Land drainage pipes

me_right_one

Hello. How far down are land drainage pipes supposed to be under the surface? The ditch they will be running into is about 4 foot deep when dry, but the water level can sometimes spill out onto the land in winter. Also, do you put pebble both under and over the pipe, or just over? Did anyone try those new type wiry tubes with the cloth covering? Any good?

me_right_one

Anyone? 126 views, someone must know a bit more than me about this?

denis086

the pipe is supposed to come out into the open drain above the water line if the water rises and above the pipe theres little point in draining it the probelm lys else where consider deepening the drains further on because if the water reaches the height of the pipes then its not draining the land because the waters not going anywhere but the pipe should have a slight fall the whole way along its lenght until it reaches the drain we generally just dig the drain and put the pipe down put the odd stone on it to keep it down and the use the bucket to put stone down around the pipe we use pebbles for draining because the chips just clog sooner when they become compacted the rounded pebbles will always have room in them until earth gradually blocks them but that takes along time to happen luckily around here. some of our best drains are the old stone drains that were built by hand and they are sometimes less than a foot below tthe surface or in some places 3 ft down it all depend on how bad the ground is and how much drainage is needed
unless your planning on doing yourself usually people who do ground work have a fair idea from the years of experience and will have a good idea

whelan1

i am no expert but when you are mole draining the mole plough goes down 18 inches in to the ground as far as i can remember and it is supposed to be hitting the drainage stones i thinks so i assume the pipe is about 2 ft under the ground but i stand corrected

me_right_one

Thanks lads. Dennis do you cover the stone with anything before you put the sod back on top? Surely the less earth that can get washed down the better?

denis086 wrote: »

the pipe is supposed to come out into the open drain above the water line if the water rises and above the pipe theres little point in draining it the probelm lys else where consider deepening the drains further on because if the water reaches the height of the pipes then its not draining the land because the waters not going anywhere but the pipe should have a slight fall the whole way along its lenght until it reaches the drain we generally just dig the drain and put the pipe down put the odd stone on it to keep it down and the use the bucket to put stone down around the pipe we use pebbles for draining because the chips just clog sooner when they become compacted the rounded pebbles will always have room in them until earth gradually blocks them but that takes along time to happen luckily around here. some of our best drains are the old stone drains that were built by hand and they are sometimes less than a foot below tthe surface or in some places 3 ft down it all depend on how bad the ground is and how much drainage is needed
unless your planning on doing yourself usually people who do ground work have a fair idea from the years of experience and will have a good idea

whelan1

but if you're going to be ploughing the field you'd want a nice bit on it wouldnt you

me_right_one

Yea true.

denis086

its probably reflection of some of our land but we dig our drains around the 4 foot then about a foot of chips and cover back in we dont put anything on top just out practicality and what would you use for it then would be another problem if you put old silage plastic down youd have to cut it and then if you had to reopen the drain because a length of it got blocked the plastic would get mixed up in the soil this way works for use so im not sure if it would suit your land it sound pretty boggy if it floods in winter the pipes could get clogged faster in very boggy land

browned

Hello. How far down are land drainage pipes supposed to be under the surface? The ditch they will be running into is about 4 foot deep when dry, but the water level can sometimes spill out onto the land in winter. Also, do you put pebble both under and over the pipe, or just over? Did anyone try those new type wiry tubes with the cloth covering? Any good?

if the drain isn't large enough to cope with water levels in the winter i'm just wondering is it wise to pipe it in the first place? if a 4 foot drain can't cope how can a 9" 12" pipe expected to hold da water?

me_right_one

browned wrote: »

if the drain isn't large enough to cope with water levels in the winter i'm just wondering is it wise to pipe it in the first place? if a 4 foot drain can't cope how can a 9" 12" pipe expected to hold da water?

Good point, let me explain a bit more. The drain gets so flooded in the winter cos its blocked further down in other fields. I can do nothing about that. It only happens on rare occasions, like after all the snow we had this winter. The rest of the year it varies, but there is always about a foot of water in it, even now in this hot weather. There are springs all over the field, and they feed into the drain. The point of piping it is just to allow the water from the springs to get away faster, rather than water-logging the land. I know that in winter the pipes would be full of water, but at least they would provide a little bit of extra capacity, and sure wouldnt it be better for the water to be in the pipes instead of the ground? Even a little bit more dryness would be nice. It would be like having a few smaller drains, aswell as the main one, only these would be covered up. So my question is how far down to go? Or do you think its all pointless?

John_F

would this type of pipe be of any good to ya http://www.connachtagri.ie/index.php?p=12

sea12

I have just completed doing this work on a few acres 2 weeks ago. This particular field is poor enough with only about 9 inches of top soil.
The shores were put in about 2 foot deep. No stone was put in at the bottom and it was filled up to about 6-7 inches from the top.
the shores going into the main drain are about a foot from the bottom of this drain.

Hope this helps some bit.

me_right_one

John_F wrote: »

would this type of pipe be of any good to ya http://www.connachtagri.ie/index.php?p=12

Thanks John_F. Thats exactly what my land is like, you'd swear that was it! I saw them pipes alright, wasnt too sure about them. Did you film that yourself?

sea12 wrote: »

I have just completed doing this work on a few acres 2 weeks ago. This particular field is poor enough with only about 9 inches of top soil.
The shores were put in about 2 foot deep. No stone was put in at the bottom and it was filled up to about 6-7 inches from the top.
the shores going into the main drain are about a foot from the bottom of this drain.

Hope this helps some bit.

Thanks Sea12. Why do some people put stone under the pipe at alldo you know?

morning delight

me_right_one wrote: »

The rest of the year it varies, but there is always about a foot of water in it, even now in this hot weather.

Surely they need to be above this point, and probably 6-12 inches above this to allow the water to flow.
What is the water height in an average wet winter? Surely 6 inches above this will allow the land drains to flow.

John_F

i did not then, i only came across it one night on the net, have no experience of them at all

dasheriff

me_right_one wrote: »

Thanks lads. Dennis do you cover the stone with anything before you put the sod back on top? Surely the less earth that can get washed down the better?

Use taram to cover the pipe its a specially made roll of stuff for the job it lets water down but nothing else..

in answer to your other question you put abit of stone uner the pipe to pack around it properly and to have a good flow..