Seattle_Scott
New Member
I have a place with a house on a 45 degree slope. The soil is sand on the top and clay underneath. We broke the local rain record last year (South Puget Sound). After the rains the ground dried out and the main power line to the house snapped, the water line busted and separated in a couple of places and I was the lucky guy in the neighborhood because all the doors and windows work fine, septic tank-drain field are fine, no cracked drywall, etc.
I used dresser couplers to fix the busted water pipe. I initially had two beaks but over the next five months had several other breaks at random time intervals. Haven't had a break in a long time but expect some day it will happen. Last time I was at the store I saw some "expanding" couplers where one end telescopes in and out several inches and wonder if those might be preferable (a couple of O-rings and some lubricant? on the sliding part).
The house fresh water comes from a well "up on the flat part" of the property.There is 400 feet of buried PVC water pipe (1 inch Schedule 40?) between the well and the house. I expect over the years the earth will move more and the water line will probably break again. Would I be smart to use the expanding type of coupler or just stick with the dresser coupler? When the lines breaks I have seen mostly "simple separation" (the joint breaks and the ends are inches apart) but there can be elevation shifting (a few inches) too. I try to set install the dresser couplers so there is as much pie as possible inside the coupler hoping some pipe can "slip out" as needed.
I have a feeling hose isn't a great option and once it is packed 30 inches or so into the sand wonder how much it could really stretch out as things shift. The power company guys didn't leave any slack in their underground power line when it was repaired...they said slack doesn't help.
Expanding coupler? Hose? Dresser coupler? What do you think is best?
Thanks,
SS
I used dresser couplers to fix the busted water pipe. I initially had two beaks but over the next five months had several other breaks at random time intervals. Haven't had a break in a long time but expect some day it will happen. Last time I was at the store I saw some "expanding" couplers where one end telescopes in and out several inches and wonder if those might be preferable (a couple of O-rings and some lubricant? on the sliding part).
The house fresh water comes from a well "up on the flat part" of the property.There is 400 feet of buried PVC water pipe (1 inch Schedule 40?) between the well and the house. I expect over the years the earth will move more and the water line will probably break again. Would I be smart to use the expanding type of coupler or just stick with the dresser coupler? When the lines breaks I have seen mostly "simple separation" (the joint breaks and the ends are inches apart) but there can be elevation shifting (a few inches) too. I try to set install the dresser couplers so there is as much pie as possible inside the coupler hoping some pipe can "slip out" as needed.
I have a feeling hose isn't a great option and once it is packed 30 inches or so into the sand wonder how much it could really stretch out as things shift. The power company guys didn't leave any slack in their underground power line when it was repaired...they said slack doesn't help.
Expanding coupler? Hose? Dresser coupler? What do you think is best?
Thanks,
SS
Attachments
Last edited: