water line

[straughnfarms]

I am purching some property with 2 greenhouses that have been sitting for a few years. The well is there and one water line is ran to a tank. I believe the tank is some sort of filer system. How can I go about running more lines around the property. I am in zone 5, northern Illinois. I also would like to be able to have water in the winter.

[egon]

Would it be prudent to suggest the water lines may have to buried below the frost line and hydrants used at locations were water is dispensed. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[leonz]

Greetings,

First thing first; You need to find out where all the buried utilities and water lines are before you do anything and mark thier location on a map and paint thier location on the ground prior to doing any excavating.

A water line to a yard hydrant in order to be freeze proof should seven feet below ground with a hydrant standpipe that long. A hole for the hydrant should be 9 feet deep for the stone to drain away the water. see below.

The hydrant will require you to pour a large amount of pea stone directly below the hydrant base for water drainage coming from the hydrant after it closes.

Plan on using two five gallon buckets full of stone in a narrow hole the diameter and the depth of the two buckets in height to allow for good drainage and no freezing.

If you are serious about running water around your property it can be done with shallow pipe depth if and only if you are going to use an air compressor to blow the water out of the lines prior to bad weather coming-freezing- and do not use a mickey mouse air compressor! Rent a small trailer portable to blow the lines out as that is the only way to guarantee the success of water removal from the piping as a trailer portable will be the only one that can deliver the volume of air needed to blow the lines out.

[jml755]

When you create the water line, set the profile interval to a value which matches the standard pipe length. Then when you create the profile you will only have vertices at joints. Then you can edit the vertices and in conjunction with Accudraw build in the max deflection angle at each joint.

"Wow" is all I can say. Actually, I can say more: Could you use more complicated terminology to explain your thought? I figured out most of the the post, but you lost me on the "in conjunction with Accudraw build in the max deflection angle at each joint". What does that mean and how is it relevant to anything that the poster needs to know?

BTW,
I'm in Michigan and our frost-line is 42". I believe burying everything 7-9' down is excessvie for Illinois. I kind of think Egon said it all.

[Pat]

Hmmm, maybe I could add this... The frost proof hydrants that I have seen have a threaded weep hole. This will permit you to put a fitting in that hole and extend the drain off to a different downhill location or even drain to daylight depending on the lay of the land.

Some hydrant install locations are selected for their "above ground" convenience while the underground conditions are not favorable. For example, you may have heavy clay that prevents dispersion of the water emitted by the drain (weep) hole at the bottom of the hydrant. With a relatively tall hydrant you dump significant volumes of water each time you cycle the hydrant. Sometimes it is better to locate the hydrant to your best benefit for convenience of use and then extend the underground drain to a suitable downhill location.

In my opinion (I'm not a lisc plumber but I know what flows downhill, that payday is on Friday, not to chew my fingernails, and to wash my hands before eating) if you choose to extend the drain so that it drains to daylight you should do it with a larger diameter pipe or flexible plastic tube than the drain hole size suggests. Itsy bitsy drains tend to retain water and can freeze up while larger diameters tend to drain better. I think capillary action and surface tension get into play with small diameters.

Also, in case you are not familiar with frost free hydrants: The valve is at the bottom and is worked remotely by a metal rod attached to the control handle. Frost free hydrants should not be used at partial settings if you have a limited drain field (not draining to daylight) as water will continuously flow out the drain hole while the control handle is in a partial flow position. Partial flow can flood your drain field (little clump of pea gravel you undersized out of ignorance... don't ask how I know.) If you really need partial flow then here is one way to get it without flooding your drain field. Get the fitting to mate to the hose bib threads on the hydrant so you can install a standard hose bib on the end of the frost free hydrant. You always turn the frost free hydrant on or off all the way, no partial flow settings, and use the standard hose bib to regulate flow. This keeps the drain from flowing water continuously all the while you are at partial setting.

When finished using water from the hydrant you must turn the frost free completely off and turn the accessory faucet on to allow air to enter so the frost free hydrant's stand pipe can drain. This requires deliberate thought and is not fool proof as you can forget to do it right but it works well if you can handle the small added complexity.

You might be surprised by the volume of water you can emit through the drain hole if you leave the frost free handle in an intermediate position for just a little while. If this volume exceeds your drain field's ability to dissipate water then when you shut off the hydrant the stand pipe will not drain and it can then freeze and burst.

Pat