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How deep irrigation lines
Yesterday I bought 600 feet of 1" PCV pipe (heavy duty) to run water out to my orchard and garden. But how deep do I put the pipe to keep the tractor from breaking it? My tractor weighs 2900 lbs at its heaviest (4100 with loader and mower). My soil is usually hard clay, and shows no imprint from R1 tires, although tracks show when the soil is moist. I need some help on this one. Thanks in advance. JonB
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How deep irrigation lines
Jon, could I ask how much 600' of water line cost you? Believe it or not, my brother-in-law asked me this past weekend how much 500-600 feet of water line would cost. I haven't checked it out for him yet. He wants it to run from my well to his RV on the adjacent lot. Thanks.
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How deep irrigation lines
I used 1" Poly Pipe, not PVC. You are asking for alot more time and work to run PVC. The Poly (polyeuothane) is flexible and will stand up to freeze much better and is easier to install, and cheaper (100' role for $12 at Menards). I would go from 8-10 inches deep.
Dave
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How deep irrigation lines
Jon, the weight of the tractor driving across it wouldn't break 1" PVC that's just 3 or 4 inches below the surface, but of course, there may be other factors to consider, like freezing, or accidentally digging it up, etc. Mine are about 12" deep.
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How deep irrigation lines
I agree with Bird. The soil arch will support it against the tractor's weight even though it is only a few inches down. You will probably want it deeper than that for other reasons. I also like the poly pipe. Locally the 3/4" diam. and larger come in two or three different weights. For a real bulletproof system you can thread the poly pipe through some of the black plastic corrugated pipe (get the kind without the drain slits) - it is darn near as cheap as the poly pipe. And bury your "pipe within a pipe". This is particularly good where there are lots of rocks. A plastic soda bottle taped to the end of the poly helps in threading, as does straightening the poly out in the hot sun.
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How deep irrigation lines
JeffM, I paid just under $20 for 100 feet. Thanks for all the responses. The irrigation supply store never said a word about polypipe when I asked for help. I also didn't see polypipe at Home Depot, but I could have overlooked it. Fortunately freezing ground (or moving snow) isn't ever a concern in the Sacramento valley, California. One reason I wanted a larger, stiff pipe, was to make sure water pressure was high at the end of the line. I'll be connecting around 14 drip lines plus 6 faucets (just in case I need them later). Next time I'll keep looking until I find the poly pipe. Thanks again. JonB
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How deep irrigation lines
Hard to believe that the poly pipe wasn't there. Are we talking about the same thing? What I am calling poly pipe is black and comes in a roll of 100 or 250 feet. It is fairly stiff and difficult to straighten out. It is also much more durable than PVC. Joints are made with barbed couplers + hose clamps, and the pipe normally requires heating to make the coupler join well. I have two lines of a couple of hundred feet. One PVC and one Poly. They work the same. The pressure idea is interesting, though I don't think you could measure the difference.
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How deep irrigation lines
Well, I finally made it to Home Depot to look for polypipe. I found out I already use it in a small vineyard. It isn't labeled polypipe but the salesperson confirmed it was polypipe, after giving me a "I have no idea what you're talking about" look. He then realized we were standing by it. This is the stuff I'll be running off the PCV pipe. They didn't have "big" polypipe, each one was about the size of a small finger--it looked like four of the largest ones would fit inside the PCV pipe. The irrigation supply store also did not have larger polypipe. But it is good stuff and has worked great for grapes. When completed I'll probably have 1300 to 1500 feet of polypipe running off the PCV, so hopefully the PCV was a good starting point. Since I'd already bought and cut the PCV, I couldn't return it anyway. Thanks for your help and suggestions. I particularly liked the idea of putting drainage pipe around the pipe, especially in more sensitive or critical areas. And I'll be aiming for 8" down. JonB
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How deep irrigation lines
Having just run a little over 800' of PVC sch 40 pipe for my irrigation purposes I have a few comments here for your project. First, have you done your calculations for the GPM your going to get out of your 1" pipe? I opted for 1.5" pipe to get the GPM to the heads. There are loses at every joint/elbow/tee/valve and evern over the length of the pipe. Most commercial irr companies use the 1.5" to feed the system. I can get enough GPM to run 5 heads at once thus cutting the time pumping the water 800'. Are you going uphill/downhill?
Poly pipe had some advantages, but if you only get 100' rolls you might as well get the 20' lengths of PVC with the flared ends ready to fit and glue. You can glue almost as fast as you can walk. Getting that poly pipe to unwind can be very time consuming, plus you still have to get those fittings into the ends, plus the cost of the fittings and the SS worm clamps are $1/ea here.
The poly pipe is good if you have a lot of curves/corners to go around. Poly pipe can make a little better turn that PVC.
Deep, is only a concern if you've got to dig it up sometime to repair. (it does happen). I've run over PVC and it doesn't shatter but will flatten out. I'd got 18" in most spots since that's close to the 12" that most the valve boxes/covers are set for.
good luck.
gary
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How deep irrigation lines
I work for a landscape co., and just helped today (1st time) with an irrigation installation. They installed some sort of blue poly pipe with a ditch witch vibratory plow. It looked to me like it was only going in about 8". I compacted the soil very well in the areas we had to hand dig. This blue stuff was pretty thick walled and you definitely aren't going to crush it in the soil. Hopefully I can work with this crew some more and learn the ropes. I will try to find the brand name on the pipe tomorrow....it is good stuff. Good luck with your install.
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