"Trench Warfare"

leatherman

leatherman

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I Fought the Water Main and the Water Main is winning! :grumpy:

Of all the times for the water main to spring all kinds of leaks, not one or two, but three leaks. On the upside the grass on that side has never looked better! :p

Rented one of those semi auto trenching machines (it was cheaper to rent, cheaper isnt always better), meaning that you set the digger, dig, pick the front up move it back and dig again. This torture device is kicking my butt!

Tomorrow we get to dig up each end of the line and get ready to stand there staring at it wondering how the heck..... :o

Busse content! ;) What Busse do I use to chop up the old line? I've got to do something to get back at the stuff. Its that old black flexi hose that builders thought was great because it was flexible and cheap! I've repaired it three times in the past three years, yea, good stuff. :thumbdn:

Steel Heart E
Badger E
Rat Mastiff (yea yea, technically not a Busse but what the hey)

I'll chime in tomorrow evening with news of my fumblings with the line, this is gonna be interesting to say the least. :o
 
Ah the joys of living down south. My water line is 4' underground and IRON. :) (OK, maybe it's 2'. But pretty deep.)

Having dinged enough flex pipe on my sprinkler system, I feel for you. Margle-fargle!
 
SH-E all the way! Ought to give you some satisfaction after enduring the digger. Good luck, sir!
 
Dennis in MA said:
Ah the joys of living down south. My water line is 4' underground and IRON. :) (OK, maybe it's 2'. But pretty deep.)

Having dinged enough flex pipe on my sprinkler system, I feel for you. Margle-fargle!
Click to expand...

Bingo! That black stuff is just barely thick enough to hold the pressure, anything dings or rubs on it and bang, another leak.

I got some 450 psi Schedule 40 PVC to replace it with. :D


Off to wage war again, and if I hada Barf or AA it would be the first. ;)

Next break: Same bat time, same bat channel.
 
I am assuming that this is a small line probably 3/4". The problem with Sch 40 or PVC pipe in general at this size is the glue joints, depending on the length of the line you are replacing you could have a lot of them and every one is a liability. If the line is 2" or larger you can buy gasketed sch 40 which they refer to as sdr-21.

The black roll plastic pipe or PE pipe is great stuff if you buy the right stuff. It is inexpensive and can be cut to length eliminating the joints. They make it in different thicknesses and sounds like you have a bad case of the wrong pipe. If you go this route get CTS (copper tubing size) size tubing, it is being used by water companies everywhere with little trouble. You should use pack joint compression fittings with stiffeners inside the PE tubing.

Whatever route you go I would also recommend backfilling the line by hand at least 6" over the top of the pipe, using the best material from the trench.

Randy
 
I'm so tired and sore its amazing. :o I'm so out of shape!

It all together now and running, but one tiny little leak right at the foundation is mocking me, that'll get done when I can move my arms again. :p

Thanks for the advice wvriverats, we used 480 ppi PVC, the fellow at the hardware store seemed to like it enough, and copper was over 200.00 for just the pipe. :eek:

I have lots of sand to backfill the whole pipe when were done, I want to encase that stuff. The amount of rocks in the soil here is uncanny! That or a former owner had a rock yard at one time, either way it was like digging in a gravel pit.

Ended up being able to leave the old line in the ground so I dont have it to chop, but I do have the old PVC pipe from the defunct water softener...... oooh! Might chop up the softener! :D
 
I hear you on the copper!!! Might as well be laying $5 bills end to end.

I'm glad you got it whipped, even if it does sound like it put up a fight.
 
nick681 said:
This thread is worhtless without pix!!!!!! :D:D:D:D
Click to expand...

:p I haven't chopped anything up yet, that manual trencher kicked my butt! I cant grab anything tight enough to chop yet. :o

The trench isnt filled yet so tomorrow I can take some of it and the line I did. :D
 
I feel your pain leatherman. I lived in a place where the waterline decided to give out. Another case of the builder taking short cuts. They had used this blue tubing that was extremely thin. I was like the 16th house in the neighborhood that had to replace the water line due to failure. My immediete neihghbor replaced his a few months earlier. Another neighbor was digging his up a few months later (thanksgiving day). In addition to the cheap piping they laid the line about 12 inches deep at most. In one spot I discouvered where they decided to go over a boulder approx 18 in in diameter and the line was only about 6 inches down. The ground was full of rocks and boulders. The surronding area has several rock quarys to give an idea of the local geography. It was so bad I had to use picks, shovels and a prybar. No ditchwitch for me. Also because they laid the line and then poured the drive way the line ran up underneath the driveway so I had to give up following the line and dig my own route in places. Don't own the place now but I did bury the line to the correct depth, used quality materials and backfilled with clean rock free fill cuase there was no way I wanted to do that again. I also will never buy a place built by that particular builder again. I've got other stories about poor workmanship and materials at that place. Talk about a learning experience.
 
Sounds like a fun time (not really).

My parents had to dig up their front yard with a back hoe more than once in the last couple of years.
 
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