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New water line

H

Huskergreen

Member
Putting in a new under ground water line and was thinking of putting sand in the bottom of the trench over the pipe. Is this a good or bad idea? It would fill better around the pipe, and if ever digging it up would know when getting close to the pipe. What are your thoughts? Thank-you much
 
Good idea. Hurts nothing. If PVC or Other plastic, put a Underground rated insulated copper clad steel tracer wire along the trench to allow finding it when needed. Jim
 
If you are in an area subject to freezing, you might want to insulate the pipe by placing foam on either side of the pipe and above it. (No foam under the pipe.) This will help prevent frost from reaching the pipe.
 
I spent a lot of years working with water & sewer planning. All of the information mentioned that relate to tracer wire, sand bedding & insulation are great! In our part of the world, waterlines need to be buried 6' deep to the top of the pipe. Both types of lines are supposed to be bedded in sand to meet code. Sewer lines are supposed to be insulated if less than 5' deep and "shall be no shallower than 3.5'", according to code. That doesn't always happen, but you don't hear much gripping from an owner if a line freezes and wasn't done to code at the owners direction.
 
We put tracer wire in all installations. Never regretted it! Not expensive and pays benifits many times its small cost!
We also bed with sand screenings in rocky ground (below and above) hand filling the first few inches also aids in keeping the rocks away.
 

Here in NH the ground is so rocky that sand is always put both under and over. In addition to a tracer wire most guys will usually lay out caution ribbon over the sand
 
Thanks for all the responses. I had not thought about a tracer wire, sounds like very good to have. The new line is replacing an old (50 to 75 year) steel line that was in when I bought the place and can only guess on its location. Thanks again for all the thoughts.
 
You might check with your local building codes, even if you are out of their jurisdiction. How a pipe is installed would vary depending on the frost line and the local soil. Sand could prevent a pipe from breaking due to the ground shifting but it may be an unnecessary trouble and expense.
 
In my township here in SE Michigan I was required to go down 5' feet, put sand down ( I don't remember how thick, lay the pipe, pressure test the line for 24 hours, cover the pipe with sand and then backfil.
They also wanted copper pipe. I said no. I was not going to pay for 400 feet of 3/4 copper. I used, I think, 1" schedule 120 black plastic. They were satisfied.
Nothing was said about placing a wire with it. Wished that I had. I needed some excavating done and had misdigg out. Could not trace the water line. Fortunately, I have my own "as builts" and showed them were the line was located.
 
One thing I've seen is put down six inches of fill or a bit more,
then lay one of those plastic caution tapes and bury it.
And the tracer wire!!!
 
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