Can you pull PEX-B without hurting it?

[Brad Littlejohn]

I have some old black plastic main line about 36"deep in the ground. I was able to loosen in up with a power washer without having to dig much. I was able to use my own strength to pull most of it. But, it got harder and I used my truck. Now I would like to put in 1" PEX-B by hooking the old pipe to the new and keep on pulling with the truck.

Will this compromise the integrity of the PEX-B

If not, do you have pictures of homemade pull fittings? I was going to use a Plain eye bolt and put a one 1" coupler on it with a nut. Then put it into the PEX tubing. Finishing off with a copper crimp ring on one side of the coupler on the PEX to hold the bolt.

 

[hj]

You may pull the old line apart if it gets stuck.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

I don't have pics of it.. but we built a pull fitting that had 1" thru 2" internal threads. Basically a bunch of thread protectors welded together but machined to a pointy cone with a hole for a cable out the pointy end. We used it to pull steel pipe in and out of a dock for the port of Seattle marina.

Worst thing that will happen to your pipe is you break it and have to dig it up.. Worst thing that could happen is you snap the cable and it comes back and kills someone.

When we hire directional boring to install water main sleeves, it costs under 1K for most projects.. Gets us from the sidewalk, under the typical rockery and end up within a foot of where we point.

 

[Jadnashua]

It depends on what's in the ground. PEX is relatively soft, so pulling it could end up scoring a big gouge in it depending on what it rubs against. If it was a more robust pipe, probably wouldn't be an issue. Personally, I wouldn't feel comfortable pulling pex underground even if you could connect to it reliably so that it wouldn't separate. Also note that the pipe will expand and contract with temperature changes, and even underground, over the seasons, that can be an issue. Laying it in a trench, it typically wouldn't be perfectly straight, and those curves would allow it to take up some of the stress and, bedding it in sand would help ensure it wouldn't be damaged.

 

[Brad Littlejohn]

It is 1" inch Pex-b. It had a little scoring coming out of the concrete foundation. I pulled a 3/4" pex jig I made. It pulled it through 3 feet of mud and clay. But, 5 feet was too much and the 3/4" snapped. I wanted the new follow the line of the old pipe. They put the old pipe about 30" below grade which is over kill in Cary, NC. Code calls for 12" and no deeper than 36" in NC. We only have a 9" frost line.

Based on what you said about movement. Do you think it is nessarary to put packing material around the pipe in the foundation wall or just make sure it has tar'ed into the wall?

 

[Jeff H Young]

our code is 12inch below frost line minimum and i belive no less than 18 in any case for plastic. 30 inches deep is over kill when your handigging . as for tarring at wall penetration be sure to use pex compatable and know that pex is known / or at least alleged to absorb contaminates.

 

[Brad Littlejohn]

Instead of putting tar on the foundation. I looked up the residental code. It calls for a pipe in the f0undation twice the size of the water line. . I put in a 2" schedule 40 PVC pipe in the foundation. The old pipe was just laid under the sewer pipe (PVC) in drainage rock which would not be correct with today's code. I was going to stuff a rag around the water pipe inside the 2" before burying the pipe. Unless someone thinks that would cause problems.