My New House & Workshop

[ElectraRider]

In Colorado we bury our water lines 6 foot deep man yours is a piece cake.

 

[Jim Oaks]

In Colorado we bury our water lines 6 foot deep man yours is a piece cake.

Ya, I love Colorado. Beautiful state. But that right there tells you how cold it gets.

So today didn't go as planned.

I took some last minutes measurements at the water meter before I took anything apart.

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The threads just to that nut are 1-1/4", so I orded a 1-1/4" FIP fitting that had a 1" MIP end.

Wrong.

That new fitting has an inside nut diameter of 1-1/2".

Went to Ace Hardware and looked at fittings, and realized a 1" brass fitting has a 1-1/4" threaded FIP diameter.

Had to drive 45 minutes to Home Depot in Wichita Falls to get a 1" FIP X 3/4" MIP meter adapter, and then a 3/4" FIP to 3/4" PEX adapter.

This makes way more sense than the 1-1/4" to 1" fitting that I then had to reduce to 3/4".

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The first fitting and adapter is at the top. The fitting and adapter I just bought is at the bottom.

I'm pretty confident that I have the right fitting now. I'm glad I re-checked thos before I took everything apart and started assembling the new line.

 

[franklin2]

The part in the red circle does look like a valve without a handle like someone else mentioned. I suppose the check in the 3/4 line is to keep your water out of the city water system. Like a back flow preventer.

 

[scotts90ranger]

I was kinda questioning your measurements on that fitting, glad you double chedked and it all worked out!

Pipe fitting math is roughly like lumber math, take the measurements with a grain of salt, chuck the tape measure at your neighbor, measure again, subtract 1/73rd of a squirrel and you're pretty close . I'm WAY more comfortable with metal math than lumber math (when a 2x4 is 1 1/2" by 3 1/5 plus or minus 1/8" and when building a building it should be within like 3" of square or whatever it gets confusing...).

Yeah, I like Oregon too, the depths are fairly reasonable... I cheated when I buried the power for the garage next to the sidewalk where I just went one trenching shovel deep but it's 6" from the sidewalk so the chances of hitting it are very slim...

 

[Roert42]

When I ran the power for my garage I used conduit instead of direct burial cable because I only need to go down 18” instead of 24”.
Spent more time with the pick, spike, axe, chainsaw, than I did with a shovel. Took two of us about 20 hours to dig 20’ feet.

then after we finished the trench, but before we could lay the conduit, it rained really hard and we had to spend half a day digging it back out.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I was kinda questioning your measurements on that fitting, glad you double checked and it all worked out!

Hey if you guys see me post something that doesn't sound right, please feel free to let me know. If I had started ripping out this waterline and not caught that first, I'd probably be without water tonight.

 

[Jim Oaks]

When it rains it pours.

It stormed yesterday and now my waterline is under water. I'm probably not going to be able to start replacing it until Monday.

 

[Curious Hound]

View attachment 107227​

When it rains it pours.

It stormed yesterday and now my waterline is under water. I'm probably not going to be able to start replacing it until Monday.

If you really want to, you can do most of the work above ground and just drop it in the trench after all the joints are sealed. I use sticks, 2x4's and shovel handles across the ditch to keep everything high. Then just pull the supports out and let drop in. Works great with PVC.

 

[Shran]

How ironic!

Can you suck the water out with a shop vac? Or a pump if you have one?

 

[sgtsandman]

A cheap sump pump might work. The water looks clean enough to get away with it.

 

[Jim Oaks]

Started the day assembling this section. It's the flow check valve and shutoff valves for the shop and the house.

Trying to run this 3/4" PEX was a ton of laughs. There's an old gas line that crosses here and I had to run the PEX under it and then down to the meter. The PEX wanted to stay coiled up.

Once I got this section ran, I ran 1" PVC pipe over it to protect it.

The water is back on to the house. So far no leaks. Tomorrow I'll run the line to the shop. Then I need to add the spigot coming out of the ground to the right of that valve in the picture.

Still alot of work to go, but I'm happy I was able to get the old line out and the water back on to the house.

 

[Curious Hound]

Looks good.

 

[Snoranger]

I came across a solution to the “it’s too hard to dig a hole” issues posted earlier…

 

[Curious Hound]

I came across a solution to the “it’s too hard to dig a hole” issues posted earlier…

View attachment 107460

They actually make digging spades for jackhammer. But they're more heavy duty than that.

 

[Rick W]

I've dug just over 40-feet with another 30 feet to go.

View attachment 107098
View attachment 107099
View attachment 107100​

I found a check valve on the 3/8" line that goes to the shop where it connects to the 3/4" line. You can see the 3/4" check valve in the libe right before all if this. Do I really need to have a check valve on this line going to the shop if I plan to replace it with a manual valve?

Is it a check valve or is it a backflow preventer. Check valve usually works with flow or gravity, and the backflow preventer is a little fancier with a positive close to flow in the wrong direction.

The 3/8 inch copper line makes me doubt the previous owners were worried about following code and worrying about things like backflow preventers, but it might be advisable to put one in, just in case you’re cleaning something in the sink or whatever, so you don’t by accident drawback in some contaminated water to the system.