Bummer, may have a leak in the water main

Hugh R · 01-08-2009, 06:20 PM

Big wet spot in the driveway, 300 foot driveway, and the water main is 30 y/o. Just what I need to spend money on. Maybe possible to patch, but with a 30 y/o galvanized pipe in alkaline soil and alkaline water, doesn't look to promising. Re-pipe the house with copper (was galvanized) about 5 years ago.

vash · vash's Garage

the leak is underneath the concrete slab?

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

We repiped our home 25 years ago and did the main at the same time. I think at the time it was $100 extra, but that included a new gate valve at the house. No clue what it would cost today. Don't think patch job on 30 y.o. galvanized.

Hugh R · 06:43 PM

Asphalt driveway. I have a call into a plumber that I trust. My guess is $5K. Fortunately the main doesn't go under the house and I have no pipes in the slab, except sewer.

Zeke · 01-08-2009, 06:35 PM

Monitor your meter when you know there is no water being used in the house and elsewhere. It will be over hours rather than minutes, so you have to know your toilets, irrigation and faucets aren't dripping.

It could be ground water (you hope). If not, you can run a new supply where there is no paving. Or, you can circumvent the area with a new supply that doesn't go all the way (temporary solution).

Hugh R · 01-08-2009, 06:44 PM

Milt, I'm sure it's not groundwater. I have lower areas adjacent with no daylight of groundwater, sigh.

Grog · 01-08-2009, 11:44 PM

My driveway has a leak also.

Our driveway

The next day when the creek level dropped.

I need to set the date on the camera.

jhynesrockmtn · 01-09-2009, 06:01 AM

Bummer. If it's that old and you plan on staying there it probably makes sense to replace it.

My stupid house is so far from the meter that I've repaired the line 3 times in 2 years and the last time put in a pressure limiting valve at the meter to hopefully buy myself more time as the rough estimates are $15k to replace the 30+ yo plastic line.

sammyg2 · 01-09-2009, 07:13 AM

You might be able to just have that one section epoxy-coated without digging anything up.
They dry it out with hot air, then sandblast the inside (with hot air and sand) and then blow in epoxy (with hot air). It's prolly worth a phone call.

BTW, serves you right for having a 300 foot driveway. Mine's too short to park my truck on.

Hugh R · 01-09-2009, 07:17 AM

$15K yikes!!

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

If you moving in the next couple years, patching may be an option. But let's face it, if one area is blown from age, how long before other weak spots spring up, literally?

Hugh R · 01-09-2009, 08:01 AM

My time horizon for staying in this house is ten years or more. Probably going to have to replace it, ugh...

turbo6bar · 01-09-2009, 08:11 AM

Gosh, find some handy buddies and DIY. It really isn't hard work unless you are going with threaded pipe (more labor and cost).

Zeke · 01-09-2009, 08:35 AM

15k is scary. I'd try to break it down. What will a trencher and operator cost for a day. What is the cost of materials? (Yes, I know the code wants copper and 1' min, but lots of houses have sched 80 PVC.) How much to connect the pieces and install new fittings at each end including pressure regulator? And finally, how much to back fill and compact the trench.

If you get my drift here, paying a plumber to do landscaping is silly.

nota · 01-09-2009, 11:06 AM

they have new rigs that directionally drill now
that means no trench or repave and far less mess

onewhippedpuppy · 01-09-2009, 11:39 AM

Trenchers are cheap and easy to run. Anybody can install PVC pipe. Just sayin'........

stomachmonkey · 01-09-2009, 11:42 AM

A thread about layin pipe is useless w/o pictures, or better yet, video.

HardDrive · 01-09-2009, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Trenchers are cheap and easy to run. Anybody can install PVC pipe. Just sayin'........

Trenchers are cheap and easy to run.

And the Youtube video of Hugh R accidently tearing into the largest fiberoptic cable on the west coast will be pure gold.....

futuresoptions · 01-09-2009, 02:33 PM

Hey Hugh, I doubt you are running on septic tanks, but if you are and have a leak somewhere inside the house you can end up with the same results... If it is the main, you should be able to find the leak fairlly quickly, just look for the water flow coming up from out of the ground. Should be easy to dig out since it is saturated. Just turn off the water meter first and then dig it out. Cut out the bad section and put in one of those three piece compression deals on it and it should buy you a year or so worth of time.... just a suggestion.

Superman · 01-09-2009, 02:47 PM

Is polyethylene pipe disallowed? It's what I see everyone else using. It's what I used. Like someone said, trench for a new pipe and leave the old one alone. It shouldn't be that hard, unless a slab must be cut. Even then, it's certainly not a complicated job. We have sawcutting technologies.