Tapping outside water line to trunk between well and house


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Old 07-18-17, 02:18 PM
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Tapping outside water line to trunk between well and house

Good Evening,

We're in the process of building a barn which will have water and electric run out to it from the house. The location on the house where we were going to tap into for both is right where the water and electric enter the house from the street and well.

We live in NH so freezing is a concern. The water line will be buried 4ft+ in the ground.

The conduit from the barn for the electric is going come out of the ground right at the house and enter through the sill plate. Originally, to get water hooked up, I was going to have a new hole cored through the foundation 4ft+ down and tap into the water system just after the expansion tank. However, I may have an easier way that will keep from having a new hole poked in my foundation:

Can I Tee into the water line outside the house instead? This would be between the well and the house. If so, I can do this job myself.

Has anyone done this/ know whether or not it should be done? It seems that the expansion tank doesn't care which direction it's providing pressure/ flow and I can't think of another reason not to do this. I don't see a need to isolate the barn from the house so not having an exposed isolation valve isn't a concern.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Old 07-18-17, 05:26 PM
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I never lived in a place where well water was used. I agree that the water feed should be below the frost line. If you install a T just before the house, my guess is that the water pressure would be very low if water in the house & barn were used at the same time. I presume that a direct line from the well would be better.
 
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Old 07-19-17, 10:10 AM
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You need to splice after the expansion tank.

The pipe from the well to the expansion tank has a check valve in it (a brass fitting just before the expansion tank). It allows water to flow into the tank, but not back down into the well. If you were to splice the well line, you'd only get water when the pump was running... not a sustainable idea.

The best/easiest answer is to run a 1" (or larger if the run is long) PE (black) pipe from after the expansion tank/filter, through a valve, to the barn. Add another valve at the barn and branch off from there.

I've heard of complex setups with one pump, two expansion tanks, and two pressure switches wired in parallel, but it may require more equipment or engineering to keep everything working correctly.
 
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Old 07-19-17, 07:56 PM
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Thanks for the responses!
 
 

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