New Main Line From Well - Is this done properly

[AVR]

Hey all,

Was traveling and out of town when I get the news that our water won't work. called a local plumbing / well company that replaced our submersible pump almost 3 years ago, and sadly the mainline from the well to the house apparently broke or gave out or something, it might have been installed almost 50 years ago, not sure, the house is 1973.

Water was flowing on the side of the house and some absorbed into our basement and block area a little. not too bad though. might have been going on for a day or 2.

the company said they could come out on a Sunday to trench in and install a new pex main line.

they said they had to go 18" for code, and mentioned they were bringing a trencher, but they decided to hand dig the trench and it looked more like 10" per photos and my father who was around to supervise asked them if it was 18" and they went back out to dig it deeper. not good.

i am no expert, but they plumbed in the new line to the top of the well head, the previous line i believe was also plumbed into this same location, within a dog house outside. see pictures. worried there could be freezing?

It reduced the line it looks like from 1" to 3/4"? I'm curious if this would affect water pressure?

also I am not sure that the way they came into the house and ran pex line over to my whole house filter and then into the pressure tank is per code and / or a good way to do it? the line was about 6" off the wall for a lateral run?

Wondering if anyone here can verify (via some photos) that the line is installed in a good manner and would be something.

also, the run from the dog house wellhead to the basement was about 25' feet, they used 3/4" pex.

they charged $2,600, is this fair?

took them maybe 4 hours to get it all done, including running to the local home depot to get another whole house filter since they broke my old one, and it took my dad arguing with them once he saw it leaking slightly to even do that.

I just want to make sure this is done per code and I won't have freezing issues, and to verify that this was a fair price for the labor and materials.

 

[Travis Shavefr]

I cant say what code in your neck of the woods is but I would be very displeased if I saw that they ran 3/4" pex which is not a true 3/4" ID all the way from the well head. To put it in perspective you probably have about $150 worth of material so..... at a flow rate of 7GPM you would have a fairly substantial pressure drop w/ a pipe velocity of over 7FPS. I generally try to keep bellow 5FPS

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

As far a price it is always hard to figure because rates all over the country are different. FYI... Last November (Central Florida) I had a bathtub installed and because of time constraints I needed a plumber to do the work. I had the steel tub at the house, the bathroom was gutted by me and my tile guy. Three different plumbers gave me a price from $1700-$1900. Used a plumber who did all the work to rough in the double sink & tub and install the tub. I'm not complaining on the price but with us baby boomers retiring, there is a shortage if skilled licenced trades so they are getting a good dollar for their work.

 

[AVR]

thanks for your replies guys.

they informed me that "I" will need to insulate the white pipe in the dog house, after i brought it up if that might freeze. i need to get the owner of the company out here and discuss this job. not happy.

 

[Matthew Kane]

I'm not a pro, but we had our well worked on this year. We had a well pit, and we needed the casing extended above ground. I had a 6 foot section of casing welded to extended above ground, a pitless adaptor, new wire (75') a 3" submersible pump, and a 40 some gallon pressure tank installed for 500 more than you paid for the line. We already had underground lines for both water and electrical. Since we filled in the pit and extended the casing we no longer have to worry about the pipe freezing. The 3/4 pex also has around a 1/2" Id. I would be pissed to say the least.

 

[Reach4]

I'm not a pro, but we had our well worked on this year. We had a well pit, and we needed the casing extended above ground. I had a 6 foot section of casing welded to extended above ground, a pitless adaptor, new wire (75') a 3" submersible pump, and a 40 some gallon pressure tank installed for 500 more than you paid for the line. We already had underground lines for both water and electrical. Since we filled in the pit and extended the casing we no longer have to worry about the pipe freezing. The 3/4 pex also has around a 1/2" Id. I would be pissed to say the least.

Nice price, and the best solution.
I had my pit demolished (2 walls removed required) and a pitless installed. My motivation was well contamination when the pit flooded. Kept the existing 3/4 poly, which is bigger than 3/4 pex (0.681). The poly had been inserted into the old galvanized before I ever arrived. The SIDR poly is plenty big enough (0.849 ID). The 3/4 SIDR has 1.55x as much capacity as 3/4 pex. I think the PEX is probably big enough before the pressure tank, since the pump can provide a little extra pressure. I would have felt better with bigger.

hey informed me that "I" will need to insulate the white pipe in the dog house, after i brought it up if that might freeze. i need to get the owner of the company out here and discuss this job. not happy.

I don't think it is common to insulate pipes in a pit. Is that penetration for the water line below the frost line? Adding insulation for that rising line in the pit might be a good idea.

 

[Michael Young]

The work is fine.

But to ask plumbers to critique another plumber's work and pricing, you're getting into a red-zone.
As a general rule, tradesmen DO NOT THROW OTHER tradesmen under the bus.
in the trades there is camaraderie.
it's frowned upon to trash the guy who was there before

will it work - yes
are there little tweaks and changes another plumber might have done differently- yes, probably all of us have ideas.