Locating private water lines? Should I even worry about it?

[Sam Houston]

I just recently bought some land with a home and want to drive some T-posts and bury some trees. My driveway is fairly long and the shutoff for the water is near the road. Because of this, I know roughly where the pipes start but I have no idea where they go after. I called the 811 number and had all of my utility companies mark out their lines. For cable and power this was simple as they are ran overhead. For water, they only marked up to the shutoff valve, which is like 5 feet from the road. As I mentioned, my driveway is fairly long and so they really only marked out probably 2% of the total water line.

I'm guessing this means that the rest of the line past the shutoff valve and going into my home is private pipe. What are my options for locating this? I've contacted a private company but these seem mostly for construction companies as they listed me a whopping $700 price. Is there any way I can do this myself, or should I just start driving T-posts and eat the cost if I break something? I'm assuming it just follows a straight line parallel to the driveway but once it gets close to the house there's a possibility they could have cut through the yard instead of following the driveway, and the yard is where I'd like to drive some T-posts.

I've attached a rough sketch. Hopefully someone with some knowledge on how water lines are usually ran could help me determine if it's likely that the water line is ran through the yard area or if it's more likely that it's ran parallel to the driveway all the way to the house.

 

[Caribou]

Welcome!
It should be easy to figure out where the water line enters the house. If you have a septic system that should be on the as built of your property. Your county office might have a copy also. You could also witch the waterline.

 

[Magus]

Well, if you have a rough idea, a dowser/water witch can find them easy, or rent a metal detector presuming they are iron pipes and not PVC.

 

[Sam Houston]

Welcome!
It should be easy to figure out where the water line enters the house. If you have a septic system that should be on the as built of your property. Your county office might have a copy also. You could also witch the waterline.

Unfortunately the septic system is also an unknown to me as there was no record of it with the county. I think all of these things were done by neighbors or friends of previous owners.

Well, if you have a rough idea, a dowser/water witch can find them easy, or rent a metal detector presuming they are iron pipes and not PVC.

Unfortunately I'm not 100% sure whether the pipes are iron or PVC.

Is there any way to use some sort of probe? Or some method of digging I could use to avoid damaging pipes? Dowsing might end up being what I go with but ideally I'd like some sort of concrete proof that things are where I think they are.

 

[havasu]

If water lines are plastic, and they failed to install a tracer wire wrapped around the pipe, then the folks from "811" can't help you. This is a reminder to anyone to add a cheap tracer wire when adding plastic pipe. Another way is to dig down to find the start point direction, then dig down to find the finish point, which should give you a good idea where the water line runs, since they normally will run line as straight as possible. Also pay attention to the depth of the line, which should be constant. If digging close by the water line, use a small shovel and excavate very carefully looking for the pipe.

This also applies to sewer lines, but they will usually drop 1/4" per foot from the house to the street.

 

[Magus]

Unfortunately the septic system is also an unknown to me as there was no record of it with the county. I think all of these things were done by neighbors or friends of previous owners.


Unfortunately I'm not 100% sure whether the pipes are iron or PVC.

Is there any way to use some sort of probe? Or some method of digging I could use to avoid damaging pipes? Dowsing might end up being what I go with but ideally I'd like some sort of concrete proof that things are where I think they are.

Have you got a local water witch? as long as there is water in the lines, they can be found. I myself have found lines with two "L" shaped pieces of metal rod.

 

[Bacpacker]

My dad had a line like that across a pasture running to the house. It mostly was a straight line. But the rises and falls weren't accounted for.
If its an older house build, you can bet it was metal. Their house was built in the 60s.

 

[Mountain trapper]

How deep are your waterlines buried? I've got over a half mile of buried waterlines and all are over 5' deep. I never have to worry about hitting a waterline when driving posts.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Sometimes the lines are shallow and it could be a problem, if you are hand digging it shouldn't be too big a deal. Look for where your waterline goes through the foundation into the house, mark that spot, shoot a straight line between it and then go half way between them and check there if they are shallow you could dig down, if it's a metal line you might get a ping off a metal detector or a stud finder. I would bet that they stayed parallel to the driveway but that doesn't jive with the location of your water tank/heater in your picture.

 

[Neb]

Sometimes the lines are shallow and it could be a problem, if you are hand digging it shouldn't be too big a deal. Look for where your waterline goes through the foundation into the house, mark that spot, shoot a straight line between it and then go half way between them and check there if they are shallow you could dig down, if it's a metal line you might get a ping off a metal detector or a stud finder. I would bet that they stayed parallel to the driveway but that doesn't jive with the location of your water tank/heater in your picture.

Yup metal detector may help if the line is not extremely deep. The water line should be buried below the frost line so that info should give you a hint how deep.

