Pole barn drainage - need some advice

[DrewStyduhar]

Just FYI, the gutters on each eve are sloped so they are high in the middle. So although each orange pipe is tied to both gutters its prob only getting half or so unless the weather really goes nuts. I like LD1's idea of jumping to 6 at the back of the building. Would save on fittings costs too vs going 6" along both sides.

thanks,

Drew

 

[LD1]

Not sure why so many people dont like black corrugated pipe.

ITS MADE FOR DRAINAGE.

There are hundreds of thousands of miles of the stuff in the ground all around me for ag drainage. As is smoothwall old clay.

Guess what, if there are problems they both plug up. But if its installed right, there is grade, and animal guards at the end.....it wont plug. Its burried in the ground so looks dont matter. corrugated is a quarter the cost and works just the same. Tees and fittings are also cheaper and easier to assemble. Everyone suggesting using rigid PVC or something is just suggesting you throw money away. Just my 2 cents

 

[dirttoys]

For what it is worth (free).

I have had as good a luck with black corrugated as I have anything else, it is cheaper and mostly easier to work with (this opinion might be worth a dollar).

There are lots of folks that have done more of this than me, so.........

I hate digging up tile enough, I dump my eaves above grade onto clean gravel that buries the drain tile. I can pick up the pile of crap off the gravel, it never sees the inside of a buried pipe.

Best,

ed

 

[DrewStyduhar]

Hi guys,

Interesting thoughts. I appreciate everyone's feedback.

LD1, regarding your comment below, I imagine the primary issue is cost....no? I don't think corrugated is so much better than PVC where it would still be used if cost was switched between the two?

""There are hundreds of thousands of miles of the stuff in the ground all around me for ag drainage. As is smoothwall old clay.""

Although it definitely has its place, here are some reasons that come to mind about why "I" generally don't like corrugated. I'm sure all these points can be argued but here's my 2cents

1. Roots blow through it. Maybe not an issue in my situation

2. Hate dicking with corrugated in a hand dug trench, it never lays right. I also think its more of a pain to bed corrugated pipe compared to rigid. If its not bed 100% across its length then the low spots in hold water

3. Doesnt flow as well as PVC.

4. My opinion here but I feel that the corrugated ribs hold/snag crap and has more of a tendency to plug up.

5. I'm sure you can manually snake out corrugated but have been told its bad news to use anything with a cutter head

6. Same issue with thinwall where its easy to crush if buried too shallow. Have heard some people say that burying thinwall too deep is bad news with wet/heavy soil also. Who knows. One time I helped dig up that corrugated pipe that was buried fairly deep and found in some places where it was crushed. Might have been a fluke.

7. I don't like how the corrugated fittings join, it feels cheap and temporary. Its like using push fittings in plumbing.....Im a copper guy, haha. I like tight joints!!!

8. I'll be days into digging this ditch and don't want to do it again. If I had a backhoe or something I prob wouldnt be so concerned.

thanks,

Drew

 

[LD1]

1. They make non-perforated so roots are not an issue.

2. I can understand what you are saying. But it's drainage, not precision machining for parts on the space shuttle. Your rigid PVC will flex and have the same high and low spots if the same lack of care is taken bedding. For me, I'd rather not be hassling gluing or fitting a joint every 20'.

3. Incorrect. It flows just as well if not better.

4. Actually the opposite. The ribs actually help keep from building up sediment.

5. Yes, snaking it can be a pain.

6. It wasn't the weight of the dirt that crushes it when buried deep. It's lack of care when backfilling and letting big chunks of sod or rocks land on the pipe.

7. It may feel cheep and temporary....but have you ever tried to get an internal snap coupler out of a corrugated pipe? Trust me....it ain't temporary. And once it's buried, it ain't going anywhere.

8. Either one has the potential to last hundreds of years if done right.

At the end of the day, it's your money and your project. If you wanna use PVC for your own piece of mind, go for it. I'm not trying to convince you one way or the other. I'm just trying to debunk alot of the myths and falsehoods of corrugated drainage that everyone keeps spreading like gospel

 

[EddieWalker]

In the comments, people are talking about cleaning out the pipe that's in the ground. This really isn't an issue. Leaves plug up gutters at the downspout. If you have a decent gutter guard, then leaves are not an option. If you do not have anything to keep leaves out of the gutters, then they all build up in the gutter at the downspout. It's very rare for those leaves to go down the downspout very far. I've never seen or heard of a gutter drain pipe being plugged up from leaves. They just don't get down there that far with enough material to jam up the pipe. It all happens up at the gutters.

 

[DrewStyduhar]

LD1 - The folks here seem reasonable.....If you are trying to dispel some of the falsehoods, why not provide some info to change people's minds? I'm always trying to learn.

Drew

 

[LD1]

LD1 - The folks here seem reasonable.....If you are trying to dispel some of the falsehoods, why not provide some info to change people's minds? I'm always trying to learn.

Drew

.Most of it is just years of experience dealing with drainage. And if someone is more ambitious than myself to google and provide links to flow rates of corrugated vs smooth pipe be my guest. But I dont come here to have my advice and years of experience questioned to the point I need to cite sources to try and prove my point. If you dont believe what I am saying, thats fine. You want to try and find your own sources to disprove what I am saying, be my guest. Im not investing that much leg work in simple free and friendly advice

 

[DrewStyduhar]

Now come on, no need to be like that......I'm not patronizing you. I prefaced my comments about corrugated with "my opinion", I wasn't stating it as fact. You know how it is.....some people will reference text/studies to prove their point but nothing beats experience and real world examples.

I was watching this video last night showing sort of a neat flow test of PVC vs Corrugated. Others might find it interesting?

I'm not real hung up on this whole thing but when you said you were trying to debunk these myths, I thought you were serious. You aren't. It's all good.

Drew

 

[DrewStyduhar]

On a completely separate note, I wanted to let you guys know that if you are stupid liked me and trying to through compacted sandrock by hand, you absolutely need water. I about killed myself and hands digging through it dry. Once I got a shallow trench going, I set a pipe/hose at the top of the trench and let the water run to the other end. I come back every 30 min or so with a hoe and drag out a good inch or two all the way down. The moment water saturates it, the top layer is so easy to remove. Just FYI. Almost to my 1/4"/foot drop, haha.

Drew