Cleaning concrete culvert

[czechsonofagun]

The culvert in front of the house was half filled with dirt and leaves - even some roots.

I started by digging out the entrance and output. After that I used digging bar and a hoe to get as far in as possible - but it only cleared 5 feet from each side and the culvert is 24'.

I wanted to apply my 9 year old son, he would probably fit in the pipe with a small showle , but there must be better way. Anybody knows a trick? Like pulling through a rope with an anchor on it - using the tractor? Digging it out is not an option, btw

 

[hunterridgefarm]

The anchor thing might work only I would use a chain instead of a rope. You don't want the rope to break and the have the anchor or what ever you are pulling be lodged inside.

I have used a pressure washer with the zero spray to clean out culverts but not a long as yours. It takes a little while but usually cleans it out.

 

[firefighter9208]

If it's on the right-of-way you might be able to get the local fire department to come out and blast the debris out with a high pressure stream of water, or the city or county might do it.

Chris

 

[bigtiller]

You have done everything you need to do. Now just wait for the next gully washer of a rain storm. Mother nature will wash it out clean as a whistle.

 

[Tim Stuart]

Cut a piece of 3/4 plywood in a round circle about a 1/2 inch smaller than the culvert size. attach a chain longer than your culvert to the center of the plywood circle. Than put the chain through the culvert and hook it to your tractor or truck than just drive slow pulling the plywood circle through the culvert. You may have to do it 2 times but it will get all the dirt out.

 

[Highbeam]

Leave it how it is but make sure there is a pretty good sump on both ends. Then when there is a good rain and it is flowing well, take a chunk of plywood larger than the culvert and place it in front of the opening on the upstream side blocking the flow. The water will back up further and further until you pull the plywood out and then all that backed up water rushes through the culvert and cleans it out. Maintain a decent sump to prevent this buildup from coming back.

Oh and I am way to clostrophobic to go into the pipe. I have heard of contractors who saw the rat jump into the 24" water main and knew that the new main wouldn't pass purity testing unless the rat was removed. They found a skinny guy and sent him in. Yikes!

 

[Chuck K.]

If you decide to pull an object through you may want to attach a tag line of some sort that would enable you to pull the device backwards in the event it got stuck. I learned of this trick the hard way

 

[czechsonofagun]

Thank you guys; I am gonna wait for rain - bigger than yesterday - and maybe help a bit if needed.

 

[Soundguy]

The GC i work for cleans culverts. We used to ahve "The 15' shovel" which was nothing more than a long heavy walled pipe welded to a shovel end. It was bulky and unmanageable.. but DID work. Since then we bought an old sewer truct with a high pressure water line and nozzle on it.. nozzle sprays backwards, so you turn up the water.. let the hose 'walk' in to the end, and then start walking bak while tugging, letting it spray the dirt out. in the end, the culvert is clean and everything that was in it is on you! (wink)

Soundguy

 

[Renze]

How big is the inner diameter ? would an oil barrel fit inside ? If you fill the barrel with water, it will have some compression strength, hopefully enough to pull the dirt out... If not, then oil barrels are cheap anyways

Do you have access to a manure tanker ? We have water jetted several cattle drinking wells with a manure tanker, a heavy walled 2" pipe (hydraulic cylinder tubing) and a bunch of 2.5" irrigation hose.
It works really well in sandy soil, we've jetted up to 10 meters.
You just need lots of water, with about 0.8 bar of pressure. the weight of the pipe will hit the sand loose where the water flow takes it away.