400-450' water line, uphill, what size?

[Rockwind1]

I have to send some water uphill to a tank,, it is about 400-450" in length,, I really don't want to string together a bunch of PVC pipes,, it is also going up hill about 55 ft in elevation. the current pipe is 3 times as long and the last 500' of it is 1/2 in PVC possibly,, ( I am not sure of all of it, it is an old existing line that is barely letting any water thru.

So I want to minimize friction loss yet stay real on the expense,

I will be trenching it down about a foot, I am thinking of a 500 ft roll of 1" PEX?

I know that black poly pipe is also available, any thoughts?

 

[Reach4]

SIDR polyethylene would be good. It is bigger than pex for a given nominal size. You might see what the local suppliers use. Some use IPS size pipe, which is similar but different.

You use barbed "insert" fittings for SIDR pipe.

http://irrigation.wsu.edu/Content/Calculators/General/Pipeline-Pressure-Loss.php will tell you the pressure loss due to flow. Expect 24 psi loss due to the elevation rise in addition to the loss due to flow.


How many gpm?

Menards does not service your area, but you might find it interesting what is available. https://www.menards.com/main/search.html?sf_categoryHierarchy=&search=sidr

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

A 55' elevation change, not counting the height of your tower, means you'll need a fairly decent pump, then the friction losses from pumping the water that far. You need to at least overcome gravity, which for 55' means about 24psi will overcome just the gravity involved.

If you know what gpm you expect to have up the hill, there are calculators that will tell you what the dynamic pressure losses will be based on that and the gpm. Just the static pressure needed to get water up 55' is about 24psi, with no flow. If your source is very small, you may be able to get by with a small pipe, but any decent flow will require a larger one. 1-1/4 or larger may be called for without wasting lots of energy in a large, high-pressure pump to get it up the hill and into the tower.

Note that the larger the supply pipe, the lower the frictional losses, and the smaller pump you'll need. Electrical costs to pump it are only going to go up over time, and will be a constant cost, versus a one-time charge to use a larger pipe to keep the pressure losses down, and the pump size and power requirements more reasonable.

 

[Terry]

The chart below is for copper, PVC and poly
PEX is about a size smaller.

 

[Rockwind1]

thanks, i think i going with 1",, more expensive than 3/4 for sure and all it does is fill the upper tank so not sure if i really need it but better safe than sorry.