Drain jetting tips

[Will7]

Can anyone give some drain jetting tips? I am jetting a scheme laid in 1999 on silt with a bit of clay. I am using a homburg delta with a standard nozzle and operating at 40 bar. Currently not even doing one metre/minute. It will almost be cheaper to put a new scheme in…
Can I increase pressure or is there a better nozzle?

many Thanks

 

[Hilly]

Make sure you start at the bottom ie have and escape route for the water other wise you just get flooded out the hole ..

 

[Will7]

All the outfalls are into ditches thankfully

 

[Hilly]

All the outfalls are into ditches thankfully

You might find yourself half way up the field digging yet ……

 

[Hilly]

Are the silted up much ?

 

[Will7]

Are the silted up much ?

Completely at 220m of a 350m run. If I leave the jet there for a few minutes I get an extra metre, then leave it and repeat. I think it is futile but the landowner is keen to keep going

 

[Hilly]

Completely at 220m of a 350m run. If I leave the jet there for a few minutes I get an extra metre, then leave it and repeat. I think it is futile but the landowner is keen to keep going

Oh dear ….

 

[benny6910]

If it’s that bad you want to be getting a better nozzle, one with more forward facing jet rather than just the 1 I’m guessing you have now. Unfortunately it takes time if they are as bad as it sounds they are.

 

[Flatland guy]

We have same machine and have experimented but just find standard one forward about 12 back the best. I am afraid it is just time and patience. In 2012 we did 72m all day!! it was mind numbing but once got through within a week the large pool of water went.
For reference I have been flushing some we installed in Oct 2019 (similar soil silty clay loam) today and I have got a shock how bad they were and took twice as long as first thought. We are finding that new drains nearly need flushing annual/ biannually for the first 2/3 years until the soil settles down, whilst good for drainage it is just too loose and plenty of silt particles are washing into the drain.
Have you tried a new nozzle, it is surprising how worn they get for a better squirt probably make no difference but it worked for us once. However sometimes you need more hydraulic power to force it through and sometimes just give it time to clean, all a bit of a dark art really.

 

[Adeptandy]

Reading with interest as I really need to find a decent preloved jetter and learn the dark art

 

[Will 1594]

Completely at 220m of a 350m run. If I leave the jet there for a few minutes I get an extra metre, then leave it and repeat. I think it is futile but the landowner is keen to keep going

Put the ferret on end and find where you are ,you may have a broken pot ,and its burrowing into clay , dig it out and see

 

[benny6910]

Reading with interest as I really need to find a decent preloved jetter and learn the dark art

There was a nice hombourg in York sale last week it made £7k I think.

 

[Flatland guy]

Put the ferret on end and find where you are ,you may have a broken pot ,and its burrowing into clay , dig it out and see

I think if it was installed in1999 I am fairly certain it will be plastic.

 

[Badshot]

Reading with interest as I really need to find a decent preloved jetter and learn the dark art

I might have one for sale soon.....

 

[Badshot]

When the drains are bad it's slooooooow work.


Unfortunately all you can do is force the head into it with the hydraulic drive.
I've not used a homburg so don't know how good they are, but I do know you need 4 driven rollers pushing or it's futile.
Really fix the end of the arm at the end of the drain very well to stop it lifting.
Keep backwards and forwards with it to chip through the obstruction.

I've made solid galvanised pipe head mounts rather than the self seeking one as it keeps it on the bottom of the drain and breaks the silt up better sometimes, although sometimes the self seeking head is better.
I have done 2000 meters in a day in heavily silted drains, and I've done 10m in drains that were an absolute arse to do.
Do it when everything is saturated and soft makes it easier, but messy getting around.

There's a few videos on my YouTube channel, but not showing the head really I don't think, just me jetting.

I run at 45 - 50 bar, but the pressure has dropped a lot by the time it's got to the end of 500m of pipe.

 

[gm69]

Go to the homburg website some very good information there on the use and pressures. It says too much pressure can be bad for drains washing surrounding soil in to the drain

 

[Fish]

To wet to drill, so out came the jetter.

 

[clbarclay]

Do any of the nozzles have a spinning forward jet like pressure washers can have?

 

[Ffermer Bach]

Do any of the nozzles have a spinning forward jet like pressure washers can have?

I have seen Landy did one, with two pressure washer spinning type nozzles facing backwards for jetting out foot wide pipes.

 

[alomy75]

Don’t push too hard or you might suddenly think you’ve made it through the blockage when you’ve actually created quite a pretty water feature. Apparently. ‍♂