Running new irrigation PVC under concrete?

[RickFlorida]

Hi everyone. I really appreciate this forum. It helped me a lot over the years with my indoor plumbing as I have an old house in Florida and am a public school teacher so I have to do everything myself whenever possible. (The quotes for any kind of work on a house is outrageous here in Florida since lots of cash buyers buy all the homes here).

Anyways, I need to tackle irrigation of the yard. I'd like to run new pvc lines for the three zones because they are so badly broken and missing I need to start over. But I have a question please.

They unfortunately laid concrete over where the pipes for the 2 zones on the left go and the one zone on the right. There is a small opening where the index valve is but there is not a lot of room there. Maybe it's 20 inches by 20 inches.

Is there trick for me to be able to run new pvc pipe under the concrete to the index valve so I don't have 25 year old PVC pipe under the driveway since I'm running new PVC for the whole zones? Can I connect new PVC to the old ones under the drive way and maybe pull them in to the index valve? Is there a tool or a trick for running PVC under concrete? Could I go one size smaller to make it easy or is this a bad idea?
Thanks. I'd rather not rent a demo saw and tear up the concrete as that would set me back weeks and budget.

 

[havasu]

If you have good soil and not many rocks, I've used a high pressure water blaster, connected to a 20' stick of pvc pipe. My area was a riverbed, so after 6', I couldn't push thru any further.

 

[RickFlorida]

If you have good soil and not many rocks, I've used a high pressure water blaster, connected to a 20' stick of pvc pipe. My area was a riverbed, so after 6', I couldn't push thru any further.

Well the good news is the soil here is very fine sugar sand. (I'm near the beach). Do you have a photo or link to what you mean by high pressure water blaster? Is this a tool you connect to a pressure washer machine? Thanks. Plus, I have existing PVC pipe in the place where I would replace, that means I can carefully remove the old one, then try to put new one in?

 

[havasu]

 

[havasu]

If the old pipe is still functioning properly, why not use it? This is for irrigation, correct?

 

[FLForester]

I'm NOT a plumber, but wanted to offer a possible solution. I had to get a 4 inch PVC pipe under a foundation slab (a distance of ten feet) to act a new chase for A/C copper lines when an condenser unit was being relocated. I used a shop vac to suck out the soil as I gradually forced the pipe under and through. Since you have sandy soil, this could work for you. (I am in Florida so soil was sandy as well). Personally, I would prefer a pipe with no glued joints under that slab for peace of mind, but that might not be feasible without knowing the exact distances there. The trick would be trying to keep the pipe going level, so you might have to dig out some at either end to have a straight approach as possible. And schedule 40 might be better since it would be less prone to flexing. This would be my approach first, but surely the water blaster works too. I found the shop vac less messy. Just my view. Best of luck. And maybe tell the forum later how you made out?

 

[RickFlorida]

If the old pipe is still functioning properly, why not use it? This is for irrigation, correct?

Yes, there are no leaks of the PVC that is under the driveway and to the index valve. So I guess I can just run new sprinkler pvc pipes for yard and just worry about the pvc under driveway if I have a leak later.

 

[RickFlorida]

I'm NOT a plumber, but wanted to offer a possible solution. I had to get a 4 inch PVC pipe under a foundation slab (a distance of ten feet) to act a new chase for A/C copper lines when an condenser unit was being relocated. I used a shop vac to suck out the soil as I gradually forced the pipe under and through. Since you have sandy soil, this could work for you. (I am in Florida so soil was sandy as well). Personally, I would prefer a pipe with no glued joints under that slab for peace of mind, but that might not be feasible without knowing the exact distances there. The trick would be trying to keep the pipe going level, so you might have to dig out some at either end to have a straight approach as possible. And schedule 40 might be better since it would be less prone to flexing. This would be my approach first, but surely the water blaster works too. I found the shop vac less messy. Just my view. Best of luck. And maybe tell the forum later how you made out?

Thanks for the idea. Yeah, since I would just be replacing pvc exactly where currents ones are under the driveway, I guess it could be easy if I go slow. The only issued is how little room I have where the index valve is and cut-out of the drieway where I would run one end of the new pvc pipes. There's very little room for working a new horizontal pvc pipe/s back and forth. I'm thinking I may have to simply use the old pipes for now under the slab and just cut it out in the future if I have to with a demo saw.

 

[RickFlorida]

Well I got an update fellows. Thanks for all the support and I think I'm good for now. I have a guy that is helping me who is experienced and he is helping me set up a new location for the pump. (My old irrigation pump is in the garage which is a ticking time bomb if it were to fail and flood the garage near the house wall). He says we should move the pump outside the garage wall and we can use the existing index valve. He helped me install a shut off valve on the well. The main work is I need to put 220 line to the outside of my garage wall for new pump location and I can fix all the zone heads in meantime. An interesting thing about my old house is that when we were digging and put a shut off valve on my well PVC, he saw a part of it going to my neighbor's house and says I must have "shared well". That is really interesting if true. If I have a shared well, I guess there is a chance if my old well ever blows up, perhaps my neighbor will go halves on me. That would be great. He rents it out for profit so I'm hoping he would do that without problems.

 

[havasu]

Who pays for the electricity to run the pump?

 

[RickFlorida]

Who pays for the electricity to run the pump?

I own the house so I would. Sorry If I caused confusion. There is not a shared irrigation system with one pump. But we may have a shared artesian well. What I meant earlier is that when me and an irrigation guy I know was installing a shut off valve on the PVC that comes from the well in the ground, he noticed that another 1 and 1/4 PVC from the well is going to the house next to me. He says he's positive I have shared well. These homes are interesting. They were built in 1957 during the space race on the beach in Florida near Patrick AFB. Originally, they were developed as an independent community where they had one giant lift station for sewage. But over the decades, the county took it over and now our sewers are tied into the regular county sewer. And we have always had city water, (no well water for drinking, regular city water). But I think the old history of this small community has something to do with us having a shared irrigation well. I will call a well company and have them access what I have to see if it's true. That way, if the well ever blows up, maybe my neighbor who rents his house out will split the cost of repair. The well works but I don't know how old it is. The scary part to me is how much pressure the artesian well has. It's incredibly powerful. That is why I need to move the pump from the garage to outside. I don't know how long an old well can last if it has so much incredible pressure. Most people I know that live in this part of Florida have the opposite problem. They don't have enough pressure and can't run sprinklers without paying for a new deeper well. It's unbelievable to me how much pressure the well has so it's scares the hell out of me having the pump in the garage. I have shut off valve outside for the well but what if I'm not home when the pump were to fail....