Author Topic: Main water plumbing redo  (Read 3465 times)

MustacheTrainee

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Main water plumbing redo
« on: June 23, 2014, 11:52:11 PM »
I'm working on trying to fix my high (140psi) water pressure coming out of my outside faucets and also plan for a future sprinkler system. I talked to a sprinkler/landscape person and after looking at the current situation they said to tap into the 3/4" main coming into the crawl space. Based on what they said, I have a plan, but I'd like to get some feedback.

Here is what I have now (diagram and photos follow):



Photos

This is my planned revised layout:



Another alternative is to find a way to re-configure the plumbing in the meter pit so that there is a pressure regulator before the meter, but I suspect this will be complex at best (yes the meter is outside in a pit and I live in Colorado where it freezes!).

I'm also worried that changing the connection on the soft copper coming in from the street is going to be a pain since I'm not sure what I will find when I remove the old threaded brass connector. I assume I can't unsolder it, clean and then resolder a new 3/4" male threaded connector?

Thanks for your help!
« Last Edit: June 24, 2014, 10:48:24 AM by MustacheTrainee »

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2014, 09:34:09 AM »
For some reason, your diagrams aren't showing up.  Can you recheck those links?

MustacheTrainee

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2014, 10:48:46 AM »
Corrected diagram links!

Milspecstache

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2014, 06:07:37 PM »
If any of that is for drinking water then please ditch the galvanized metal.  I'd highly recommend going with PEX and you can use sharkbite fittings to easily transition over.  Being in CO please switch to PEX so you can stop worrying about freezes in anything you add to your plumbing system.
 
I also like the extra valves as that means you can do maintenance easier in the future.  Copper is too expensive to use for plumbing now, though.

MustacheTrainee

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2014, 01:19:25 PM »
It is for drinking water! Consider the galvanized gone. I thought about PEX but thought that for the small amount of work using copper would make the most sense.

Thanks for the feedback!

zataks

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2014, 01:33:57 PM »
Unless there is not enough room or there is a significant reason for needing separate pressure zones, I would probably put the PRV immediately after the master shut off.  PRVs are expensive (even the rebuild kits aren't cheap) and the fewer of them you have, the better.  Unless you're really into plumbing and complexity and cleaning/rebuilding/repairing things. 

I 2nd getting away from copper/galve.  PEX/plastic pipe (tubing, really) is way easier and it's cheap. 

Valves are expensive but redundancy is always nice.  I would suggest a cut off prior to the yard faucet PRV (if you don't move it to where I earlier suggested) so that you can cut it off and work on that system without shutting down you indoor potable supply.  Remember that if adjusted all the way down, a PRV can be used as a shut off valve but if it fails you'll be tracing back to the nearest in-line valve and hope it seats properly.

MustacheTrainee

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2014, 11:19:13 PM »
That's a good point on the PRVs. The person I talked to about irrigation suggested having a separate PRV in case you needed a higher/lower pressure for that than the house. Normally this would be in the meter pit but of course I don't have that.

So the copper is currently supporting the existing PRV, if I switch to PEX will it be capable of supporting the two PRVs?

The additional valve is a great suggestion. Thanks!

Revised diagram with additional shutoff:

« Last Edit: June 26, 2014, 02:11:48 PM by MustacheTrainee »

zataks

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #7 on: June 26, 2014, 08:23:41 AM »
Looking good, but now that you've put a valve upstream of the outside faucet PRV, you don't really need to replace the shutoff immediately prior to the copper on the 1/2" line.

I really don't think PEX was intended to be load bearing; rest your PRVs on something--a block of wood, a cinder block, the ground (well maybe not, corrosion could be a concern.) a piece of compatible metal, etc.

MustacheTrainee

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Re: Main water plumbing redo
« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2014, 02:12:53 PM »
That's what I figured, although copper isn't load bearing either. The tricky part is the support piece since it's just pipes in air right now. Maybe hangers?