Underground hose line?

[Mr_Yan]

So, I know there are some elder gurus on this forum that may have experience with this.

I have hose bibs on my house but my garden is on the other side of the gravel-driveway and 100+ feet away. I am thinking about running an underground line from next to my house to my veg garden to give a permanent location in the garden to water from.

My idea is to dig a trench and place in the same line as used for a underground sprinkler systems and putting a hose bib on each end. Here I would use a short length of hose to connect the house main bib to a stub-up next to the house and then connect the garden hose at the other end at the point of use. Frost depth makes a permanent, un-managed line, cost prohibitive. And with that same frost depth I don't want the line connecting into the house.

Other than a lot of digging trench and the annual blow out maintenance do you see much of a downside to this? I could rent a trencher but I don't want to risk hitting some electrical lines that weren't protected or buried deep enough by the previous owner Mr. Fix-It.

The other idea is drive a sand point and put in a (illegal) well out in my garden. My irrigation well is in my basement (old farm house) and about 15 feet deep from ground surface so I know a sand point works here.

 

[Meadowlark]

Can you just connect to the existing underground sprinkler system and go from there perhaps shortening your run to the garden?

The "new" pex pipe is very resistant to bursting and maybe wouldn't need to be as deep as other.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Can you just connect to the existing underground sprinkler system and go from there perhaps shortening your run to the garden?

The "new" pex pipe is very resistant to bursting and maybe wouldn't need to be as deep as other.

There is no existing underground sprinkler system to connect to...

PEX is awesome and I have the tools to crimp it. I redid the supply side of my last house with PEX in a weekend.

 

[YumYum]

I have a water line to my garden from a bibb on the house which I connect with a patch hose to a connection just sticking out of the ground when frost/freeze is gone. The line is only 6-7" deep which is above the frost line and haven't had problems yet. It is a pain in the fall to winterize. The line is downhill so I have a bottom blow out hole to work with. I blow the line out with air, add RV antifreeze, blow out again, like winterizing a seadoo. Mine is plain pvc.

 

[Mr_Yan]

@YumYum - that's exactly what I was thinking of doing.

I like the idea of either a polybutal tube as used on sprinkler systems or PEX as it is a single flexible piece and I have to bend around a few things. Also I don't like gluing PVC and ensuring my hand dug trench is flat-ish.

I measured it out and get 100 feet from point A to point B.

 

[YumYum]

I measured it out and get 100 feet from point A to point B.

Mine is about 150' long. I dug mine with a little hand held digger about the size of a framing hammer.

 

[Sean Regan]

I've always used alkathene water pipe, it's flexible and strong. So much so I've also used it as conduit to carry electrical cables.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I've always used alkathene water pipe, it's flexible and strong. So much so I've also used it as conduit to carry electrical cables.

Had to look this one up...

Looks like over here it's mostly used for natural gas and is listed as MDPE (guessing Medium Density Polyethylene) Pipe. From experience I'll tell you a post hole auger will slice right through a yellow MDPE gas line.

1/2" PEX x 100' roll is $37 here, I have the crimper for it. The thing is PEX will be shredded by UV in less than a year so it has to be protected from the sun.

 

[lifegardener]

So, I know there are some elder gurus on this forum that may have experience with this.

I have hose bibs on my house but my garden is on the other side of the gravel-driveway and 100+ feet away. I am thinking about running an underground line from next to my house to my veg garden to give a permanent location in the garden to water from.

My idea is to dig a trench and place in the same line as used for a underground sprinkler systems and putting a hose bib on each end. Here I would use a short length of hose to connect the house main bib to a stub-up next to the house and then connect the garden hose at the other end at the point of use. Frost depth makes a permanent, un-managed line, cost prohibitive. And with that same frost depth I don't want the line connecting into the house.

Other than a lot of digging trench and the annual blow out maintenance do you see much of a downside to this? I could rent a trencher but I don't want to risk hitting some electrical lines that weren't protected or buried deep enough by the previous owner Mr. Fix-It.

The other idea is drive a sand point and put in a (illegal) well out in my garden. My irrigation well is in my basement (old farm house) and about 15 feet deep from ground surface so I know a sand point works here.

The less you have to do the better. Everything requires a degree of maintenance - so it's that degree you have to be comfortable with doing.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Had to look this one up...

Looks like over here it's mostly used for natural gas and is listed as MDPE (guessing Medium Density Polyethylene) Pipe. From experience I'll tell you a post hole auger will slice right through a yellow MDPE gas line.

1/2" PEX x 100' roll is $37 here, I have the crimper for it. The thing is PEX will be shredded by UV in less than a year so it has to be protected from the sun.

