Water Line Questions

[3bird]

We're running a water line from the house to the duckhouse. It's around 160' and not a straight line. We're in Maine, where the water line must be at 4'. We plan to put 1" rigid foam over the water line to add protection. The plan is to feed two frost proof hydrants--one at a garden and one at the duckhouse (with the option to extend the line later and add additional hydrants. Here are our questions:

Should we use 3/4" PEX or 3/4" ADS Plastic Coil Pipe?

Where the line comes out of the house, we are only at about 24" deep. How would you protect the waterline from freezing where it exits the basement and before it makes it to 4'?

We will run the line without interruption to a T, where a short line will go to the first hydrant. We will then run the line to the second hydrant. Should we also run this one off a T to make future extension easy?

Any other thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As long as your lines at the hydrants are at 4' below grade, I would go ahead and put a Tee at the second one to make future expansion easier.
I'm not positive about this but I'm under the impression that PEX is the most freeze tolerant.
About the easiest and cheapest thing you can do is to add about 2' of soil over where it exits the basement to the point where it reaches the appropriate depth. Anything else would likely require some energy usage. You can landscape that mound with flowers and small shrubs. It may be helpful to cover the existing grade with 2" foam insulation and then pile on the soil.

 

[3bird]

As long as your lines at the hydrants are at 4' below grade, I would go ahead and put a Tee at the second one to make future expansion easier.
I'm not positive about this but I'm under the impression that PEX is the most freeze tolerant.
About the easiest and cheapest thing you can do is to add about 2' of soil over where it exits the basement to the point where it reaches the appropriate depth. Anything else would likely require some energy usage. You can landscape that mound with flowers and small shrubs. It may be helpful to cover the existing grade with 2" foam insulation and then pile on the soil.

Welp....scratch that idea. I got about 60' of trench dug four feet deep and I hot groundwater welling up. The trench filled with 2.75' of water.

Plan B?

 

[DobieLover]

Welp....scratch that idea. I got about 60' of trench dug four feet deep and I hot groundwater welling up. The trench filled with 2.75' of water.

Plan B?

The ground water table is probably just high right now. You can keep digging the trench and it will keep filling up with ground water. Get to where you are going then put a sump pump or two in it and pump out the water, lay the pipe and do the work.

It's sloppy messy work. I've done it before when the water line going into the house was ripped open and I had a large pond in my front yard. That kept filling up while I waited for the Town to come shut off the water. I had called 811 before digging and had everything marked before starting. Only problem was, these monkeys marked my neighbors water shut off instead of mine. Then they started walking around my property with a devining rod (dowsing rod), I kid you not. But I digress.

When you say the water line is exiting the house 2' down, I'm confused. Do you have a line leaving the house already that you are tapping?

 

[3bird]

The ground water table is probably just high right now. You can keep digging the trench and it will keep filling up with ground water. Get to where you are going then put a sump pump or two in it and pump out the water, lay the pipe and do the work.

It's sloppy messy work. I've done it before when the water line going into the house was ripped open and I had a large pond in my front yard. That kept filling up while I waited for the Town to come shut off the water. I had called 811 before digging and had everything marked before starting. Only problem was, these monkeys marked my neighbors water shut off instead of mine. Then they started walking around my property with a devining rod (dowsing rod), I kid you not. But I digress.

When you say the water line is exiting the house 2' down, I'm confused. Do you have a line leaving the house already that you are tapping?

The trouble is that the groundwater is bubbling up and filling the trench so fast that the walls are caving and my 4' deep trench is no longer 4' deep.

I'm replacing the waterline where it exits the house. This is a new line in a new location that is coming out of the cellar about 2' underground because the house is built into a hill here.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is the groundwater entering your basement?

 

[3bird]

Is the groundwater entering your basement?

No. It is not.