Cleaning out a blocked culvert...how?

[KeithC]

Call the local volunteer Fire department. Tell them you will make a tax deductable donation (a bigger one then last year, because I know we all support our local volunteers) to the fire department if they will presure wash the pipe clean.
Our local county uses this same method, while 5 guys lean on shovels.

 

[mobilus]

KeithC, those 5 guys are the "support team"...necessary in all road work, it appears.

 

[3RRL]

Call the local volunteer Fire department. Tell them you will make a tax deductable donation (a bigger one then last year, because I know we all support our local volunteers) to the fire department if they will presure wash the pipe clean.
Our local county uses this same method, while 5 guys lean on shovels.

I had a thread about two years ago asking this very same question. Got a bunch of great responses, one of which was get the fire department to clear it.

Well, I started by having my wife dig the ends out with a shovel (she volunteered). I had no water around so we used some 3/4" pipe and pushed it through the middle by hand, since the middle was not as plugged for some reason. Then tied a rope to the pipe and drug it through the hole. Then attached a chain to the rope and drug it through with the Blazer. I attached a piece of metal to the chain about the size of a soft ball and drug it through with the tractor. Now I had a hole all the way through but still no water.

So a month ago I invited the Fire Marshall up to the property to check out the clearing we'd done for the log home. Also asked him where he wanted to have us place the fire hydrant and showed him the 5,000 gallon tank we got to meet code. He was very appreciative that we were making such a big effort to comply so his job might be easier in case of fire. Well, that's when I asked him if he thought he might squirt some water into my plugged culvert and he obliged. He got his hose out and squirted it through.

I asked if I could make a donation and he said no. So I offered to have him join us for a steak bar-b-que and he accepted. It was a great way to meet him, have him get familiar with my place, and got the culvert cleared too.

 

[2manyrocks]

So let's ask the next logical question after he gets it cleaned out....

What should he do to keep it from clogging up again? Put down filter fabric and rock?

 

[IslandTractor]

I will talk to the volunteer fire dept when I am next on the island. I'll also grab some photos.

One of the challenges is "territorial". The culvert is over a private road that is owned by an association and the association is surrounded by conservation land which includes the pond that the culvert drains. The water damage is mostly to a public dirt road nearby. The neighbors all get along pretty well and until very recently all these problems were non issues as the prior owner of the land just had the work done to benefit everyone. Since the last time the culvert had maintenance the land was donated to a couple of conservancy groups and that is were the confusion started. There is general agreement amongst the neighbors that this culvert maintenance needs to be done but no one knows exactly who has the authority to do it. The Town DPW begged off due to the unclear ownership issues even though they need to repair the road each spring and even though no one had complained (quite the opposite, we tried to get them to do it). Oddly, the DPW guys are also in the VFD.

As there seemed to be an impass and as no one seems to object, I just decided to do it myself and will simply plead well intentioned ignorance if there are any complaints. I plan to use Soundguy's first suggestion initially to explore whether there is a lot of debris inside the culvert or whether it is only the ends that are plugged. If that doesn't work I had planned to do something along the lines of what 3RRL described and use the tractor to pull a plug through. If that fails I'll get the VFD involved.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

A friend of mine is a vice-president of a telcom construction company. They just opened a new division that cleans highway culverts for the railroads and state and local entities.

They use the directional boring units they have on hand for placing cable and conduit. The traditional method of doing this is high pressure washer based. The advantage of the directional rig is the blocking material is pulled completely out of the drainage system. The farmers love it, good topsoil.

 

[2manyrocks]

If its a conservancy group that owns it and is now neglecting to clean the culvert, it just sounds like no one is sure how to get to the right person to get anything done. You might could ask your property tax assessor to look up the contact name and address for that property and write them a letter explaining what the problem is.

I'd be careful about going onto private property to clean this thing up without their consent.

 

[Onthesauk]

My last house had a private road access and a couple of culverts that use to get plugged with gravel every Winter. Same issues, no one wanted responsibility. Neighbor and I took a 2 inch chunk of black ABS pipe and stepped up to a 4 inch piece on the end. Whole thing was about 10 feet long, 4 inch portion about 2 feet of that. With the end cut at an angle we were able to shove it in from each end and pull a plug of stuff out. And hour or so each year use to keep if clean for another year. Eventuall the county replaced the culvert with something larger and rip rapped the ends so it never plugged again.

 

[IslandTractor]

If its a conservancy group that owns it and is now neglecting to clean the culvert, it just sounds like no one is sure how to get to the right person to get anything done.

That is the case. However, virtually all the neighbors, including myself, are members of the conservancy group so it is not as though we are trying to deal with some organization based in Boulder Colorado or anything like that. It is really a matter of confusion rather than refusal to take responsibility. There is even supposed to be funding set aside to do this sort of work but the lines get blurred and memories fail about how it was done in the past. The gentleman who owned the land before the conservancy took over just had someone clean it out periodically but those were days on the island before people worried much about liability and lot lines. I still think the best solution is to "just do it" and see if anyone notices. The neighbors whose land is most directly affected were the ones who specifically asked me to help so I'm not really risking much of a confrontation here.

 

[LBrown59]

I wonder if the high pressure from a volunteer fire department pumper
truck would be of help to clean a culvert. Might cost small donation, but
might be worth it. elad

The state had me put in double wall smoth bore plastic culvert so if it clogs up they can use their machine to clean it out.