Locating Water Line

[BillT]

My Well Pump House is way off in the field. I would like to installed a Water Hydrant between the Pump House and the House. I only have a rough idea on where the Water Line is located at. What would be the best way to find the line? I have called Miss Utility on public land here and there through the years, but this would be on private land. Open to any suggestions.

Thanks

 

[JG plumbing]

What is the pipe made of?

 

[BillT]

I believe it is plastic pipe that you buy in a roll. My neighbor told me that it is about 2 Ft down. The freeze line in my county is 18 Inches.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Would it be logical to run the electric for the pump to be installed near the water line ?
If so, locate the electric and your water will be close by maybe.

I’ve disconnected water lines and pushed a metal fish tape through them, then located with metal detector. Then sanitize the line with bleach.

 

[BillT]

Good point, I believe the Electric Line is along side of it or at least near it. But how do I find the Electric Line, lol?

Running a fish tape sounds interesting, but on a rough guess, from the Pump House to the location I'm trying to find is about 150 Ft. The total line from the Pump House to the House is roughly 300 Ft.

 

[BillT]

On another note, I've known 3 Water Witchers through the years. I never asked the other two, but one of them could find Water Lines as well. I had him Witch my Sewer Line many years ago when I couldn't find it. He was real close and with his help, I was able to locate it reasonably easy. But they are no longer around.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Could you rent a pipe/cable locator ?

Or this and a metal detector
https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL-200-...4kMn0imELMm7PE_-_xMaAnVBEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[BillT]

Could you rent a pipe/cable locator ?

Yes, but I need to learn which one to use. I can always call my local Rental Supplier, but if anyone out there can make a recommendation, please post.

I'm not really interested in the Fish Tape method as not only because of the long length as mentioned above and the need clean the line afterwards, but I don't have a Metal Detector to boot. That would mean another thing to rent.

If I can find the Electrical Line easier, that would be great.

 

[JG plumbing]

If you have a general idea of where it's located I would just start the exploratory digging process. Hand dig a trench perpendicular to the water line about 8 inches deep. Then use an excavator to dig a bigger hole to that depth. Then hand dig a trench in the bigger hole about 8 inches deep again. Then excavator. Add you get deeper you'll get wider. If you get below the known depth then the perpendicular trench gets longer. Take it slow.

Otherwise if you don't want to do that I'd feed as much of a spool of clean copper wire, that I could, into the pipe and have a professional locater service clip onto it and they should be able to locate. If fish tape as stated above.

Look around for a tracer wire it could be hidden somewhere around the pipe terminations. I doubt the installer installed a tracer wire, this is a must for people with experience, but people who just do it themselves or have their neighbor help, rarely include this.

 

[BillT]

In the meantime, I did a little checking around. What do you all think of this here:

 

[JG plumbing]

I'm pretty sure that person is using a tracer wire. Which you probably don't have running along your pipe.

 

[BillT]

Wouldn't it be able to pick up an Electric Line? As mentioned above, the Electric Line to the Pump House should be right alongside or at least near the Water Line. In the Pump House itself, they are taped together.

 

[JG plumbing]

Could be.

 

[Twowaxhack]

You can use a Ridgid Navitrack scout.

Passive AC line tracing on page 14. You’ll need to keep the pump running while you’re trying to locate it.

https://www.testequipmentdepot.com/ridgid/pdf/navitrack_scout_data.pdf

 

[BillT]

Thanks.

I thought the same thing about having the Pump running.