Underground water line – Copper or Poly?

[hogdaddy]

My experience is in the natural gas business, not water or plumbing, so take this with a grain of salt.

I'd run polyethylene hands down and wouldn't even consider copper. Copper will last a long time in the ground, but will eventually rust through. Plastic doesn't rust. The PE gas line that I'm familier with comes in 500-foot rolls. You could buy a whole roll of PE and you'd have a 300-foot piece to go to the new water meter and 200-feet left over to run to your out building.

Besides the pipe, buy a 500-foot roll of tracer wire and put that in the ditch with the PE. Leave one end hanging loose in the meter pit and bring one end up to some sort of terminator at the house. That way anyone with a pipe locator will be able to find your water line in the future, so it won't get cut during fence installation, additional utility work, etc.

You think you're going to remember exactly where the ditchline was forever, but you don't. Been there....done that. 14 gauge tracer wire runs about 8 cents a foot right now...so you're not talking a big expense. It wouldn't be a horrible idea to keep about 5 feet of your new PE pipe and 2 stab couplings back somewhere as your "emergency repair kit" if it would get cut in the future.

I wouldn't sleeve the PE either. The biggest danger to your PE line once it's buried is someone digging into it with a backhoe, trencher, or posthole auger. A PVC sleeve won't protect you from any of those hazards. A tracer wire might if they bother to use it.


Phil

How on earth(in) can copper rust?

 

[rburke65]

I'd vote for poly. It's inexpensive enough to bury 2 lines while you are at it.

 

[atthebeach]

The local water company has been digging up the street in my neighborhood lately replacing all the black 2" plastic pipe that runs from the water main in the street to every meter. This neighborhood is new in the last 10 years, and over the last couple of years there have been many leaks. They are replacing the black plastic pipe which was developing cracks with 2" copper pipe. I live in a mild climate - no snow or frost.

 

[LifeLongWNYer]

One advantage to using copper, is that if it freezes, you can hook a welder to it and thaw it out. If a plastic line freezes, you are out of luck until spring. ( Or run a new line on the surface and leave a faucet open so the water never stops moving, which isn't inexpensive. )



JBP

.