Fixing a buried pipe leak

[pmiranda]

So a couple years back I got 1" service run about 300 feet from the street to my shop in the trench above the power line. Somehow it has sprung a leak so I need to find and fix it. I don't want to risk damaging the power line so I guess I'll be digging down a couple feet by hand. Any better suggestions?

I'm really surprised it's leaking since it's supposed to be PEX and it's buried deeper than a bunch of pipes that haven't frozen at all.
I'm betting I'll find that some rocks ended up in the trench with it and freeze/thaw or somebody running something heavy over it has cut it open. Hell, maybe it ended up too shallow and at least it'll be quick to find.

 

[Ricky Joe]

My guess is that if you can’t see where it is leaking, it would be just as cheap to replace the line. 300 feet is a lot of digging. If you are set on digging and don’t have an idea where the leak is, I’d start in the middle and keep dividing the distance in half until you find the leak. It will make you wonder why ditch diggers are so poorly paid, but eventually you will find the leak.

 

[Evilunclegrimace]

What about capping the line and using compressed air to find the leak?

 

[Cardboard Man]

How about rent a trencher and lay a new pipe next to the old one?

 

[mike93lx]

Unless you can narrow down the location, I agree on considering a new run.

The power line is deeper than the water? That's backwards from what I would expect, but I guess it must be nice living where it doesn't freeze

 

[Cardboard Man]

I just looked: 300 ft of 1.25 polyethylene pipe is $224 @ Home depot. That plus a trencher rental is a hell of a lot less aggravation for a project like this. I sure wouldn't want to dig that up by hand.

 

[pmiranda]

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I can see where water is pouring out of the ground so it’s a pretty localized area. And yeah, it’s nice to not need to bury anything more than necessary to protect it

 

[mike93lx]

Sorry I wasn’t clear. I can see where water is pouring out of the ground so it’s a pretty localized area. And yeah, it’s nice to not need to bury anything more than necessary to protect it

In that case, get out your shovel and get after it. Turn the water off first, probably for a while.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

The power company didn't mind having a water line buried in the same trench above their power line?

 

[pmiranda]

This is all on the customer side. Luckily somebody (probably my neighbor since he’s there every day to tend the cows) shut it off a week ago when I was out of town.

 

[rburke65]

The hell with turning off the water first…….turn off the power first!

 

[pmiranda]

Yeah I think it's a very good idea to turn the power off before I start digging.
Years ago my dad nicked the main power digging a fence post hole. Lucky he did it by hand with a wood handled digger. We didn't even know it happened until it started to cause brownouts a year later.

 

[CN Spots]

I just watched an episode of Letsdig18 where he had a guy come out and locate a fiber line using a pressure washer and a vac truck. I know you probably don't have a vac truck lying around but if you have a pressure washer that thing will slice through dirt like butter. Less likely to damage a line too. You WILL have to deal with the water but it sounds like the area is already soaked.

 

[mike93lx]

The hell with turning off the water first…….turn off the power first!

But how do you know when you hit it then?

Fireworks are awesome

 

[Bert_]

No idea why people are worried about turning off the power. Underground power lines get wet all the time, it's assumed they will. There's no issue.

Sure you should turn it off if you're digging where it's runs

 

[mike93lx]

No idea why people are worried about turning off the power. Underground power lines get wet all the time, it's assumed they will. There's no issue.

Sure you should turn it off if you're digging where it's runs

I don't think folks are worried about water. I think it's abiht digging near a live line, with water in the hole

 

[pmiranda]

The power washer is an interesting idea. I might have to try that. Shop vac, too

 

[CN Spots]

Here's that video if you're interested:

 

[pmiranda]

Man, those were some shallow cables!
Maybe I'll try my shop vac and power washer

 

[pmiranda]

