I am building a new shop and am wanting to tie into an existing underground pvc waterline. My question is how to best do that? If I try to just put in a t fitting i wont be able to pull the existing pipe into the fitting. Could i cut out a three foot section of pipe and make a u shaped section to be able to fit it together or is there a better way?

when I did pool work we used a lot of flex pvc in underground , it flexes enough that if you dig up about 3 feet of the line you can cut and tie in

you could cut 2-3 feet out of the line and put in a length of flex pvc with the T and stay the same path

as you realized when using a rigid pipe with both ends held down by soil , you need to find some way to flex enough to get couplings in place

on copper there is a slide over coupler that you slide all the way over the pipe and you can cut and splice with both ends secured , however with pvc there isn't a good way to slide the coupler over because it would bind on the primer.

They make PVC fittings just for that. It is a coupling that extends so you can get it on both ends of the pipe.
Either that or a compression coupling.

That's what I needed to know. I thought there should be something for this application.

Dig out the line 3 feet maybe a bit more, of time you can flex the pipe enough to add the tee if your careful and cut just what it needs.

Don't use the telescoping repair fittings underground, the o rings eventually leak and you won't know because you can't see it. They're used for undeground irrigation repairs a lot but in that application, they are only under pressure for a few minutes every night and they're a few inches from the surface where it's easy to repair and you're likely to see the hole the leak made. Buried below frost line, they'll leak all the time forever and you'll never know.

I'd make the repair with black poly because it's flexible.

Install a male adapter onto the PVC Tee and a female x barb fitting onto the poly.

I'd do the whole run in black poly - easier than gluing pipe every 10' and you can just roll it out into your trench.

Compression sleeve will do what you need.


But I would run a slip x slip x thread tee, threaded fitting for the new run, and do it in pex or pure-core.

PVC flange fittings or PVC unions if you cannot move the pipe longitudinal.

If you can go to a smaller diameter than the main line, saddle fittings work well.

They have a conversion from pvc to pex I would go with that. Pex is so easy to work with withstands freezing and less labor no leaks.