OK. I am trying to come up with a way to more easily get water down to my veggie garden and orchard (which is about 200’ from the house). Right now I drag hoses. It’s annoying.
I have an idea. I rent a trencher and bury the lines myself, but rather than bring them all the way in the house, I bring it out of the ground near the hose spigot, then connect the hose to it when I need it. Down at the garden, I’ll have the four lines come up out of the ground in the same way about 4” up or whatever so I can connect a hose, drip line, sprinkler, or whatever I need.
I am also thinking of having maybe 4 different “lines” (all buried in the same trench) with their own valves right past the connection point, so I can turn the water on and off from the house as needed. I guess I’d need some sort of “splitter”, but one for whatever type of pipe I am using, not just one for hose.
In winter, I’ll just disconnect the hose and drain it (which shouldn’t be too difficult thanks to the slope).
Anyone here got some plumbing knowledge? Would you use CPVC, PVC, or PEX tubing? What kind of four-way valve could I use in such a situation?
Given your application is similar to a sprinkler system, I would use Black poly line, as it’s more forgivable, easy to lay as it’s flexible and easy to repair should you have a leak.
Which is better PVC or poly pipe?
Poly pipe is flexible where PVC is semi rigid. This enables poly pipe the hold up better in extreme cold. Measuring the low temperature brittleness, Poly comes in at a whopping negative 130 degrees. PVC only minus 40.
Since you are not likely to have a pressure head back towards the house supply, a backflow preventor would not be necessary to protect your house supply, but if for some reason you decide to make an underground valve connection before the water line comes into your house, your utility will require one.
Only two precautions for your idea
Call before you dig for safety purposes to have the electrical utility mark your underground utilities unless you already know their location, and
Carefully stake both ends and any turns in your trench so that your family know it’s location in future
Good ideas. I actually do want to split it off at the house side, not the garden side, because sometimes I just want to be able to run out and turn it on or off without having to go down there.
That Orbit timer is the one I had that didn’t shut off at the scheduled time when I was on vacation, and I came home to find out the water has been running for about 17 hours.
Repurchased the model and it did the same thing a year later (thankfully I was home that time, so I was able to shut it off myself after 40 minutes past scheduled shutoff time).
Or you could just leave the hose lying on the ground so you can make changes as needed. I have some on a steep bank that I leave out year round, just being careful they are drained before winter. In full sun they might not last as long, but these are in shade. Buried would probably look better and make mowing easier, but the green hoses blend in fairly well. I guess it boils down to how permanent a set-up you want.
I’m also having the same issues. All my water comes a long way . . . from the house, now. Dragging hoses, placing them, and then moving them for mowing . . . is becoming really tough.
Coincidentally - ‘I have a guy’ who is showing up this afternoon to walk the orchard with me and give me options. I found a fellow that works for a well-drilling company and takes side jobs. He lives nearby too . . . so that is a plus. It was very difficult to find someone to consider the job. They are all ‘so busy’ . . . This guy actually returns my calls and comes over when he says he will. THAT, in itself, is a miracle these days!
We want a well & pump put in. That is pretty straightforward. It’s where to run the main lines - how many - and how to feed off them ‘down the lines of trees’ that is baffling.
I don’t want buried lines and ‘spitters’ at each tree. I’ve seen all the problems with lawn irrigation parts breaking constantly . . . so I’d rather use drip hoses. It’s easy to replace a hose that gets run over . . . but, I don’t want to be repairing the irrigation sprinkler parts.
I think I will have him price out burying lines to frost-free hydrants placed strategically through the orchard - so I can attach the 4-way splitter and go from there to the trees. From my ‘guesstimate’ - I think I’d be comfortable with 3 for the orchard . . . and 1 for a new line to the vegetable garden. We plan to put rock borders around the hydrants - to avoid the mowers hitting them.
I don’t want to have to walk out to the trees over and over, either. I’m trying to work that out, too - this afternoon. There must be gadget that works with a cell phone (?) to set and or turn on/off a timer? Or at least a shut off valve close to the pump - which is a shorter walk than out to the orchard.
You idea sounds excellent. I merely bought 150 ft of “heavy duty” garden hose and laid it out flat. Over time it has slowly sunk into / become covered with turf. It is regularly run over with riding mowers but nothing really heavier than that. There is a 4-way splitter with valves by the garden beds. From there it becomes 3 drip hoses, each going to one of the three beds. The main hose and splitter have been in place for 7 seasons without apparent issues. The drip hoses, which live buried ~ 3 inches in the beds have lasted ~ 4 seasons; I have had to replace them once.
I ran 3/4" PEX flexible pipe to add 3 hose spigots around my property. Longest run is maybe 100’. If longer I may have used 1".
