Rasslin’ A Super Slinky

Last week my brother and I laid the new 2″ HDPE penstock (pipe) for my microhydroturbine system to power the barn (and the cabin if necessary).  Last winter absolutely trashed the existing pipeline of Schedule 40 PVC.

The 2″ HDPE came in giant ~6-foot coils, each of which weighed several hundred pounds.  Once these were unraveled we had a rasslin’ match that looked like a monster movie with giant snakes.  If you’ve never handled large dimension HDPE it is unbelievably tough and strong, slippery and cantankerous.  Not to mention ridiculously expensive compared to Sch40 PVC, but I am expecting it to be worth the added investment.  I got 15 years from the Sch40 PVC so this should outlast my time in Shangri-la.

Even two stout redneck brothers were no match for the Super Slinky.  We wound up lashing the end to a long rope, feeding the rope along the path we wanted the pipeline to follow, and then pulling it up the ravine with my beloved little 4WD S10.  The pipe was more than a match for two ~septuagenarians but was no match for 210 h.p. x 4500 lbs.

Here are the old and new, side by side.  This level of damage to the old penstock was present in about 75% of the 1000+-foot length.

We finally connected the new pipeline into the system and had water flowing!  I discovered that even at the bottom there was a crack in the PVC joints, so that needs to get replaced as soon as I can find the time.  It’s working, now, but who knows for how long?

The work is not done by any means.  I’ll let the new HDPE pipeline relax and lose its coilification to the greatest degree possible, then work the line from top to bottom leveling and lashing it.  Reducing the up and down of the lay is critical to making the flow have as little turbulence as possible.  If all goes well I will be able to run the system year round.  Here’s hopin’.