The grey pvc used for electrical conduit is uv stabilized. Can you tap into a larger supply line? Maybe the one entering the home is bigger? The reason being once you get out there 2 things: length of time to put x amount of water out and the number of orifices you can have running simultaneously to water. My neighbor put 6 sprinklers on a 3\4" pvc line and asked me to come find the problem when they had low flow. As I recall they had 6\32 holes and would have needed 36\32 pipe ID minimum if not bigger.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I was wondering when, or if, the guru (@DirtMechanic) was going to chime in on this one. Thanks.

Few points to address.
1) I am only thinking about running a single permanent "extended" hose bib out to where I have my veg garden. One point of draw, one hose, no underground sprinklers. Currently I haul 100' of black hose from the bib on my house out to the garden then back each time I use it.

2) The well / pump / pressure tank that I will be pulling from is in my basement and is plumbed in with 1/2" from the tank to the two hose bibs on the house. I could re-plumb it all with PEX inside, upgrade to proper frost-free bibs, and clean up the spaghetti in the basement. But then I would realize the well pump needs to be increased too. Yes, it's weird but the well is through the basement floor - this house is 100+ years old and was a combo farm and chicken hatchery for the first few decades. The well only is connected to two hose bibs on the house, everything else is municipal water.

3) I am not planning on exposed pipe regardless of pipe material. This will be next to a patio I am getting ready to install now (long day working on that today) and I want it to look nice. I was thinking setting something like a 4x4 fence post then boxing around that with decking and have the hose bib through the decking and the PEX internal to the box. At the other end in the garden I would do much the same thing but integrate it with a hose hanger and some tool storage.

I really should redo the plumbing in the basement for these hose bibs and put nice frost-free hardware in that doesn't leak. These are bad. Just there's higher priorities on my project list.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I was wondering when, or if, the guru (@DirtMechanic) was going to chime in on this one. Thanks.

Few points to address.
1) I am only thinking about running a single permanent "extended" hose bib out to where I have my veg garden. One point of draw, one hose, no underground sprinklers. Currently I haul 100' of black hose from the bib on my house out to the garden then back each time I use it.

2) The well / pump / pressure tank that I will be pulling from is in my basement and is plumbed in with 1/2" from the tank to the two hose bibs on the house. I could re-plumb it all with PEX inside, upgrade to proper frost-free bibs, and clean up the spaghetti in the basement. But then I would realize the well pump needs to be increased too. Yes, it's weird but the well is through the basement floor - this house is 100+ years old and was a combo farm and chicken hatchery for the first few decades. The well only is connected to two hose bibs on the house, everything else is municipal water.

3) I am not planning on exposed pipe regardless of pipe material. This will be next to a patio I am getting ready to install now (long day working on that today) and I want it to look nice. I was thinking setting something like a 4x4 fence post then boxing around that with decking and have the hose bib through the decking and the PEX internal to the box. At the other end in the garden I would do much the same thing but integrate it with a hose hanger and some tool storage.

I really should redo the plumbing in the basement for these hose bibs and put nice frost-free hardware in that doesn't leak. These are bad. Just there's higher priorities on my project list.

Haha goo-rue is more like it.

That 4x4 business .... ever thought of building one hollow of 4 boards and running the pipe inside? That might be a nice touch.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Haha goo-rue is more like it.

That 4x4 business .... ever thought of building one hollow of 4 boards and running the pipe inside? That might be a nice touch.

4x4 fence post or making a box... I was thinking a of a box originally but ground contact 1x to make the box out of is less than commonly available. So the idea compounded a little. 4x4 three feet into the ground and coming out then wrap it with something else above ground to make the box / hollow post with pipe in it and hose bib on it.

 

[DirtMechanic]

4x4 fence post or making a box... I was thinking a of a box originally but ground contact 1x to make the box out of is less than commonly available. So the idea compounded a little. 4x4 three feet into the ground and coming out then wrap it with something else above ground to make the box / hollow post with pipe in it and hose bib on it.

Stiffness and plumbing go together. I would love to see it when you are done.

 

[Mr_Yan]

The less you have to do the better. Everything requires a degree of maintenance - so it's that degree you have to be comfortable with doing.

yup less to maintain the better. I am working hard to get my "systems" in place at this new house to make it easier to keep.

I just pulled my long hose over to my garden (from the house) to water again and learned that it is too short to reach my 5 new raised beds. So I was using a 100' hose to fill a bucket and watering can to make it the last 20 feet. The annual blowout maintenance will be worth it for a simple hose and not needing to thread it across the driveway, through the apple trees, over the garden fence and then not worry about clothslining the garden bed behind me with the hose.