I had to replace a gas line many years ago. In an attempt to avoid digging a 30' trench we tried to find the old line so the new plastic pipe could be run through the old pipe. Dug down at the old meter to see which way it was going. Same thing at the street. That told use there was a bend somewhere. That started a game of spacial aptitude. Everyone took turns digging holes to find the joint. My son nailed it on his first guess.

Ben

 

[Biggkidd]

Tee post will more than likely drive in without issue. I've found many water lines with a couple pieces of thick copper wire bent in an L shape myself but I know not everyone can.

 

[Caribou]

I just recently bought some land with a home and want to drive some T-posts and bury some trees. My driveway is fairly long and the shutoff for the water is near the road. Because of this, I know roughly where the pipes start but I have no idea where they go after. I called the 811 number and had all of my utility companies mark out their lines. For cable and power this was simple as they are ran overhead. For water, they only marked up to the shutoff valve, which is like 5 feet from the road. As I mentioned, my driveway is fairly long and so they really only marked out probably 2% of the total water line.

I'm guessing this means that the rest of the line past the shutoff valve and going into my home is private pipe. What are my options for locating this? I've contacted a private company but these seem mostly for construction companies as they listed me a whopping $700 price. Is there any way I can do this myself, or should I just start driving T-posts and eat the cost if I break something? I'm assuming it just follows a straight line parallel to the driveway but once it gets close to the house there's a possibility they could have cut through the yard instead of following the driveway, and the yard is where I'd like to drive some T-posts.

I've attached a rough sketch. Hopefully someone with some knowledge on how water lines are usually ran could help me determine if it's likely that the water line is ran through the yard area or if it's more likely that it's ran parallel to the driveway all the way to the house.

The waterline ran where it made sense to the original owner or installer. Is the water tank heater your water heater? Do you have a basement? Where does the water come in and the sewer go out? What is the waterline made out of, (where it comes into the house)? How deep is the frostline there? Have you asked any of the old neighbours?

 

[Magus]

How deep are your waterlines buried? I've got over a half mile of buried waterlines and all are over 5' deep. I never have to worry about hitting a waterline when driving posts.

Depends on where you live. a foot below the frost line is pretty much the rule of thumb, BUT the frost line here is 36", Places like Alaska and North Dakota may be 6" or more.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Depends on where you live. a foot below the frost line is pretty much the rule of thumb, BUT the frost line here is 36", Places like Alaska and North Dakota may be 6" or more.

Our lines in Alaska were buried 10' deep. One winter we had a lot of cold but no snow to insulate the ground. The line from the pump to the house froze.

 

[Caribou]

Our lines in Alaska were buried 10' deep. One winter we had a lot of cold but no snow to insulate the ground. The line from the pump to the house froze.

The last place I lived in Alaska had permafrost. It carried from 40' to 400' deep depending on where in town you lived. In the summer it melted 1' to 2' down. I the summer you took scrap plywood, dug down to frozen ground, threw your perishables in the hole and tossed the plywood on top. A fast and easy icebox.

 

[Pearl]

Welcome, please introduce yourself in "new member introductions"!! Been there done that on water and septic lines!! Our home was built in '78, traced the water lines from the well to the house with a metal detector. Had a hard time with the septic. Didn't exit the house where it was obvious! Found it while digging up the water line! All I can say is GOOD LUCK, and mark it when you find it!!

 

[Cascadian]

Welcome to the forum. I would do my best to determine location and depth then go for it. Water line "shouldn't" be hard or expensive to fix. At least you will get your answers.

 

[Sam Houston]

Thanks everyone. I think with everything said in the thread (water lines usually running straight, thinking about how deep things are buried giving an indicator since some of the land you can tell it has only recently been eroded away meaning that would be an unlikely spot since there isn't exposed pipe, thinking about where the pipe would most likely come out of my home, etc.) I have a rough plan of attack. I think with the info you guys have said it's pretty unlikely that the pipes will be in the yard. I'll give dowsing a quick shot (my brother is a big fan of it) just to reassure myself and then drive them in. If I hit anything you may see a different thread titled "How do I repair water pipes?"

 

[Bacpacker]

Good luck Sam. If anyone you know has a metal detector, that would worth a shot too. You would be able to tell quickly if you could track the lines or not

 

[Caribou]

One parting shot. It is always better to know where your utilities run before you need to work on them.

 

[angie_nrs]

To the OP......can you call the previous owner and ask them? Having a good relationship with the previous owner could also help with future unknowns. If they are responsive to your questions, send them a gift card for a meal or something like that so that you open a good line of communication.

 

[forcast]

Your neighbors that have been there the longests are the ones to ask.

