So, my 1964-era galvanized steel service has started to really show symptoms of corrosion blockage. Pressure tests show fine but flow tests are about 25% what they should be at a hose spigot near the house entrance and normal at the street. I'd like to replace the line with 3/4" or 1" flexible copper. What I'd like to know is what has changed code-wise since the original install and what should I look out for?
I'm in Atlanta, so my frost depth is probably at about 2"... no issues there. The existing service has a short 1" PVC tee and some elbows at the street/meter going into a backflow then to an irrigation system. The other side of the tee goes into the cast iron house supply. At the house side the iron pipe entrance is probably 12-18" undeground straight through cinder-block foundation into a crawl space. It then transitions to copper, into a shutoff valve, a pressure regulator, etc. Is it worth pulling up the cast iron or should I just sawzall it a few feet out and be done?
Assuming there is no local code requiring additional depth, how deep does international code require the line to be below grade? Do I need to put a shut-off at the meter side AND the house side? Where do I need backflow prevention? I'd like to migrate the irrigation tee from near the street to near the house (re-working the PVC isn't bad. I had to re-do it after the irrigation company used blue-pipe to make the original tee and it cracked). Do I just put in a tee near the house with hard copper and join the yard-run into that? Should I use a ball valve or a gate valve for the shutoffs and are there special ones for underground/service line use?
Other pointers/suggestions welcome. Feel free to be technical. I'm an engineer, just not a plumber.
Dan
Water Pipe Sizing
I'm in Atlanta, so my frost depth is probably at about 2"... no issues there. The existing service has a short 1" PVC tee and some elbows at the street/meter going into a backflow then to an irrigation system. The other side of the tee goes into the cast iron house supply. At the house side the iron pipe entrance is probably 12-18" undeground straight through cinder-block foundation into a crawl space. It then transitions to copper, into a shutoff valve, a pressure regulator, etc. Is it worth pulling up the cast iron or should I just sawzall it a few feet out and be done?
Assuming there is no local code requiring additional depth, how deep does international code require the line to be below grade? Do I need to put a shut-off at the meter side AND the house side? Where do I need backflow prevention? I'd like to migrate the irrigation tee from near the street to near the house (re-working the PVC isn't bad. I had to re-do it after the irrigation company used blue-pipe to make the original tee and it cracked). Do I just put in a tee near the house with hard copper and join the yard-run into that? Should I use a ball valve or a gate valve for the shutoffs and are there special ones for underground/service line use?
Other pointers/suggestions welcome. Feel free to be technical. I'm an engineer, just not a plumber.
Dan
Water Pipe Sizing
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