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Author:
somoss (MD)
My house is aobut 300 feet from the main water line. it is a direct 275 feet but with some turns and such it will be about 300 feet. right now we have 1&1/4 inch water line but it needs to be replaced. is this the right size? can i use 1 inch pex?
neighbor mentioned pulling the line through the ground, what is that, and how does it work?
thanks
i live in maryland.
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Author:
bill plumber (FL)
You will also need to know the total fixture units of the plumbing and service pressure to properly size the line. However, in Florida @50 psi you could feed a house with seven bathrooms with 1" pvc.I don't suggest pex for a water service.
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Author:
somoss (MD)
water pressure at city main line 60 PSI. 4 bathroom house, with 3 people living in it. 4 bathrooms. 4 showe heads, 4 toilets, 7 faucets (including kitchen). one clothes washer.
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Author:
bill plumber (FL)
I don't know Maryland code but in Florida I would run a 1" pvc service.
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Author:
jimmy-o (CA)
1" pex is too small. Remember that 1" pex has an id closer to that of 3/4" copper. Using an max. gpm of 15 gpm estimated, your 1" pex could have 15 to 20 PSI pressure loss over 300 feet. Stay with 1 1/4" poly or sch. 40 PVC>
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Author:
somoss (MD)
i am sure this has been mentioned many times, but why not pex for water supply? i am just starting my research into replacing my main supply line. i plan to replace the entire line in the next year.
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Author:
somoss (MD)
i assume pex or PVC is basically burried in a trench. did down 4 feet, lay pipe down, gently backfill? is there a faster way?
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Author:
bill plumber (FL)
Pex is legal for a water service in Florida but there must be a reason I have never seen a PEX water service. I also dont use Pex for any water pipe even in a repipe I use CPVC.
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Author:
HytechPlumber (LA)
The plus side about using pex is you can purchase it in 100' rolls. (possibly longer)
Pulling the pipe basicly involves digging a hole on each end and using a special coring machine to drill a hole underground from point "A" to point "B".
No matter how you do it I would price it up in 1", 1 1/4", and 1 1/2". I believe the price may not be that much difference in PVC.
Depending on the circumstance and how deep you have to go a ditch with could be rented and the trench would be relatively easy to make if it is in a "low risk" area for digging.
.................
Good Luck
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Author:
somoss (MD)
the water pipe has to be at least 40 inches undeground. The area where the peipe will be has been marked and there is nothing other than the current water line.
is the coring machine something a DIY can do (does not sound like it).
i have worked wiht CVPC befire in short runs, is running 300 feet of it in 1.5 inch a lot more complicated?
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Author:
bill plumber (FL)
CPVC is too expensive for a water service. You would use PVC since it is cold water only.
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Author:
packy (MA)
i have installed a few short water services that were pulled.
a backhoe digs the street end of the pipe, cut the pipe loose from the main, wrap a chain around the pipe going to the house.
inside the basement, disconnect the pipe from the house plumbing, thread on a flare fitting, flare a new piece of copper type K, attach the new copper to the old galvanized pipe. now the backhoe pulls on the pipe from the street as you unroll the copper in the basement.
you only pull a few feet at a time but it does pull right thru.
this procedure would never work with plastic pipe..
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Author:
hj (AZ)
1 1/4" PEX, if you could find it, would be about the same size as 1" PVC, and 1" PEX is the equivalent of 3/4" PVC, for one thing. You can only "pull the pipe through the ground" if it does NOT have turns which you say yours does, but even if it did not that is too long a pipe to try to pull. It would probably snap in two long before it started to move. What kind of pipe do you have now, and why do you want to replace it?
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Author:
PBwrencher (WI)
How about, do you have a lawn sprinker system and/or hose bibbs:
You have good pressure however; the distance of 300' is a fair amount and when using pex pipe always up it buy one size larger so go with 1 1/2" pipe.
The pipe is very cheap when you compare it to the big cost of digging and labor now, if it is not perfect for you after it's done it's costly to change latter.
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Author:
royboy (SC)
PBwrecher makes a good point; oversizing NEVER hurts and if you ever add anything, you are covered.
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Author:
hj (AZ)
Does your supply house carry 1 1/2" PEX? Ours only go up to 1". What does a 1 1/2" crimper cost, since it is probably hydraulic or compound leverage.
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Author:
somoss (MD)
the house has good water pressure now but we had to have an emergency repair done after the 3 nearly 5 feet of snow we had over a month or two in the area. the line underground is the dreaded PB plastic crap of the late 90's. the line changes to 1.25 inch copper at some point in the 300 feet but the previous owner does not remember where.
I know the first 70 feet is the brown PB and that is where the brake occured.
the plumber that did the emergency repair said we should repalce as soon as possible so I have started researching.
house is 300 feet, the line looks like it runs staright now but i was going to go around a very old tree so that is why i said it would be about 320 feet.
plumber said they would did a hole every 100 feet, pull "plastic" 1.25 inch pipe, couple them together every 100 feet.
i was thinking pex or CPVC to try and save soem money. very tight right now. he quoted about $22 per foot for the job (he said it was basically his cost plus a little bit for overhead) because the pipe was so expensive. not sure what kind of pipe he is talking about.
now i think i see that cheaper pipe probably has to have a 4 foot deep trench. expensive.
any ideas
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Author:
dlh (TX)
"now i think i see that cheaper pipe probably has to have a 4 foot deep trench. expensive.
any ideas"
the cost of the pipe has no affect on how deep it has to be buried. no matter what type of pipe you install it will need to be buried below your frost line which could very easily be 4'.
i am glad the frost line in my area is only 6"
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Author:
hj (AZ)
ALL plastics are required to be 18" deep, regardless of the material. Beyond that, any further depth is a "frost line" requirement, and it also has NOTHING to do with the material and applies to all piping. PB pipe is copper tube size, so it would have the same capacity as either CPVC or PEX. I have had 50' PB lines pull apart so I would not put too much faith in being able to pull a 100' section. It depends on how straight they installed the pipe, and it was seldom installed "straight".
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Author:
savvion (NJ)
I would dig the trench 48 inch deep and use the black plastic poly pipe with 1.5 inch diameter. this pipe is cheap and might be sold in 300 ft long coil.
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Author:
vero1800 (FL)
Hey Bill, do the world a favor get away from CPVC when the pipe hits about 10 years old eggs are harder to crack. I cant tell you the number of leaks I have fixed on C P V C in the past 5years.
Before CPVC was the boss in my world until I started to fix tons of it. Poly pipe again nightmare
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Author:
DaviFlody (IN)
Just like someone told you above, you also need to know the total fixture units of the plumbing and service pressure to properly size the line. I actually think that a 1 inch pex it more than enough for this kind of installation. However you must be very cautious about the pipe, I mean it has to be at least 40 inches into the ground. I have a problem with converting inches to cm as I have lived in Germany for the last couple of years. The converters from [www.rocknets.com] are helping me a lot to readapt to the units that we are using in here.
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