Re draining a field.

[snipe]

Part of a field need re draining. Is there certain way the new drains should be laid out to stop water finding the old drains, which have become blocked solid in places. Don't want the water to go down the old drain then burst to the surface when it gets to a blockage. Should I lay the new drains in the same pattern as the old ones, but slightly shallower, so directly above them( which will be very tricky).or Same pattern but slightly up hill or down hill of the old drains) or do the old drains need digging out compleatly?

 

[Flat 10]

Part of a field need re draining. Is there certain way the new drains should be laid out to stop water finding the old drains, which have become blocked solid in places. Don't want the water to go down the old drain then burst to the surface when it gets to a blockage. Should I lay the new drains in the same pattern as the old ones, but slightly shallower, so directly above them( which will be very tricky).or Same pattern but slightly up hill or down hill of the old drains) or do the old drains need digging out compleatly?

Between them and uphill if that's feasible? So here they are just simple runs between the others into the ditch. trickier if you have a herringbone system. You have obviously attempted to clear the old system?

 

[Lexion1000]

Part of a field need re draining. Is there certain way the new drains should be laid out to stop water finding the old drains, which have become blocked solid in places. Don't want the water to go down the old drain then burst to the surface when it gets to a blockage. Should I lay the new drains in the same pattern as the old ones, but slightly shallower, so directly above them( which will be very tricky).or Same pattern but slightly up hill or down hill of the old drains) or do the old drains need digging out compleatly?

Get an expert on it. Drainage is something that needs doing right.

 

[snipe]

Between them and uphill if that's feasible? So here they are just simple runs between the others into the ditch. trickier if you have a herringbone system. You have obviously attempted to clear the old system?

Yes pulled some pots up today and it's a hammer and chisel job the clean them out.

 

[Fish]

What are they full of, clay/ sand ?

 

[snipe]

Not sure. It's black and has the consistency of coal?. The area has be opencast about 45 years ago. Thinking there must be some sort of coal dust in the soil that has set like concrete.

 

[Lincsman]

Cross the old ones at 90 degrees if possible, and a little deeper any flow will then run into the new drain, you only try to avoid them if they still work.

 

[Stw88]

We have a lump of land that someone in the past had the bright idea of putting a new drainage system in. Taken 20 years to get them sorted. drains were all to fix where they had crossed as just putting a bucket full of gravel in and expecting it to filter into new ones didn’t last long. In the spring you can see the old drains drawing better than the new ones. A good jetter and time will clean out the old drains even if you have to dig large stretches out. Drains will be bone dry at the moment easier doing them when ground is wet and stuff inside won’t be as hard then.

 

[Steevo]

@Kevtherev will know.

 

[Macsky]

I was speaking to two brothers a few years ago that have done a lot of drainage between them (contractors), and they were adamant that for any new drainage to be remotely worthwhile, it had to go in deeper than any existing system.

 

[Kevtherev]

Go under the old system ?
Clean stone on as well to be any good

 

[yellow belly]

Many redraining systems were across the old horseshoe picking the water they carry with clean gravel

drain it properly and it will last 30 to 50 years or more
if it is ocher blocking soil type then pay for the rapped pipe that extends the life of the system

 

[ARW]

I would dig out the old drains, scrape the top of the pots exposing the system, the pull the pots out by hand and lay your new pipe in the old grove then stone.
or dig them out and go lower if you have the fall

 

[hally]

We did a field of old horseshoe tiles a few years ago, marked the old system and sent the trencher up through them ripping them out and laying the new ones. Two systems in a field never work well imo. A lot of fields ruined around here by drainage grants in the eighties where a trencher just barged through the old system, water bubbles up at every junction unless tied in.

 

[snipe]

How did you mark the drains to get the new ones exactly on top.

 

[hally]

How did you mark the drains to get the new ones exactly on top.

Those old guys were pretty skilled in laying drains so if you dig until you find either end, put poles in and they are pretty straight between. On this place they are 7 yards apart so easily found after that. You can see the trencher is on them whilst working as the broken tiles are constantly coming up in the soil.

 

[hally]

How did you mark the drains to get the new ones exactly on top.

We always put the new drains below as the old tiles are very effective but not deep enough imo. The jury is out around here if you are digging below an old system at a different angle to wether you just stone the new drain where it has cut the old one ( keeps all the sh!t from the old drain out of the new) or wether you grade the old tile down into the new drain with a proper Junction. I prefer the latter.
If I ever meet the cowboy who drained 60 acres here in 1980 ( before my time) by cutting through the old system diagonally with a bladed machine , I will have a polite word?. Probably the same guy who did @Stw88 as we are not far apart.

 

[Daivie135]

More drains is not the solution. Lost count of how many drains I’ve ripped out and got back to the original system. Jet or relay and jobs done. And done right. The guys that dug those drains by hand didn’t put them in for their health there there for a reason. Fix don’t replace

 

[Farma Parma]

any Additional Drainage i do now & just did some a week ago i add 8"-15" of 28-32mm Gravel ontop & what a difference it makes to the ground being able to let the water get to the pipe.
Fab results here last two winters on area's ive added pipe into. Using a 13t 360 tracked Digger with a metre deep max narrow V bucket on is the answer mind.

 

[DanniAgro]

Not sure. It's black and has the consistency of coal?. The area has be opencast about 45 years ago. Thinking there must be some sort of coal dust in the soil that has set like concrete.

You used to be able to get piping wrapped with a fibre layer to filer out small particles - perhaps you still can? It was suggested for this sort of situation.