Agricultural plumbing problem

[TimW]

There's a small bit of land behind the house which has in the past had horse/sheep in it and hence a galvanised drinking trough with a water supply. The supply comes through black plastic pipe underground and I don't know where from but I am pretty sure it isn't from my house. Must be my neighbour but they don't know of any stop c*ck or anything. There was a valve with a metal ball on an arm like an old toilet but it was only filling very slowly. Now the arm has been broken off by some cattle that got in and the thing is constantly, if slowly overflowing.

I want to keep the trough available for livestock. I have no way of turning off the water. I don't know if the water is full mains pressure or if the slow flow is all we will ever get. I don't know if the existing valve is blocked or not or if it's fixable. I can go to mole valley or somewhere and buy a new ball valve or similar no problem, but lets say I cut the pipe with a hand saw and water gushes out. Will I be able to fit the new valve with water flowing? What sort of fitting is needed for black plastic pipe? I had an idea that I could cut the pipe and maybe fit a stop c*ck with the stop c*ck open and the water flowing through, then turn it off, then deal with the trough valve. would that work?

the old valve looks something like this:

TW

[Dave Liquorice]

Yes, but you'll get wet, probably very wet.

Depends on the OD of the pipe. Ordinary compression will work (on the right sized pipe) but you really need to put a metal sleeve inside the pipe as well. There are also various other connectors for plastic to copper connections.

Yes, but you'll get wet, probably very wet. With the valve open you have water coming out of it, proably quite a lot of water. I'd have the valve closed, then when you shove it on the end of the pipe you have a much lower flow rate,

I'd use a "squeeze off" tool to compress the pipe to stop or very much reduce the flow before cutting the pipe.

[John Rumm]

Something like:

(depending on size obviously)

Yup, with no back pressure from the valve, you should have no difficulty getting in on and fixed - even if you do get a bit wet at times!

[DerbyBorn]

Don't disturb the pipe - if the valve is the same then just change the valve body.

[FMurtz]

Yes.

[Bill Wright]

You should turn off your own water and see if that stops it, then turn off the neighbour's. You need to know where the supply comes from.

Bill

[Chris Hogg]

Maybe I've misunderstood something, but can't you just get a new arm, like this

[harry]

If you also get a gate valve, these can be fitted with the water running full bore with the valve fully open. A very wet business best done in warm weather.

[spuorgelgoog]

It may come from the water main with a separate connection. It may not even be an official connection.

for water regulations guidance

Owain

[newshound]

That's what a farmer would do. As others have said, you will get wet. Pipe freezers are for wimps, but that should work too and may be easier especially if you are not familiar with the fittings. You don't want to lose one of the bits once the water is flowing!

[TimW]

Yes! The thing being that the flow was so slow that I really wanted to replace the valve, so it is all working properly. TW

[TimW]

My experience of plumbing is that you _never_ have the right bits. At least it's in a field, I can leave it gushing out and take an hour to go and find the right bits without doing a lot of damage. TW

[tony sayer]

In article , TimW scribeth thus

Use a pipe freezing kit that stops the flow while you work on the pipe!..

[nothanks]

If it were me I would fit a stopcock. The pipe is probably black alkathene, measure its size and buy an appropriate MDPE underground stopcock and (if needed) adapters for the alkathene. Cut the pipe with a plastic pipe cutter (they're cheap and give a very quick and clean cut that does not leave burrs) rather than a hacksaw. Make sure the stopcock is "open" when you fit it. It should take 20-30 seconds to fit the stopcock on the supply pipe.

[DerbyBorn]

Tim+ wrote in news: [e-mail]:

If the pressure is low then I would change it without isolating it.

[DerbyBorn]

Do not disturb the connection to the pipe - remove the valve from the stem. Expect the nozzle to flush out. But you will have a new one.