Drain Pipe Burial

You don't need standing water to freeze.

My downspouts are at 90degrees. If it is below zero and sunny, the slow drips that come off the south side of the roof freeze on the way down. The 4" pipe freezes solid in a day or two. [and it happens once or twice most winters where I live. Maybe not so often where you are-- but how bad will it be when it does happen to you?]

That's why you want to use a bigger pipe. It will allow for those slow drips for an extended period to *not* clog the pipe. The tiniest bit of flow will clear the ice out when things warm up.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht
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Bernie,

I live in Washington state, so I don't know the particulars relating to drain lines and frost depth. Our frost depth is only about 12", though realistically it has never been cold enough, long enough, here for me to see that in practice.

Our property is on a hill, but because of the topography there are some areas (like the driveway in front of our garage) where natural slope for drainage is not an option. So, I installed three runs of solid 4" PVC drain lines. One is dedicated solely to our driveway, one picks up the gutters from our garage and back of the house, and the third picks up the gutters on the side and front of our house.

The first key issue is to ensure wherever the drain exits (to daylight in our case) is on your own property. You don't want to dump all the water from your roof into your neighbors yard!

As for depth, I started at the high spot and maintained a 1/4" per foot slope till I reached daylight on the side of the hill. At the shallowest spot at the top of the hill I'm maybe 12" down, but in some places I had to dig down three feet and tunnel under roots and around massive boulders to maintain the proper slope.

We installed our drainage system about 4-5 years ago and have not had any issues with clogs. I have grates over the outlets to prevent mice and other critters from nesting in the pipes, and screens/filters on the gutters to keep leaves and other debris from entering the system. Some pine needles work their way through, but so far no issues.

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

The Incorporated Village of Garden City's code is available online:

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is the Town of Hempstead's:
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R

Reply to
RicodJour

Your post reminds me of something a comedian once said about people with drug habits: "If you still have enough money left to afford the Betty Ford Clinic, then you DON'T have a drug problem!" If you don't need sump pumps, (or two!) consider yourself among the blessed! (-:

I spent a lot of effort one summer digging a dry well. AFAIK, it's *never* been dry. )-: It was an historical waste of effort, at least in this location. Like the Tokyo Electric Power Company I've sadly learned that it takes a lot of planning to keep everything going when Mother Nature gets really angry. One 100 year storm knocked out the electric power for 4 days so I got a generator. The next one occurred when I was out of town and no one was there to start the generator and a hurricane passed nearby. Now I've got two 70Ah wheelchair batteries powering a battery backed sump pump and I'm tempted to get a second one to back up the first.

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green

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