Outside Hose Bib

[sendtojohn]

Hi

I want to install an outside hose bib a distance from my house where there is no water available. Where it leaves the house it will get exposed to the sun (U.V.). Then... It will be underground until I pop back up to the bib location.

What type of pipe should I run? I understand PVC will get brittle if exposed to UV rays. Can I use PE (the same as a sprinkler system?) Will CPVC work? Should I run CU all the way? Do I need a special pressure rating?

I have searched all over but see nothing on outside pipes.

thanks!

[G Henslee]

Galvanized pipe.

[zxcvbob]

My dad has white SCH 40 PVC risers that are over 20 years old down in Texas in the hot sun and they haven't cracked yet. Maybe he has just gotten away with it because the water pressure is not very high.

You can use gray SCH 80 pipe for the risers, and I think it is UV resistant. You also might try using SCH 40 gray PVC electrical conduit for the risers; it is UV resistant and compatable with PVC water pipe fittings, but it's not pressure rated, nor certified for use with potable water. (that wouldn't matter to me for irrigation pipe)

You could always run thinwall PVC underground, then put a threaded fitting on the end and transition to galvanized pipe for the riser.

Best regards, Bob

[HorneTD]

What I would do is to dig a trench from the foundation wall out to the new hose bib location with the entire trench below the frost line for your locality. You could then install a frost proof hose hydrant and not have to worry about early or late frost damaging the piping before or after you have reopened the cut off valve in the house.

If the trench will be twenty of more feet long and thirty or more inches deep you have a good opportunity to improve the grounding of your homes electrical system. If you tell me what your present grounding electrode system consist of I can tell you if it would be worth doing.

No conscientious electrician ever ignores an open trench.

-- Tom Horne