DD_BobK wrote:
On Jan 12, 1:27 pm, E Z Peaces wrote:
Today I saw the town maintenance man repair the elbow in a 2" plastic
water pipe, two feet deep in sandy soil.

He said water pressure had separated the joint. His solution was a
steel stake on either side of the joint. That's what he had before, and
it failed.

It seems to me that enough pressure to separate a joint could also, in
time, move a stake in wet, sandy soil. Is that the best way to brace an
elbow undeground?


A properly glued joint will easily withstand the force assoicated with
"normal / reasonable" flow levels in "small diameter" piping.

Unless the flows in this system in the 100's of gpm the elbow forces
will be small.

High flow rates and / or large diameter pipes can require a "thrust
block" but I seriously doubt a 2" line would need one or if it needed
one, that a "stake in sandy soil" would do the job.

Do oyu have any idea what the flow is?

cheers
Bob

I don't know the flow, but it feeds an office with one dentist 200 yards
up the road. Halfway, there's a tee that feeds an office across the
road. I don't recall seeing more than two cars there. Static pressure
is about 40 psi.

I wonder if suddenly shutting the water off might have broken the
connection.