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working with poly
I purchased a 100' roll of 1" poly, is there a method to straighten the pipe?
Also to fit it on a barb, is there an easy approach to this, after struggling for 15min and some WD40, I manage to get it on, but man was that a workout, luckily I didn't have the barb installed in the ground yet
get a rubber mallet. I'll cheat with a torch sometimes in the cold.... but you have to be careful.
why do you want to straighten the pipe? If you are laying it in an open trench just roll it in and pack dirt on it every few feet.
While I've never worked with poly, I've run into the same sort of issues with getting funny pipe on barbs. The thing I did there was to use HOT water (same idea as the torch, but less likelyhood of melting the pipe.
Rather than WD40, a trick provided at www.irrigationtutorials.com is to us KY Jelly. It's water-based, where as soaps or oils can damage plastic.
Thanks for the Ky jelly part. The straighten part is because the pipes I got are really wound up, getting to fit in the S bends I dug is a PITA
One can also spit on an insert fitting, if no KY is handy. WD-40 could very well cause a fitting or sprinkler or valve to deteriorate. No installer ever uses it on the job. In skilled hands, a push-button blowtorch works wonders, especially in colder weather, and with larger pipes. 3/4 inch poly would be a lot easier to force into trenches than one inch poly.
Blowtorch has been a lifesaver..so to speak...in a tight trench trying to force an insert coupling into a pipe....little bit of heat and walla.....pushes right in.
Just be careful and use a very low setting on the torch.
Sprinkler Solutions, Inc.
Arizona and Colorado
www.sprinklersolutions.net
If you unroll the poly and let the sun hit it for a while it will have less of a tendancy to roll. What I like to do is just hold the roll over my shoulder and walk while unrolling it into the trench and as mentioned kicking dirt on it every few ft to keep it in the ground. AS far as the barbs go I agree that they can be difficult to get in but I never used and lubricants or heat. This is my advise...just start pushing and twisting at the same time AS HARD AS YOU CAN and it will go in with 10 seconds of effort. Trust me it works. The last time I did it in a snow storm so obviously it was cold too. Just dont for get to put your hose clamps on first. Thats frustrating.
Thanks,
Pete
Nothing like going to great trouble to get some reluctant pipes in place over the barbs, only to discover you forgot to slide on the crimp clamps. I have a box of worm-gear clamps set aside for those moments.
Blowtorch heat and amateur poly installers do not go together. One will never know what the practical heating limits are, until one melts some pipe and/or warps a fitting.
Well, instead of the blowtorch, after cutting, I slightly reshaped the oval pipe to a round pipe with a wrapped up channel lock, put the barb in, and tapped with a rubber mallet. Works great!
use a torch for the fittings if in cold weather. as mentioned earlier, its always easier to work with poly in warm weather. if you dont have a torch, always attach to a fitting using a rocking motion, not a twisting one. also make sure the pipe is only rated at 100 psi if you are using it for sprinkler zones. they make 160 psi which is designed for constant pressure situation and is much thicker. you need a torch if this is the case. make sure you have the right psi for your application.
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