together so often that I don't even think of them not being copper. When sweating them, I do the brass first, then the copper since it takes longer to heat the brass and once it's done, the copper goes quick and easy.

I've also found that the only times I've had problems with brass PEX fittings is when I buy them from Home Depot. The stuff they sell at Lowes is much better. I don't know the difference, but if you do enough of them, you'll see what I mean.

Eddie

 

[Kenneth in Texas]

thank you all for the replies. I got a good deal today on some 3/4" 20' pvc sections that are belled on the ends, still a week or so away from installing.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Make sure you have schedule 40. It does not come with belled ends, normally. The belled stuff is schedule 10 and schedule 20. It works fine for irrigation systems but the PSI rating is not for water service and it fractures real easy.

Ron

 

[SPYDERLK]

Avoid PVC in general. A continuous run of coil pipe flows best and will never give trouble.