Blow Bag for Rain Drain Pipe

[TromboneAl]

Great points, thanks.

DWV it is.

Good points on the outlet. This might be good:

Concerning cleanouts: I could go in from the catch drain at the start or from the outlet. Those would give me 23' and 16' access, respectively. Not enough?

 

[samclem]

Great points, thanks.

DWV it is.

Good points on the outlet. This might be good:

That looks great (grate?) to me.

I could go in from the catch drain at the start or from the outlet. Those would give me 23' and 16' access, respectively. Not enough?

It might be enough, depending on the length of the snake you've got handy and if you need/want to remove the debris using a shopvac rather than flushing it with a hose. I used "wide sweep" sanitary "Y"s for my cleanouts and capped them just above the surface, they aren't bad looking IMO.

 

[always_learning]

Great points, thanks.

DWV it is.

Good points on the outlet. This might be good:

Concerning cleanouts: I could go in from the catch drain at the start or from the outlet. Those would give me 23' and 16' access, respectively. Not enough?

I like how that looks. I wish we could make that work with the French drain that just empties into the middle of the front lawn, but there is nothing to attach it to.

For the clean outs, I would imagine those lengths would be OK if you're going to the PVC pipe. Wouldn't one of those plumbing rooter things work on any plugs? I've not used one, but I think they reach farther than 23', don't they? I'm just guessing, obviously.

OK-- a quick search shows me that there is something called a Sewer Auger that is used for 3 & 4" pipes and they come as long as 100 feet. It sounds like you're good with 23' and 16'.

 

[travelover]

..........Concerning cleanouts: I could go in from the catch drain at the start or from the outlet. Those would give me 23' and 16' access, respectively. Not enough?

It might be fine, but as long as you are doing all the work of digging, adding clean outs will give you more options if there is a problem in the future. It appears to be a pretty low slope, so eventually it will fill with leaf debris, roof gravel, etc. that may not be removed with a drain snake. I'd want to be able to shove a wet vacuum hose back in there. Generally they are 8 to 20 feet in length.

 

[TromboneAl]

I'd want to be able to shove a wet vacuum hose back in there. Generally they are 8 to 20 feet in length.

How do you use a shop vac to unclog a drainage pipe?

 

[Jerry1]

Al, do you realize shop vacs are wet vacs also? They can suck up water. Need to take the filter off. You’d just prep the vacuum for wet, turn it on and send the hose down the drain. Longer the hose the better for this type of issue.

 

[samclem]

Al, do you realize shop vacs are wet vacs also? They can suck up water. Need to take the filter off. You’d just prep the vacuum for wet, turn it on and send the hose down the drain. Longer the hose the better for this type of issue.

In fact, they can be really handy for digging post holes quickly. Start with a shovel, but as things slow down due to the depth, just use a pike or length of pipe to loosen up the next 6 inches at a time and then suck it out with the shop vac. Fairly amazing how much dirt a beefy vac will lift out. It goes faster and easier than using a manual posthole digger. But, you need to have AC power available.

 

[Newventurer]

I have had real good luck with this device, it catches all the stuff being flushed from the gutters. You can’t see but there is a grate at a 45 degree angle that keeps stuff from going down the pipe and it is pretty good about being self cleaning. Once in a while the sludge, mold whatever it is will get stuck in the grate and I have to remove by hand. Good luck

 

[travelover]

How do you use a shop vac to unclog a drainage pipe?

With a large pipe, stick the hose in and let it suck up the soggy leaves and other junk. They work well on a small drain, too, like a bathroom sink.

Re digging, when I installed a radon vent, I broke a 4" hole in the basement floor then used a wet vac to remove about 5 gallons of dirt under the floor to create a radon collection chamber.

 

[TromboneAl]

>>I can just have a 90 degree elbow up to a grate, and drill some holes in the bottom of the elbow to drain between rains.
>Holes might provide a pathway for roots to get in. That was the cause of the last clog, right?

