Is schedule 40 PVC good to handle both sewer and water lines? I’ve heard schedule 40 is not always great for higher pressure applications such as water lines.
Also I’m looking at a park that was built in the early 1970’s and the original engineering drawings claim to use schedule 40 pvc. Was this product around back then, and was it substantially different than what is offered today?
Schedule 40 is generally a good product. The 1970s vintage stuff is usually fine but is not the same as schedule 40 today the spec has changed a little. Schedule 40 for sewer is great and much better than abs, clay, or cast iron. Usually the installation is as important as the pipe material. Is the pipe deep enough min 24" preferably 36" (deeper if up north in Michigan and the like) bedded in sand and good workmanship. I have some schedule 40 3" that is only 16 to 18" under the rd… not ideal garbage truck can break it by just driving on it.
My contractors dug up a 3/4 inch water line installed illegally by the City on my RV Park property back in the 1970’s a few months back. It was using Schedule 20 pipe. City marked the rest of the line and we hand dug around it for the remainder of the project, and cracked it open twice by merely putting pressure on the soil near it. The City said they were going to bill me for each of these repairs, but my attorney asked them for a copy of the easement the week after and we magically never got anything from them.
We installed 2 inch water lines with Schedule 40 throughout the park and believe they have ~250 to 280 PSI rating, much higher than the 80 PSI water supplied by the city…
@jhutson Your lucky the city didn’t push the issue most states have adverse possession laws that would apply to water lines you hit. Generally 10 or 15 years after which they would have a right to keep the water lines there.
Schedule 20 is a joke but I see it quite frequently
@PhillipMerrill they don’t actually know the installation date or have records that old to support - that’s just their verbal comment. I won’t comment on the legal position, but my attorney thinks it wouldn’t be any problem to have the city move this line at their expense (obviously minus my attorney’s fees)…if it comes down to it.
@PhillipMerrill Thank you for the info. Anything in particular I should look out for / inspect for regarding 1970’s Schedule 40 PVC water lines (as opposed to sewer lines)? I’m a little worried about the higher pressure rating needed, but am told by the owner that there have only been two water leaks in the past 30 years caused by intrusive tree roots.
My main concern would be to determine if mainline size through out the park was adequate. There are lots of parks out there that have undersized mainline. How many homes are being served, what size is the mainline and what psi is the city water at the meter. I like to do a pressure survey if pipe size is suspect.
Under ground water lines:
If you are replacing the service lines, you may want to consider adding water sub-meters, even if you do not bill back water/sewer use to the tenant, the meters will save you a lot of time in the future detecting water leaks and wastes. Then be sure to show your tenant “their new meter”, also.
A basic manual read meter is @ $50 to $75, which can be upgraded to RF in the future.