 

[Wallerville]

You can possibly find them yourself by making a pair of "divining rods" out of coat hangers. Get 2 wire coat hangers and cut it so the straight part across the bottom remains 1 piece with the first cut at the end of the triangle and the second cut about 6" up the side leg of the triangle. Then bend out the short piece so you have a 90º angle. Make 2 of these.
Hold the short end loosely in your hand so it can swivel and with one in each hand and the long end pointing forward, walk slowly over the area you want to test. If you cross over a water pipe, or a sewer pipe, or an electrical line the long ends will swivel towards the center as you pass over the line. Walk slowly. This sounded like voodoo to me when I first heard it and for some reason it works on about half of the folks that try it, but it works for me. And it works for a lot of folks I have shown the trick to as well.
In fact one time I was wearing a watch and the hand with the watch didn't move but the other side did. Took off the watch and both sides moved when I passed the same area again.
This is a useful trick for a homeowner and worth trying. Test it where you know a line is buried. If it works for you, you will likely always keep a pair of these rods around to find buried lines.
Don't know why this works, so if someone more scientific than me knows, please tell me.

 

[Caribou]

To the OP......can you call the previous owner and ask them? Having a good relationship with the previous owner could also help with future unknowns. If they are responsive to your questions, send them a gift card for a meal or something like that so that you open a good line of communication.

After 9 years the wife still sends the previous owners a Christmas card.

 

[Magus]

Did somebody say repair pipes?
If you have an extra ten bucks put an extra spigot/drain tap on the line in to your house, turn the main water off and then let the house drain out, it takes pressure off the lines! The reason I got in such a mess last January was I forgot to do this little 5 minute job, if it hadn't been for some of you guys help, I'd still be paying off bills!

I call this a "zip pipe"
Get ten feet of the 1" clear, flexible high pressure pipe.
Install a metal reducer and a 1" PVC adapter on one end, put an adapter, a spigot, another reducer, 3' more hose, and another 1" adapter. this will allow you a fast fix until you can find all the burst pipes and get a pro on the case. it will also give you access to water.

 

[viking]

Well, if you have a rough idea, a dowser/water witch can find them easy, or rent a metal detector presuming they are iron pipes and not PVC.

When I ran new water lines up to our spring they were 1" PVC and when I closed up the ditches I dropped 1" roofing nails in the ditches just in case I needed to find the pipe later on, with a metal detector. Not using galvanized pipe does make it harder to find, finding an honest dowser can be an issue, I have found things by dowsing but it freaked me out as being demonic so I no longer did anymore dowsing, I found two demijohns, crock jugs that probably held booze at one time, they were in perfect condition, had them outside of my dad's trailer and someone came up and stole both of them. The area we lived in had a lot of illegal booze being moved around and there was a sand spit across Hood Canal where bottles of booze ended up after being cut away from rum runners boats, it was called Whiskey Spit. One time when I was digging holes for fence posts I found two old brown beer bottles also probably from Prohibition times. Sorry this doesn't help find your water line but it fired off some remembrances of interesting times I had many years ago but I will say that I had a similar situation in dealing with looking out for buried phone lines when I wanted to dig out for a gate post for our driveway, I used a metal detector but it was iffy in finding the line due to being buried so deep that I couldn't get a signal. Anyway, hope you find the pipeline.

 

[Magus]

There is nothing evil about dowsing unless you made a pact to get the ability. the talent is even mentioned in the bible.

 

[Weedygarden]

Unfortunately the septic system is also an unknown to me as there was no record of it with the county. I think all of these things were done by neighbors or friends of previous owners.

Good luck to you. I know people hit lines when they don't know where they are.

I watch videos of people burying water and sewer lines and I have often wondered how those could be marked so that people wouldn't damage them later. When the city is marking lines for road or other work, they use a metal detector and spray paint. Even if a person were to be using plastic pipes, putting something metal in the trench would help. Flags of some sort (plastic on wires standing up, rocks lined up, or some sort of posts that mark turns would be helpful.

 

[viking]

Good luck to you. I know people hit lines when they don't know where they are.

I watch videos of people burying water and sewer lines and I have often wondered how those could be marked so that people wouldn't damage them later. When the city is marking lines for road or other work, they use a metal detector and spray paint. Even if a person were to be using plastic pipes, putting something metal in the trench would help. Flags of some sort (plastic on wires standing up, rocks lined up, or some sort of posts that mark turns would be helpful.

I think that as time has gone on that building permits may require metallic tapes to be buried just above the water lines and sewage lines, I've found them when doing some work for a friend years ago, it sure would make things a lot easier if everyone one would do that other than it being in someones memory.

 

[Neb]

... I have found things by dowsing but it freaked me out as being demonic so I no longer did anymore dowsing, I. ...

Not necessarily demonic.

Water with dissolved O2 is paramagnetic. It will align its magnetic field with an external magnetic field. Earth being a magnet it will align with the earth field.

The metal rods CAN be used to detect fluctuations in the magnetic field.

Not perfect but could work.

Directional drilling used to drill sideways to frack sense the earth's magnetic field to navigate under ground similar to GPS.

Ben