Stupid Question from novice

Good evening!

I know nothing about wells, other than we moved to an old farm house a few months back and we have one. My water stopped last Sunday and apparently there is a leak or break somewhere between the well and the house. (approx 1500 feet mostly corn fields with drainage tiles) Needless to say we haven't find the leak and have opted to dig a new line. So we are digging a new line from the well to the house and I need to know where I can buy the pipe and what type of pipe I need?

When I looked up water pipe on google, it didn't return what I needed. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I am so glad to find this forum. THANKS!!!

Before you replace the pipe you need to determine that that is where the problem is.

What makes you think there is a break and why is it between the well and house? what if it is 10' above the pump, in the well, and the line from the well to the house is fine.

If you know nothing about wells I would strongly suggest you call someone who can determine with certainty what and where the problem is.

stupid question

Good Morning!

Thanks for replying to my question. Sorry if I didn't make it clear. I did have the local plumber come out and he checked all the equipment in the cave and down at the well. He pulled the pump because we thought it was a check value. When he came back from the well, he told me that there was a break somewhere between the well and the house. We live in a rural area, so this guy actually installed the pump at the well a few years back. He also told us that the water lines were old and most likely ran all over the property since it used to be a cattle farm. He told us to run the pump for a few hours and walk the property to look for water, but since most of the line is in a corn field, that the drainage tiles in the field would carry it away so we most likely not be able to find a leak out there.

We dug out the water line behind the cave and discovered that the pipe is lead, so replacing the line seems like a viable option. And I really don't want to go through this again, so repairing the pipe if we did find the break seems like a band aid fix when the pipe is so old, that it couldn't hurt to replace it. And no one that I have found associated with the old cattle farm can tell us where the water lines are run, but there are old time faucets in 6 different places on the property and only one of them ever worked.

Thanks for your reply. I have been looking online and found that pex pipe is used for water lines, but don't know the difference between the sizes?

Wait for a response from some of the well guys.

I am going to guess that you may need 1.5" pipe if you are running that far. Is the soil rocky?

I wouldn't use PEX.

I think you'll find Pex is used mostly for indoor plumbing. I would think Poly or PVC would be best for your needs. If you can tell me how much water you think will be flowing through this pipe in gallons per minute, I can help you pick the right size. If you go too small, you will have a friction loss.

Also, lead pipe is not what you want your water flowing through, so replacing the pipe is a great idea.

bob...

Lead pipe will last several hundred years, but they say thats why Rome fell.... so poly or polyethylene pipe would be a good choice. Save the lead pipe and get about a buck a pound at the scrap yard.