Draining with no gravel

[Hurdle bunter]

The problem with my field is the 50mm pipe, takes very little to choke it up, get a wet spot above it nearly every year dig down bit of jetting and problem sorted if it had been 100mm pipe it would be fine only areas stoned are bit I have put extra laterals into clay corners fill it right to the top in clay.

Yeah that small pipe only needs a wee blip in the grade (somebody took his eye off the 't-bar' on the drainer for a second or two) and the silt starts to build up

 

[glasshouse]

Yer dumping lumps of solid clay on 75mm plastic, classic mistake

Who told the guy to put clay over the pipe? its his blame.
always put gravel on.

 

[Hilly]

Yeah that small pipe only needs a wee blip in the grade (somebody took his eye off the 't-bar' on the drainer for a second or two) and the silt starts to build up

It was hill in the 60`s done with a trencher before I was born, apparently they spent more time bogged than draining, when we got it in the 90`s it was drained but the rashers were head height a quad couldn't get through and getting sheep out was a nightmare, we fixed drains cut rashers rowed the up with a acrobat pushed them into heaps with a digger burnt them burnt grass off sub soiled mucked ploughed put lime on sowed rape fattend lambs same next year but kale fattend lambs more muck ploughed again reseeded made silage !! done that cycle three times now and also removed thousands of tons of stone, I sometimes moan about the field but when I think back to what it once was it not to bad to be fair now.

 

[Hilly]

Who told the guy to put clay over the pipe? its his blame.
always put gravel on.

Easier said than done the cost of stone is huge, my drainage contractor was putting new drains in for a week a year or so ago at a farm and in that week he used 15k worth of stone ! but it is the proper job.

 

[Kidds]

I often hear the comment that systems layed in the 60s/70s are now knackered, why is this ?
Are the pipes are silted up, out falls blocked, just never layed right in the first place ( in which case they never worked right from the get go)

Pipes laid with a bit of a dip in them (by mistake), they work just like a "u-bend" while it is just water in there and run just fine.
It's when a bit of silt gets in and collects in these u-bends the problem starts. The silt settles in the U and blocks the pipe eventually.

 

[glasshouse]

If there is no stone, topsoil should be used., or anything except clay.
some of those rushes would help.

 

[Hilly]

Dig this out our own quarry run it through a crusher bucket then put in drains, have used thousands of tons and its expensive enough I feel the pain of anyone having to buy stone in.

 

[Forever Fendt]

waste of time with no gravel the whole idea of surrounding pipe including foul sewer pipe with granular fill is it stops the pipe from crushing flat I would think if you put clay or soil back in the pipe will not be long before its flat and the stone helps the water find its way down to the pipe if its the cost of the stone a problem I would do half the area but do a proper job

 

[Hilly]

Stone depends 100% on soil type a lot of soil needs stone a lot doesn't, its where experience counts.

 

[glasshouse]

we did drainage in the 70,s and the ag dept refused to pay for gravel in the grant, so it was deleted and the drains didnt work for long.

 

[strawturner]

It's a neighbour having 60 acres done I'm not convinced but is quite a saving

I think I saw this farm recently, on the A508. I noticed they were not using stone but that the pipes were close together. A few years ago we bought a field next to a river that was poorly drained and did much the opposite only using 3 pipes with gravel up to the top approx 50m apart from each other, it has been moled once and drains freely when the outfalls are below the river!

 

[Kevtherev]

Hand dug drains put in by my late grandad when he bought our place in 1948 are still working perfect.
See too many (experts) digging out a rough trench no eye for level sling a bit of shitty cheap land drain coil back fill with digger no checking of pipe or packing with fine stuff.
A correctly laid pipe needs supprt on the sides or it will collapse.
There is some black land drain on the market that is utter crap.
Poly pipe civils is the best IMO.

 

[RimmerF140]

We get to drain in almost all land types and its very rare we don't use any stone, size depends on land type (usually 40mm on heavy stuff and 20mm in light land).

However as many have already said, it needs to be done right. This summer, we sorted 4 jobs, all because of idiots with trenchers chopping through 6 inch mains. @Hurdle bunter is spot on about the "experts". Though it does make jobs more interesting!!
We also never drain that wide apart- usually 15 m apart, but again depends on the field. Polypipe is good, but prefer cherry personally, lot of shyte on the market though as @Kevtherev has already said

 

[Hurdle bunter]

We get to drain in almost all land types and its very rare we don't use any stone, size depends on land type (usually 40mm on heavy stuff and 20mm in light land).

However as many have already said, it needs to be done right. This summer, we sorted 4 jobs, all because of idiots with trenchers chopping through 6 inch mains. @Hurdle bunter is spot on about the "experts". Though it does make jobs more interesting!!
We also never drain that wide apart- usually 15 m apart, but again depends on the field. Polypipe is good, but prefer cherry personally, lot of shyte on the market though as @Kevtherev has already said

Bloody hell, I was kind-of assuming someone on a trencher would know what there doing but maybe not! I can't say hand on heart that every drain that I've chopped through with a trencher has been connected up (always trying to watch the spoil coming up for clay pipe bits but with the best will in the world you miss some) but every effort is made to join all the ones you know about up

 

[hally]

up here the custom is to lay plastic no more than 10m apart and when we do it we have far more success digging the pipe in with 360 and putting the sod from the top onto the pipe grass down if you know what I mean, before you backfill the trench. Any put in with a trencher has had limited results compared to this. We only stone problem areas, due to cost. Bear in mind here in the north Pennines we get a huge rainfall

 

[RimmerF140]

Bloody hell, I was kind-of assuming someone on a trencher would know what there doing but maybe not! I can't say hand on heart that every drain that I've chopped through with a trencher has been connected up (always trying to watch the spoil coming up for clay pipe bits but with the best will in the world you miss some) but every effort is made to join all the ones you know about up

That's what we do. When I'm at work it's normally dad on the trencher and me on the gravel trailer so we can almost always spot them. Suprising they couldn't see a 6 inch as there's a hell of a lot of pot comes up. Same contractor did all 4 jobs, and it's not the first time we've come it. Said it all when on 1 of the said jobs they drained a field with 60mm pipe (pointless to start with) and all the ones we found fell the wrong way

 

[Kevtherev]

That's what we do. When I'm at work it's normally dad on the trencher and me on the gravel trailer so we can almost always spot them. Suprising they couldn't see a 6 inch as there's a hell of a lot of pot comes up. Same contractor did all 4 jobs, and it's not the first time we've come it. Said it all when on 1 of the said jobs they drained a field with 60mm pipe (pointless to start with) and all the ones we found fell the wrong way

Nothing like a bit of back fall on a drain to cause problems!!

 

[multi power]

Nothing like a bit of back fall on a drain to cause problems!!

Lot of peaty ground drained where I grew up has now dried n sunk so much that drains are now falling the wrong way

 

[Hilly]

We get to drain in almost all land types and its very rare we don't use any stone, size depends on land type (usually 40mm on heavy stuff and 20mm in light land).

However as many have already said, it needs to be done right. This summer, we sorted 4 jobs, all because of idiots with trenchers chopping through 6 inch mains. @Hurdle bunter is spot on about the "experts". Though it does make jobs more interesting!!
We also never drain that wide apart- usually 15 m apart, but again depends on the field. Polypipe is good, but prefer cherry personally, lot of shyte on the market though as @Kevtherev has already said

40mm and 20 mm pipe ????

 

[Kevtherev]

40mm clean stone or 20mm