Took my shop vac and power washer out to the shop and realized I had no water to put in the power washer since I had turned it off DUH. But after digging a little With a shovel in the nice soft wet dirt and clearing the larger stones I just cracked the water supply valve open a little which substituted nicely for the power washer. I had to empty the vac a couple times but cleared out all the dirt around the pipe in no time. Victory!
And now I know why the pipe leaked. Instead of being the PEX I thought the plumber agreed to use, I find myself looking at a cracked 45 elbow in a 2” PVC pipe.
So angry right now. The soil is really rocky so I specifically didn’t want PVC. They didn’t even bother to put sand around the pipe like you’re supposed to so yeah the fist sized rocks directly under and over the elbow cracked it in just two years of shrink/swell.
Tried both the home centers in town and they didn’t have the slip fittings I need in 2” so I’ll try wrapping it for a temp repair until I can get the plumber to come out and do it right.

 

[mike93lx]

Took my shop vac and power washer out to the shop and realized I had no water to put in the power washer since I had turned it off DUH. But after digging a little With a shovel in the nice soft wet dirt and clearing the larger stones I just cracked the water supply valve open a little which substituted nicely for the power washer. I had to empty the vac a couple times but cleared out all the dirt around the pipe in no time. Victory!
And now I know why the pipe leaked. Instead of being the PEX I thought the plumber agreed to use, I find myself looking at a cracked 45 elbow in a 2” PVC pipe.
So angry right now. The soil is really rocky so I specifically didn’t want PVC. They didn’t even bother to put sand around the pipe like you’re supposed to so yeah the fist sized rocks directly under and over the elbow cracked it in just two years of shrink/swell.
Tried both the home centers in town and they didn’t have the slip fittings I need in 2” so I’ll try wrapping it for a temp repair until I can get the plumber to come out and do it right.

Well that ***** it isn't the pipe you wanted, but glad you got to it easily

 

[PCustoms]

I would not repair that pvc, destined to fail again.

Can you pull black poly through it?

 

[pmiranda]

I know there are a couple more elbows along the way that are still buried and I wouldn’t be able to pull black poly or pex through them so instead of locating them and digging them up I’ll just hope for the best for now. At least I did confirm the water is on top so if I do trench it out in the future I don’t have to worry about hitting power or data cables first

 

[cdeer001]

So a couple years back I got 1" service run about 300 feet from the street to my shop in the trench above the power line.

I'm really surprised it's leaking since it's supposed to be PEX

Do you still have a copy of the contract / invoice for the job? Does it say PEX? If so, call them up and make them run the PEX you paid for.

 

[PCustoms]

Do you still have a copy of the contract / invoice for the job? Does it say PEX? If so, call them up and make them run the PEX you paid for.

What I can't figure out is the labor of dealing with 30+ sticks of PVC and glueing all those fittings is a hell of a lot more then a roll of black poly or even PEX.

 

[Bert_]

What I can't figure out is the labor of dealing with 30+ sticks of PVC and glueing all those fittings is a hell of a lot more then a roll of black poly or even PEX.

I would hope they didn't use glued couplings. Usually if you're using something like 2" PVC for water service you would use pipe with slip together joints and rubber gaskets. It allows for some movement

 

[PCustoms]

I would hope they didn't use glued couplings. Usually if you're using something like 2" PVC for water service you would use pipe with slip together joints and rubber gaskets. It allows for some movement

Did you not see the picture?

 

[pmiranda]

I didn't have it in writing, just a verbal change request that got lost along the way. Lesson learned: get everything in writing! This was one of the few changes I didn't have on paper.
I don't get why they would use PVC either, but I guess it's what they're used to. What's funny is the contract had 1" PVC but they put in 2".
The PVC shutoff at the building has been fine through a couple freezes but either they cracked the elbow when they were putting it in or the rocks around it moved around with the clay shrink/swell over the last couple years and broke it.

 

[f121]

Assuming you guys use armoured cable, there’s nothing to worry about digging near a power line with a spade. I once hooked one with a 3.5t mini excavator and pulled it out the ground by about 2ft, stripped a bit off the outer insulation but didn’t come close to the live wires inside. They are very tough (almost like they’re designed for people to hit them with spades occasionally)