Connecting PE to water meter

I am running 1" PE to water meter to replace a 100 yr old galvanized pipe. I have a few questions:

1) I was planning to make the connection between the union and the PE pipe using a brass 1" barb to 3/4" male screw fitting and secure with two stainless clamps. However, I have read about a "transition" fitting and wonder if I should be using one instead?

2) it's pretty darn cold right now (around 20-30 deg F) and the PE pipe doesn't seem to want to bend at all (1" PE). How tight of a radius turn can it make? Are there any tools or supports (like for PEX) that will help make / hold a bend? (I need to bend it 90-deg & come up ~one foot then bend again 90-deg to come horizontal ~one foot for the connection.)

3) here in Seattle the water company provides a union connection outside of the water meter box. The exisiting union and old service line look terribly corroded... any tips for disconnecting the old pipe?

1) I was planning to make the connection between the union and the PE pipe using a brass 1" barb to 3/4" male screw fitting and secure with two stainless clamps. However, I have read about a "transition" fitting and wonder if I should be using one instead?

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I use the brass barb fitting too. 3/4" mip x 1" barb
That is perfect.

2) it's pretty darn cold right now (around 20-30 deg F) and the PE pipe doesn't seem to want to bend at all (1" PE). How tight of a radius turn can it make? Are there any tools or supports (like for PEX) that will help make / hold a bend? (I need to bend it 90-deg & come up ~one foot then bend again 90-deg to come horizontal ~one foot for the connection.)

Click to expand...

That's too tight for 1" PE
If I need a tight bend right off the meter, I use copper.
But PEX would be fine too, though I dont' know if it will make that tight bend for you.

If you are only talking two feet, it would be ok to run that two feet 3/4"

3) here in Seattle the water company provides a union connection outside of the water meter box. The exisiting union and old service line look terribly corroded... any tips for disconnecting the old pipe?

Click to expand...

Photo?
I don't recall unions.
It should be a 3/4" pigtail of copper on the house side of the meter, going under the sidewalk, and that is where I normally connect the brass fitting to, it should be threaded there.

It's pretty darn cold today, It was 23 here in Bothell last night before I went to bed.

You can't bend PE very much and certainly not 90* as you describe. You're supposed to use 1" insert x insert elbows. SS or brass for underground. You can get elbows in insert x male or female also. Above ground I'd use sch 80 PVC. Millions of private well water systems and city water service lines have done it that way for decades.

I would not use a union.

Terry said:

But PEX would be fine too, though I dont' know if it will make that tight bend for you.

If you are only talking two feet, it would be ok to run that two feet 3/4"

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I also have PEX I guess I can try that if the PE doesn't work out. The 2 ft is just the end of a run... the house is about 7-8 ft vertical from the street and there is an embankment w/ a rockery that the line runs behind, which was a b*tch to get behind. The run ended up a bit lower than the original so that is why need to make those tight bends... it's really a correction.

Am I correct in thinking that the cold weather will make it harder to bend the PE? Any tricks?

End of the run, don't drop down to 3/4" then, keep it 1"

You may need to go with 90's

A hair dryer will warm it some, but poly doesn't make tight bends.
It's made to pretty much be layed out flat.

It it kinks, you will have to cut the kink out.

temperature

cold is the enemy of PE.
when it's 90 degrees, and it's been laying in the sun for a few hours, you have a completely different, friendly product.

But even then, you won't make those sharp 90 degree turns.
wait till July

I'm going to try to use a hairdryer and see if it helps at all. If PEX will not make the bends either than I will have to think about using 90-deg ELs. I don't know much about PE pipe and wonder how to make those connections (PEX I understand, but not PE) ... I have seen mention of "heat fusion" but dont know what that process is, can anyone advise how to make those connections?

You may have to use copper 90's and some copper pipe.

pe

You do not have the experience, certification, or tools to make a fusion joint, so you do not even have to consider that. I do not know what the horizontal distance is that you are working with, but few plastic materials will make a double 90 "Z" turn in a short horizontal distance.

PE has been used for wells and city water for many decades. You buy it in rolls at most hardware, plumbing and pump supply houses and big box stores or online.

The fittings are insert/barbed and come in Nylon, sch 80 and 40 PVC, SS, brass and galvanized steel. You use SS hose clamps properly tightened, meaning tight but not as tight as you can get them. If you have a leak, it will be a drip type and you tighten the clamp a bit and/or add another clamp. If you are burying a fitting, use SS or brass only and two clamps, one on each side of the fitting, facing the same direction if possible. It can outlast any other type of material, including freezing; the same as PEX.