Need help to repair hole

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rsoto

Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2021
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Location
Florida
Hello y’all, new user here and need some help. I accidentally hit an irrigation pipe that feeds water to the sprinklers with a gardening tool. Put a nice hole in it. The problem is I don’t know what kind of pipe it is so I can find the parts needed for repair. Maybe pex? I attached the photo. Thanks.
 

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Can you dig some more dirt out so we can get a better look and maybe see if there’s any writing on the pipe ?

Dig up a 12” x 12” square.
 
The color looks kinda pink on my monitor, but for "non-potable" irrigation, we use purple for all of it. They make PVC and poly in purple to make it distinctive so nobody connects it to above ground water sources.
It is only for distributing reclaimed water sub surface.
That picture looks like cuts in poly.
 
The color looks kinda pink on my monitor, but for "non-potable" irrigation, we use purple for all of it. They make PVC and poly in purple to make it distinctive so nobody connects it to above ground water sources.
It is only for distributing reclaimed water sub surface.
That picture looks like cuts in poly.

yes the irrigation uses reclaimed water. It is pinkish or maybe a faded purple. I called the builder and he said he’ll just send the people out who installed it to fix it. The home is a new build.
 
I found some twist-in connections for poly irrigation pipe at our local Home Depot last fall, when we set up sprinkler lines. No experience yet with how these will hold up.
 
after looking at the pipe some more and I don’t think it’s pex, it’s seems to be too thin to be pex.
 
From the edges showing around the puncture, it looks like polyethylene.
Thin, strong, slightly flexible, not hose like or rigid.

When your builder’s guys come out to fix it, ask them to leave a scrap of what it is.

Because you will probably have more breaks or cuts in the future, and next time will probably fall to you to fix it yourself.
 
From the edges showing around the puncture, it looks like polyethylene.
Thin, strong, slightly flexible, not hose like or rigid.

When your builder’s guys come out to fix it, ask them to leave a scrap of what it is.

Because you will probably have more breaks or cuts in the future, and next time will probably fall to you to fix it yourself.

gotcha! But just out of curiosity, if it is polyethylene...how would go about fixing it? Cut the broke section out and using a shark bite connection fitting?
 
How was it punctured?

Was it during core aeration of your lawn?

If if was, then it will happen again, so just give up on the aeration.

The lines were set too shallow.
 
How was it punctured?

Was it during core aeration of your lawn?

If if was, then it will happen again, so just give up on the aeration.

The lines were set too shallow.

it was from aeration, and I agree the lines are set shallow. Trust me, I ain’t messing with the aerator again.
 
Dig the hole wider, to expose about a two foot section of poly pipe.

You can just carefully cut the pipe back a few inches to good intact edges, and put stainless hose clamps on each end, and slide them back out of the way.

You will cut the pipe back enough to fit in a barbed plastic coupling.

You will find them at a big box by the sprinkler stuff.

Put some dish soap on the ends so it is more slippery.

The poly pipe has enough flex to be able to lift both ends, then you can tap the fitting into one end with a rubber mallet, then wrestle the other end onto the barbed end and push the pipe sections together.

Then slide the pipe clamps over and tighten them over the barbed ends inside.

Youtube has many videos showing this easy repair.
 
Take a picture of the repair area, with a wider view, showing where it is in your yard.

To help you find it again if a slow leak develops, or if the repair fails but there is no geyser from the sprinkler line to identify the location.

You could also lay a short piece of rebar in the trench, a little deeper and not touching the clamps.

To be able to find it easily with any metal location tool aka “treasure finder”.
 
Take a picture of the repair area, with a wider view, showing where it is in your yard.

To help you find it again if a slow leak develops, or if the repair fails but there is no geyser from the sprinkler line to identify the location.

You could also lay a short piece of rebar in the trench, a little deeper and not touching the clamps.

To be able to find it easily with any metal location tool aka “treasure finder”.

will do, thanks a lot. This is helpful in the future. Plumbing has never been my strong suit, I’m mostly knowledgeable working on vehicles.
 
So the landscaping guys never showed up so I took it upon myself to do the repair. After cutting the damaged area it ended up being pvc pipe just purplelish. Another pipe running underneath didn’t help in my favor either.
what you guys think of my repair?
 

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I was trying to avoid as much digging as possible. I tried the remove the center stop on the coupling technique but i failed a few times because I didn’t move fast enough to move the coupling over before the pvc cement set.
 
I know it ain’t the prettiest in the professional plumbers standards but it doesn’t leak and I didn’t notice any pressure loss. The pipe feeds water to a small zone for irrigation.
 

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