I still might use this since the holes will be inches from the outlet. If any roots get in, I can always pull them out.

I determined that the vertical drop over the 40' of pipe is 23", which is greater than the recommended minimum of 1" per 8'. I did that by having DW hold a level while I kneeled at the end point and sighted at the start point.

 

[travelover]

>>I can just have a 90 degree elbow up to a grate, and drill some holes in the bottom of the elbow to drain between rains.
>Holes might provide a pathway for roots to get in. That was the cause of the last clog, right?

I still might use this since the holes will be inches from the outlet. If any roots get in, I can always pull them out.

I determined that the vertical drop over the 40' of pipe is 23", which is greater than the recommended minimum of 1" per 8'. I did that by having DW hold a level while I kneeled at the end point and sighted at the start point.

You could hedge your bet by not gluing the final elbow. If it starts to be a problem, dig it out and pull it off and use a different end.

My problem is that I think that Murphy was an optimist.

 

[TromboneAl]

You could hedge your bet by not gluing the final elbow. If it starts to be a problem, dig it out and pull it off and use a different end.

My problem is that I think that Murphy was an optimist.

Yes. exactly what I plan to do.

 

[samclem]

I still might use this since the holes will be inches from the outlet. If any roots get in, I can always pull them out.

Maybe dig a bit deeper under that elbow and backfill with a bucket of coarse sand, make a bit of a drywell so the water can percolate into the soil better. Also, when the roots do come maybe you can pull 'em out thorough the drainholes a little better if they are in sand rather than rich soil. Clamp/glue a Scotchbrite pad to outside as a flow-through root barrier?

I determined that the vertical drop over the 40' of pipe is 23", which is greater than the recommended minimum of 1" per 8'. I did that by having DW hold a level while I kneeled at the end point and sighted at the start point.

That's a great problem to have, if you can keep it well sloped along its length you should be in good shape.

I ran a foundation footer drain along 2 sides of my basement, the water goes to a ditch beside our property, it was about 100 feet of pipe total. It was a fairly involved project just to figure out if I had sufficient pitch to make it work (tip--a water level works magic--around corners, low tech, very accurate, cheap). Nope, the ditch was a few inches too high and I had to put in a "lift station" that uses a sump pump.

 

[mountainsoft]

What is the reason for the [-]22.5 degree + 22.5 degree[/-] 45 degree + 45 degree elbows instead of one 90 degree?

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, been busy the last couple days.

Two 45's allow for a smoother curve than a standard 90 degree elbow. This allows better flow which means less likelihood of clogging. In standard plumbing pipe you can find "long sweep elbows" which accomplish the same thing, but the drainage pipe I used only has standard 45 and 90 degree elbows available.

 

[mountainsoft]

And what do you seal the junctions with? PVC Cement or silicone?

These types of drain pipes are just slip fit, no glue needed. Once buried they're kind of locked in place and can't come apart. The benefit is if you do need to make repairs in the future they just slip apart again.

The pipe I used is made for exterior drains like this and is sold at Home Depot. It's a straight rigid pipe made of corrugated HDPE, lightweight but very sturdy. I think the fittings are a thinner PVC material.

 

[mountainsoft]

If I go with a direct connection, as MountainSoft has, I wouldn't need a cleanout connection. That is, I could just pull the downspout out, and put the plumber snake in there.

For the discharge, I'm thinking of using a popup, like this:

I did not install any cleanouts in my drains, as they are straight pipes other than the elbows at the downspout end.

The discharge end of my drains dumps out lower down the hill. The pipe simply exits the ground, then I stick one of these in the end to keep critters from nesting in the exposed pipe:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/NDS-4-in-Plastic-Green-Polyolefin-Atrium-Grate-75/100377401

We check these drains every year or two. If needed we take off the grate to shake out any debris that has got caught then tap it back in. Less than 20 seconds tops.

My drains are over 10 years old now and we have not had any issues at all.