I have a little Kubota tractor. I bought a very inexpesnive Subsoiler for the 3 point hitch, and rigged up a J-shaped tube out of PVC pipe. I anchored one end of the PEX roll near my house, and ran it through the tube of my subsoiler. I ripped an opening about 10" deep and laid the pipe in one pass. It closed like a zipper.
I spliced into my treated water and put a check valve to prevent back flow if I lose water pressure. I think I did all 3 in a day - with the family out of town.
I shut it off and drain it when the rainy season comes in October, and turn it back in June if I need irrigation, or earlier if I need the hose. The picture is from the 1st run which was sloppier because I did a practice run without the pipe. Also ran a wire in case I want to use a metal detector to find the path in the future.
Did that with a 75 ft hose over twenty years ago and it still works. Did 150 ft hose 5 years ago and a rodent took a bite. It was easy to fix. It would be better to use a buried 1 inch high pressure line but much more work.
What northwoods said… you don’t have to bury it…that allows you to move it easily if you decide you don’t like where you put it. Also easier to fix breaks.
We’ve had nearly two miles of waterline supplying waterers for livestock on the farm here for 25 yrs…black plastic pipe, 160 psi… not buried, on top of the ground; gravity-flow from an upland pond. The 160 psi pipe is ‘burstproof’…have never had it split from freezing, but have had it come apart at junctions as a result of freezing - an easy fix, above-ground.
In the woods, it’s soon covered by falling leaves…out in the pastures, along fencelines, soon covered/shaded over by grass. Squirrels would occasionally chew a hole (or two)… but in 20 years, I only had to splice in a few feet of replacement pipe on a couple of occasions.
Cattle drank from flowing streams or tanks at the barn during winter, so it didn’t matter if the waterlines out in the pastures froze. Never bothered to drain them at end of season.
If you are going 200 feet you will want at least a 1 inch pipe (1 1/4 would be better) to avoid too much pressure loss from internal friction in the pipe. The best would be “well pipe”, a black plastic pipe that is most often used to bring water to a house from drilled well (it goes inside the well also down to the pump) It is also the least expensive option. It is very stiff and not fun to work with, but if you leave it in the sun a while it relaxes a bit.
You can find it at an building supply and some big box stores like Home Depot. Once you have that in place you can easily run as many lines as you want at the orchard end using standard plumbing parts.
Note that hose fittings don’t attach to regular plumbing fittings, but adapters are easy enough to find at a hardware store. I just put in about 200 feet of well pipe to my garden and use it to carry rainwater from my house downhill to a 250 gallon “tote” for storage. It’s not a pressurized system, but most drip irrigation works at low pressure (about 10 psi) so just having my storage tote up a little from the garden gives enough flow for drip.
What Ged said… though, with a pressurized system, IDK if the reduced friction is worth the extra cost for 1-1/4 inch. With every 10 ft of drop, you gain 4.33psi (likewise, for every 10 ft of rise, you lose 4.33psi).
First 1200 ft or so of our pasture water system, running downhill through the woods to the pastures, was 1-1/4 inch 160psi black poly pipe. Necked down to 3/4 inch 160psi black poly for most of the runs to waterers.
The 1.25" 160psi stuff will run about $1/ft., from what I’m seeing. 3/4" and 1" will cost in the neighborhood of 60-70 cents/ft.
My mentor FW Owen recommended buying it in 300 ft rolls, unrolling it in an open field - and getting someone you don’t like to help you do so - then drag it back and forth to get kinks/curves out of it. Allowing it to lie out in the sun to heat up for a while helps with that issue.
Thanks for the report about poly pipe in freezing conditions. I can relax now if my unburied line isn’t drained in time. The pipe I used had been left unrolled in a field to get the bends out… for about five years. No rush.
Well Guy is scheduled to come this Thurs and Fri. Finally! Cannot WAIT!
After much planning - and sketches - and nail biting . . . I decided to put my money into more strategically placed frost-free hydrants than running drip lines. It was less expensive and seemed more practical.
I will finally have a vegetable garden ‘tap’ that I don’t have to take from my house. (I’ve been tripping over that long hose for over 20 years.) There will be 3 hydrants out in the orchard. One at each end - and one in the middle. And I decided to shallow-bury a standard drip hose where needed, running from tree to tree. My ‘poms’ are going to be sooooo happy!
I’m sure it will be a ‘work in progress’ to get it so that I don’t have to keep adjusting, but anything will be better than dragging 150’ hoses!
YES! It’s happening . . . at last! Yesterday they put in the well and dug all the runs to the hydrants. I’m finally going to have water out near the trees and at my vegetable garden. Most ‘girls’ want rings and blings . . . Give me a good well ANY day!
They hit great water at 30 feet.
