Rookie question; tapping water lines. 1

[lmm600]

Just curious if anyone has any advise for someone that will be tapping his first small water main in the near future?
First one will be a 4 in. pvc with a 1 in. service line. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

 

[hydrae]

Hire a tapping company and watch them... ask questions, Things can go very bad if done incorrectly. Cast iron will crack in a circle, PVC will split lenghtwise, AC will crumble, DI is hard, steel will dent.... all can leak
Hydrae

 

[mechconst]

The best thing to do is shut the line down and drain it if you can. If that's not an option, then they make fittngs that can be clamped on the pipe such as a service saddle, tapping sleeve, or even a PVC "Clamp it Tapping saddle" by Harrington Plastics.

In my experience the contractor installs the tapping saddle, nipple, and valve, and performs a leak test on the saddle. Then you would have an outfit that specializes in performing "hot taps" come out and drill the line. Couple of things that I have come across before: measure the OD of the exiting line before hand to make sure your saddle is sized to fit, make sure your using a full-port valve, and make sure you request to have the coupon when the tapping company is done. The coupon is the actual piece of the existing pipe that was removed and you don't want that remaining in the pipe line.