Water pipe replacement question

I have city water from a water meter at the sidewalk. A 3/4" metal buried pipe runs straight into the basement from the meter. It is maybe a 25 foot straight run from sidewalk to house. It tees off and goes around the house, feeding faucets at three corners. Maybe 150 feet total. Somewhere along the 150 feet run is a leak. Part of this is under a 20 foot cement slab, plus it goes under a sidewalk, terminates at a faucet coming up through a small cement slab.

I've dug up the faucets and water meter - no leaks. I had hoped those would be the likely places for a leak to occur, no luck.

The pipe is old - 40 years maybe more, the house was built in 1948, and the pipe has been there since city water was brought in a long long time ago. Old. Rusty. Unknown condition. And a nasty leak that I have not yet been able to find.

I can put a stick on the pipe and listen, and hear a hissing noise, but can't quite locate the leak. It hisses at all three faucets, the sound of the leak carries quite well through the entire length of pipe lol. I have not yet dug up the rest of the pipe. The pipe seems to be buried in rocks, gravel, and sand, and digging up this pipe is not a pleasant job.

So I can:

1) Dig up 150 feet of pipe, some of which is almost two feet deep, goes around corners, under a sidewalk, under a 20' slab, and hope I find the leak. Fix it. Hope this old pipe doesn't spring a leak somewhere else soon.

2) Replace the 25 foot run from meter to house and disconnect the loop that goes around the house that is leaking. The old pipe can just sit there and rot as far as I'm concerned, and I'll replace it with new pipe when I get around to it. I have a well for watering the yard, and don't need city water at outside faucets.

What is the life expectancy of water pipe buried underground? I am giving serious thought to option 2, because just replacing the 25' straight run to the house is a whole lot less work than digging up 150 feet of old pipe looking for a leak.

Comments, suggestion, advice?

Reply to
Ook
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Ook wrote in news:690c64b2-4092-4898-9523-7088b91b6046 @wp3g2000pbc.googlegroups.com:

I would replace it in steps. If you are lucky the leak is in the first part you replace.

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

I like that idea even better. Gives me new pipe from meter to house, and I can then find and fix the leak (or replace the old pipe) as I have time.

Reply to
Ook

is there a good reason to loop the pipe outdoors? better to run it indoors somehow..........

i would replace the main line, then loop the new line indoors. abandon the old outside loop completely.....

sounds like its galvanized, if it is, it probably bad everywhere.

yours is a excellent reason to use PEX, its cheap, lats near forever, isnt valuable as scrap, so theres zero reason for it to ever be stolen:)

Reply to
bob haller

I don't know nothin' but in this day and age, is there no tool to find your leak before you dig. They invent new stuff all the time.

How deep is the pipe? Is the dirt wet some place? Can you hammer a rod, (steel or maybe wood, pointed maybe, thin maybe) into the dirt and see if it comes out wet, like using a straw to tell if a cake is done yet)?

Can you call the city water department and ask how they find leaks? Ask if they can do it for you. If not, ask if they can tell you a private plumber who will do it, or what words to use when shopping. He can find the leak and you can do the digging, etc. Just tell him upfront what you are hiring him for. And read whatever you sign.

Have you called Miss Utility, or whateve they call it there, to have them mark your electric, gas, phone, etc. to make sure you don't pierce or cut other utilities when you probe or dig? It's free.

P&M

Reply to
micky

I won't use PEX because AFAIK (some please correct me if I'm wrong) the only way to make a connection is with a sharkbite, and those should *never* be used where you can't get to them for maintenance (like underground or behind walls). The seal is made with a rubber o- ring, and the rubber o-ring will deteriorate with time and will eventually leak. I already have a leak - I don't need plumbing that is virtually guaranteed to eventually leak more. In about 20 years or so all these new houses being build with pex and sharkbites are going to leak like sieves.

Reply to
Ook

But I'm thinking you are right, this old galvanized pipe should probably be replaced instead of fixed.

It's a straight shot from meter to house. But the only way to run outside faucets from city water is to tee form the straight line and run it around the house. You can't get from house to outside easily, house has concrete basement walls that extend a few feet above ground level.

Reply to
Ook

I live in rural Oregon. No one out here has leak detection equipment. I did talk to the water department and they bluntly told me it wasn't there problem, go fix it myself and don't bug them about it. I talked to a few plumbers, and the only outfits with acoustic leak detectors are in the city, and it would cost more to have them come here to find a leak than to just replace the pipes :(

Reply to
Ook

Do it the way they do it in "the rest of the world" where water meters are inside the house to keep them from freezing, and ALL outside faucets are fed through the concrete foundations

Reply to
clare

going thru a concrete wall is not a problem at all. use a diamond core drill bit///// it just grinds the concrete or block wall to dust....

everyone up north has their water lines indoors/

as to PEX sharkbite isnt the only fittings, some just expand the pex that shrinks back around the fittings with a retainer ring.......

PEX is super easy to work with and cheap too

you can also use a hammer drill, or a hammer drill that acts like a jackhammer, its a bit messy but works too, supringsly fast.....

or just replace the main line and forget about the outdoor faucets

Reply to
bob haller

Pex is joined with barb fittings, and round rings that crimp tight. There is a crimping tool that's sold or rented.

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I won't use PEX because AFAIK (some please correct me if I'm wrong) the only way to make a connection is with a sharkbite, and those should *never* be used where you can't get to them for maintenance (like underground or behind walls). The seal is made with a rubber o- ring, and the rubber o-ring will deteriorate with time and will eventually leak. I already have a leak - I don't need plumbing that is virtually guaranteed to eventually leak more. In about 20 years or so all these new houses being build with pex and sharkbites are going to leak like sieves.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Rather that say you won't use it, educate yourself. This stuff has been around for 50 years in Europe.

Other fittings are commonly used.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Rather than saying that "pex *is* joined with barb fittings and round rings" you should say that "pex *can* be joined with barb fittings and round rings".

Pex can also be joined with Sharkbites.

Reply to
DerbyDad03

You're not my father.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Rather than saying that "pex *is* joined with barb fittings and round rings" you should say that "pex *can* be joined with barb fittings and round rings".

Pex can also be joined with Sharkbites.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

My main shut-off is like that, but it is hard to read a meter 4' down a hole.

Used to be, when I lived in Philly, all the meters were in the basement. When I moved to CT, same thing. Now they have transponders to the meter reader no longer has to look at the dials.

Gas meters were in the same place in the basement where the gas line came into the house.

In warm climates, it is common to have the meter outside in a shallow box.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

In VT, the meter was in the basement, with remote dials on the outside by the driveway. It would be trivial to change that to an RF device.

Gas meter was at the opposite end of the house, outside.

That's where the water meter is for this house (E. Alabama).

Reply to
krw

 
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The correct statement is "PEX is GENERALLY joined with barb fittings and round rings". It can also be joined with duct tape, hose clamps, and RTV silicone -but it is not commonly done, or done with much success.

Sharkbites are GENERALLY only used to connect PEX to other pipe materials, or by DIYers.

Reply to
clare

Here when they go through the rim joist they generally also go through brick - and need frost protection.

An outside mounted water meter here - even 4 feet down inside a box, wouldn't be a meter very long. As for the "rest of the world" - no, I guess you are not. You are in the part of the world that puts meters underground out at the street.

Where meters are inside, most now have either remote readouts or remote read capability

Reply to
clare

i've heard of very few, and seen even less places where the meter is inside.

Reply to
Steve Barker

You haven't travelled much.

Reply to
clare

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