Arrgghh! Water Leak

[Griff]

I finished mowing my pastures on Sunday afternoon and noticed a damp patch where there shouldn't be one. Having had no rain in several weeks, it was definitely a potential problem... Yep... a leak. Yesterday the rental company didn't have the small excavator available until today. So, today I rented a mini-excavator and began digging... unsure of where exactly the leak was located... and FOUND IT! Or, created a new one! Now, to get the water company out & shut off the water. Hopefully they'll respond quickly as we're in the midst of a water shortage. Now to find my pump and get the water out of the hole I dug. I have about a 10 foot square damp to soaked area... and need to uncover the line. Definitely something one guy sitting on an excavator can't do. Hmmm... i wonder if that's why the city water always has about six guys standing around watching the one working? At $200/day these excavators ain't cheap!

I can think or worse problems, but few frustrate me more than water leaks... I ain't any sort of plumber, and usually have to hire one to fix any problems I create by "fixing" stuff myself. And with a 60% chance of rain tomorrow & Thursday, this really cuts into my planned range time!

[JimT]

I finished mowing my pastures on Sunday afternoon and noticed a damp patch where there shouldn't be one. Having had no rain in several weeks, it was definitely a potential problem... Yep... a leak. Yesterday the rental company didn't have the small excavator available until today. So, today I rented a mini-excavator and began digging... unsure of where exactly the leak was located... and FOUND IT! Or, created a new one! Now, to get the water company out & shut off the water. Hopefully they'll respond quickly as we're in the midst of a water shortage. Now to find my pump and get the water out of the hole I dug. I have about a 10 foot square damp to soaked area... and need to uncover the line. Definitely something one guy sitting on an excavator can't do. Hmmm... i wonder if that's why the city water always has about six guys standing around watching the one working? At $200/day these excavators ain't cheap!

I can think or worse problems, but few frustrate me more than water leaks... I ain't any sort of plumber, and usually have to hire one to fix any problems I create by "fixing" stuff myself. And with a 60% chance of rain tomorrow & Thursday, this really cuts into my planned range time!

I have fixed so many water leaks on the property here that I should have my journeyman's license by now. The first was when we were moving it. We had a propane tank delivered and set up quite a ways from the house. Rented a ditch witch and was digging across the property to lay the gas line when suddenly Old Faithful erupted underneath us! We found a 2" water line going around the house that we did not know about!

"Course .. we have a well so it's not a problem to shut the water down ..... except if we do it means a problem!

[GunnyMack]

Jim thats exactly the reason they developed the Call Before You Dig system.

Well you found the leak but will the water company have issue with you digging it up?

[gcs]

If only they made something you can put in the line, somewhere you can access it, to shut the water off for that section....

[JimT]

Jim thats exactly the reason they developed the Call Before You Dig system.

Well you found the leak but will the water company have issue with you digging it up?

We have no one to call.
We are the water company!
Our own well and water system for the entire property.
There's no kind of water company piping with a mile of us.
So .. if we break it .. we fix it.
If someone else breaks it .. we fix it.
If it just quits or breaks on its own .. we fix it.

[GunnyMack]

I got that Jim- my point was that municipalities require the call so gas lines, water lines, electric, phone , fiber optic don't get found by a track hoe and tear things up or worse!
The average city slicker would never survive with daily home life for folks like us. If a guy can wire, basic plumbing, swing a hammer and cut a straight line they can do more than survive and if they hunt & fish they can thrive!

[JimT]

I got that Jim- my point was that municipalities require the call so gas lines, water lines, electric, phone , fiber optic don't get found by a track hoe and tear things up or worse!
The average city slicker would never survive with daily home life for folks like us. If a guy can wire, basic plumbing, swing a hammer and cut a straight line they can do more than survive and if they hunt & fish they can thrive!

Yessir. You have that right! When we had the Snow-meggedon and Dallas froze up, I saw a news report of an apartment with the ceiling coming in and water everywhere and people wailing and weeping but NO ONE was looking for how to shut the water off to the building!! It seems like people can't think ahead of what might be needed. My son-in-law had a visit a high-rise office the other day as part of his job. He was looking out the window at the view and asked the lady in the office, "What's your plan if you have a fire or some other emergency and the elevator isn't an option and the stairway is blocked?" And she said, "What are you talking about?" so he just said, "Sorry. Just thinking out out loud."

[GunnyMack]

Exactly!

[Griff]

Well, it was a 11 hour job... but it appears fixed. Main 1" line in tees off to the house & continues to the barn. Tee broke. Then my digging with the excavator broke some pipe. Actually made putting new pipe in easier. It didn't rain starting @ 4am like the forecast predicts! My son did most of the labor intensive work... I supervised, which my son said I'm good at! (As his first ever boss to bring beer!) Now to fill in the hole... maybe add some sand to help with the shifting soil we have. I've tried encasing the pipe inside another (3"), nope, still broke, rocks, (broke quicker), and just plain left the pipe in the black clay they call dirt here. The last time this pipe was repaired was some 20+ years ago... maybe the best I can hope for!

[GunnyMack]

Up here in the NE they will put sand on top of electrical conduit, plumbing or gas lines and a 6" wide strip of foil before back filling with soil. That way the machine operator of the future have 2 visual clues before they do real damage!

[Griff]

Well... 1st joint of new pipe to old has a drip! Arrggh! I got 200 lbs of sand to go in before I backfill. I've heard of folks using colored tape for the warning thing tho'... I'll see what I've got around to do the same. Thanks for the reminder.

[Griff]

Maybe the 2nd time will be the charm:

DSCN1550[1].JPG

[GunnyMack]

Ah, pvc- really gotta keep the dirt off the joints for a good cementing.

[piller]

As a kid I worked for the City Parks Department. We put in underground sprinklers all over the parks there. I learned from my Dad to put pvc together. A couple of the kids put almost 1/4 th of a can of cement per joint. Everything they did had to be fixed. Less is best with pvc cement.