Connecting Water Meter

[BLG]

I just bought some raw land out in the country and the local water company will be installing a water meter here in the next week or so. The guy who will be installing the meter recommended that I not use PVC as my main water line coming from the meter due to the fact that the ground gets very dry and cracks out there. He recommended using 3/4" polyurethane and said I could probably do it myself. I googled 3/4" polyurethane and what I see are just regular yard water hoses.

Can I really use polyurethane to run my main line? How does it connect to the water meter? And is it something I can really do myself?

Thanks in advance!

 

[stevemachine]

Maybe he meant poly ethylene. It's like black pipe, commonly used for wells. Barnes fittings an hose clamps are how you adapt to it. You can get barbed by MIP and go to copper or pex from there.

 

[BLG]

Maybe he meant poly ethylene. It's like black pipe, commonly used for wells. Barnes fittings an hose clamps are how you adapt to it. You can get barbed by MIP and go to copper or pex from there.

Thanks Steve. You're probably right that he meant poly ethylene. Either that or I misheard him.

Here is my understanding from what you wrote. Please correct me if I'm wrong: I connect the poly tube to the water meter with fittings and clamps then run it underground from the meter to the house. The piping in the house is either copper or pex and the poly tubing connects to that using a barbed Male Iron Pipe.

What I don't understand is how the barbed MIP would connect to copper. I get that the poly would fit over the MIP, but as far as tying into copper, would soldering be involved?

Sorry I'm a total newb at anything to do with plumbing!

 

[johnjh2o]

What you would use is a ball valve with the barbed fitting in one end of the valve and a MIP to copper in the other end of the valve.

John

 

[BLG]

What you would use is a ball valve with the barbed fitting in one end of the valve and a MIP to copper in the other end of the valve.

John

Thanks John. I looked ball valve up on Google images and it makes perfect sense.

Now I just assumed all inside plumbing used copper but I'm reading now on google that PEX is rather common for plumbing. My house is not even built yet so I've not made the decision what I'll use. If I decide to use PEX for my indoor, would I still use a ball valve to connect the poly to pex?

I might should mention that the water I'll be putting out there right now will be connecting to a travel trailer which I'll set up temporarily while I build my house. What is the best option for a temporary water source to hook up to my travel trailer? Should I set up a spigot (I mean the kind that garden hoses hook up to) and just put it in a temporary spot to connect a hose to my trailer? And then later when my house goes up I'll just move the piping to the exact location of my plumbing?

 

[stevemachine]

I agree with John, use a barbed fitting by MIP with a ball valve that is threaded. Off of that you can go with a copper MIP x sweat, 3/4. I would recommend going with copper past the meter then you can transition to pex after that with a sweat by pex. Pex is much cheaper and easier to use, definitely recommend pex for your in house piping.

 

[stevemachine]

For the temp solution I think a garden hose spigot is your best bet