 

[mountainsoft]

Here's one example of my switch from catch basins to direct connections. Looks much cleaner and doesn't get in the way of sidewalks, mowing, or other landscaping.

 

[TromboneAl]

I'm gluing some of the joints as extra protection against roots. That's probably overkill. But I've also learned that with the glue in there, you can push the pipe into the joint farther.

Yes, I might put a lot of sand and gravel under the outlet.

Will it look tacky to have some of the pipe (near the catch basin) exposed? That will give me a little more slope, and people rarely see that corner of the house.

 

[mountainsoft]

I'm gluing some of the joints as extra protection against roots. That's probably overkill. But I've also learned that with the glue in there, you can push the pipe into the joint farther.
Yes, I might put a lot of sand and gravel under the outlet.
Will it look tacky to have some of the pipe (near the catch basin) exposed? That will give me a little more slope, and people rarely see that corner of the house.

I suppose it depends on how the pipe is exposed. When I replaced a section of our paver patio with concrete, I extended the drain up a little bit to accommodate the thicker slab. I have about four inches of the PVC fitting sticking up above the concrete. It looks fine to me, but maybe I'm tacky. You could always paint the exposed pipe if it bothered you.

Keep in mind PVC is vulnerable to ultraviolet light and could become brittle and/or start to break down with extended exposure to sunlight. We're rather shaded in the trees so I didn't worry about it. Painting it should protect against that if you're concerned. Or you could use the grey electrical conduit fittings that have UV protection, or even black ABS pipe for the exposed sections.

Gluing the pipe sections won't hurt anything, it's just more work. If you're using the HDPE style drain pipe like me, I don't think PVC cement sticks to it anyway.

 

[samclem]

Will it look tacky to have some of the pipe (near the catch basin) exposed? That will give me a little more slope, and people rarely see that corner of the house.

I would probably try to avoid exposing the PVC, mainly for aesthetic reasons.
Maybe get the increased slope by going a little deeper at the intermediate house corner, if practical? Or, just pile the dirt a little higher than local grade to cover the pipe? As a last resort, the paints designed to stick well to plastic (Krylon and Rust-Oleum both make a line of these) do a pretty good job of sticking to PVC, you could paint it brown or green before backfilling to make the pipe less obvious.
+1 on cementing the joints. It costs nothing and might prevent a future issue.

 

[TromboneAl]

It turns out there won't be any pipe exposed.

I have all the pipe laid now. Tested with water and it flowed well.

I dug a hole at the end and filled it will sand.

My plan is to wait for rain and see how well it works before I "set things in stone."

 

[Camas Lilly]

It that last photo is accurate, it doesn't look like the drain line is buried very deep. If so, I would just dig it up and replace it with solid PVC drain pipe. You'll get better flow and it will be less likely to clog in the future.

You may also want to consider replacing those open grates under the gutter downspout with fixed connections. That will keep leaves and other debris from getting in the drains (except for whatever comes from the gutters).

Experienced sewer DH agrees with this one, just make sure it has at least a 2% slope.

 

[FinancialDave]

It turns out there won't be any pipe exposed.

I have all the pipe laid now. Tested with water and it flowed well.

I dug a hole at the end and filled it will sand.

My plan is to wait for rain and see how well it works before I "set things in stone."

Just one thought before you cover it up -- take a level and make sure all sections of the pipe are at least going "downhill." The better the slope you get the better the water will take the debris out of the pipe.

 

[gooddog]

Roto-Rooter can scope that and clean it fairly cheap, especially compared to a regular plumber.

 

[JoeWras]

Just caught up with this thread and thanks to T-Al and all for the info. I put down a corrugated pipe like Al had 25 years ago and so far, so good, despite trees around. My terminus is similar to the fancy one Al will put in, but instead is just a "cage" to let water bubble out. I can do this because it is in a line of bushes. Works fine.


Finally, I'll never look at that pipe the same way again. Only Al could give me a vision of a scene from Dune, with my pipes heaving up out of the ground, ready to be tamed by one who dares to control those buggers.