I posted this over in the "What did you do with your Kubota" thread, but thought it would fit in better in the "Projects" section.
Property had something like 5 or 6 faucets randomly popping up out of the ground, but the lines were shallow (like 4 inches deep) and I had to drain and blow out the lines before the first freeze. Not a huge inconvenience, but not optimal. Bought the place a year and a half ago and was wanting to re-do everything with freeze-proof yard hydrants. Found out there was one line that was about 30"-32" deep to one faucet in the driveway, and the rest were just barely under the surface going to all the other faucets in the yard. Ended up replacing that driveway faucet with a freeze-proof hydrant and then digging a trench and tapping into that existing line for three additional hydrants.
I think I paid for the backhoe doing this project myself. With the hydrants (decided to go with Merrill hydrants, made in the USA so they were almost three times as much as the cheap hydrants at Home Depot), PEX, fittings and crimp rings, PEX tool, PVC couplers and pipe, piece of sewer line, shielded couplers, wire (for tracer line) and gravel I was in at around $1,200. Can't imagine what it would cost to hire someone to come in and dig the trench and hire a plumber to install everything. Would have definitely been much faster, but I saved a lot of money doing myself and wasn't in a hurry and learned a lot. First hydrant is where I'm goring to put a greenhouse and garden beds, next up the hill is where the burn pile is and third one is where the chicken coop will be. There's fourth one I installed a few months ago that was attached to the existing water line. Used PEX since I already had it. Worked out well and made the install go super fast, and was especially convenient when I has to re-route the the PEX around boulders in the ground.
Trench ended up being just over 200 ft long and three feet deep (frost line here is 2 feet). Dug down an extra foot under each hydrant to accommodate a bed of washed pea gravel for weep hole drainage. This was where I originally started in the photo below, but ended up taking the starting point back about 30 more feet. Trench goes up this slope and wraps around to the right between the carport/wood shed and house.
Merrill recommends putting in a concrete pad or block under each hydrant to stabilize it. I decided to use t-posts instead. Pounded them several feet into the ground then secured the hydrants to the t-posts with hose clamps. Made it very easy to adjust the depth of the hydrant, ensured they were perfectly perpendicular and added some rigidity to the hydrant once buried.
Weep hole taped during construction to prevent debris from getting into it. Used quarter-minus gravel to bed and bury the line. The soil here is VERY rocky and wanted to enclose the line in the quarter-minus for protection.
Filling in the trench with the quarter-minus
Here's where I had two trenches meet and then continued on where I tapped into an existing outside water line.
As previously mentioned, trench is three feet deep, except at each hydrant where it's 4 feet deep. Did this to accommodate a bed or washed pea gravel under each hydrant, then placed a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out around each hydrant and also filled that with washed pea gravel. Used washed pea gravel to prevent any dust or dirt from clogging up the weep holes.
View attachment 162268
I accidentally hit a sewer line with the backhoe that wasn't supposed to be there. Turned out to be an RV clean out that I had no idea was there. Repaired it and re-routed the existing outside PVC waterline and connected the PEX to it for the additional three new hydrants. Probably didn't need to use such heavy duty 4-band shielded couplers, but it's super sturdy now and isn't going anywhere. That RV clean out goes up to the car port. That's great because I hope to put a shop where the carport is some day, and the clean out means I can easily install a sink and toilet in the shop.
Property had something like 5 or 6 faucets randomly popping up out of the ground, but the lines were shallow (like 4 inches deep) and I had to drain and blow out the lines before the first freeze. Not a huge inconvenience, but not optimal. Bought the place a year and a half ago and was wanting to re-do everything with freeze-proof yard hydrants. Found out there was one line that was about 30"-32" deep to one faucet in the driveway, and the rest were just barely under the surface going to all the other faucets in the yard. Ended up replacing that driveway faucet with a freeze-proof hydrant and then digging a trench and tapping into that existing line for three additional hydrants.
I think I paid for the backhoe doing this project myself. With the hydrants (decided to go with Merrill hydrants, made in the USA so they were almost three times as much as the cheap hydrants at Home Depot), PEX, fittings and crimp rings, PEX tool, PVC couplers and pipe, piece of sewer line, shielded couplers, wire (for tracer line) and gravel I was in at around $1,200. Can't imagine what it would cost to hire someone to come in and dig the trench and hire a plumber to install everything. Would have definitely been much faster, but I saved a lot of money doing myself and wasn't in a hurry and learned a lot. First hydrant is where I'm goring to put a greenhouse and garden beds, next up the hill is where the burn pile is and third one is where the chicken coop will be. There's fourth one I installed a few months ago that was attached to the existing water line. Used PEX since I already had it. Worked out well and made the install go super fast, and was especially convenient when I has to re-route the the PEX around boulders in the ground.
Trench ended up being just over 200 ft long and three feet deep (frost line here is 2 feet). Dug down an extra foot under each hydrant to accommodate a bed of washed pea gravel for weep hole drainage. This was where I originally started in the photo below, but ended up taking the starting point back about 30 more feet. Trench goes up this slope and wraps around to the right between the carport/wood shed and house.
Merrill recommends putting in a concrete pad or block under each hydrant to stabilize it. I decided to use t-posts instead. Pounded them several feet into the ground then secured the hydrants to the t-posts with hose clamps. Made it very easy to adjust the depth of the hydrant, ensured they were perfectly perpendicular and added some rigidity to the hydrant once buried.
Weep hole taped during construction to prevent debris from getting into it. Used quarter-minus gravel to bed and bury the line. The soil here is VERY rocky and wanted to enclose the line in the quarter-minus for protection.
Filling in the trench with the quarter-minus
Here's where I had two trenches meet and then continued on where I tapped into an existing outside water line.
As previously mentioned, trench is three feet deep, except at each hydrant where it's 4 feet deep. Did this to accommodate a bed or washed pea gravel under each hydrant, then placed a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out around each hydrant and also filled that with washed pea gravel. Used washed pea gravel to prevent any dust or dirt from clogging up the weep holes.
View attachment 162268
I accidentally hit a sewer line with the backhoe that wasn't supposed to be there. Turned out to be an RV clean out that I had no idea was there. Repaired it and re-routed the existing outside PVC waterline and connected the PEX to it for the additional three new hydrants. Probably didn't need to use such heavy duty 4-band shielded couplers, but it's super sturdy now and isn't going anywhere. That RV clean out goes up to the car port. That's great because I hope to put a shop where the carport is some day, and the clean out means I can easily install a sink and toilet in the shop.
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