Hello all –
While placing fill a triple axel dump truck passed over a shallow area of plastic corrugated unperforated drain tile, (around here we call it Big”O”), and the two parallel running lines are squished flat. I dug it up and need to splice in a new piece but those plastic splices made for it are less than watertight enough. I’m thinking old inner tube with two stainless steel hose clamps around it.
But what do any of you other guys do when you need a somewhat watertight splice?
Thanks in advance – Brian.
Replies
Fernco couplers (plumbing dealer)
Could you get a fernco tightened up on that without crushing it?
Mark what is the line carrying that it has to be "water tight"?
Certainly, no problem
You ask; "what do you guys do to make a somewhat watertight splice" Well, first of all there is a great deal of difference in a "slightly watertight" splice and a WATERTIGHT splice. If your only concerned as to a slightly leaking joint, use the proper big O couplers and throw some sealer around the joints, or as I suggested earlier use the Fernco You won't crush the pipe. My god, even if you weighed more than 200 lbs and stood on the ens you wont crush big O.
Thanks for the responses.
Fernco fittings look like the answer to my question. They're just to drain downspouts to daylight and weeping tile from the footing, but I want to make sure that no sand (which I filled the channel surrounding the tile with) infiltrates the pipe and if there is a leak that no voids are created in the ground. There can be considerable back-pressure during a storm here and the drop of the slope is about 12 feet so the pressure is higher than normal. So while a 100% watertight splice would be nice especially if it's cheap and easy, it's not really necessary here.
To me the hardware store standard Big "O" fittings look pretty inadequate for just about any application, but I'm sure some heavy-bodied sealant would greatly improve its performance.
I know someone who was walking outside her year-old house and the ground collapsed beneath her up to her waist. Luckyly she was uninjured. Didn't actually see it myself, but they said a leaky drain tile fitting erroded away the ground 5 feet below.
Sorry for my delayed response. - Brian.
First I hope that you have two separate tiles to daylight. One for the footer and one for the gutter. Otherwise a clog can cause gutter water to back up into the footer drains.
Also my neighbor how does foundation work convinced me that I should not use corregated tubing for gutter drains. Leaves and trash can wash in, stick in the groves and grow.
I did use a 3ft wipe to make a fixtable junction from the downspout, but the remainder of the drain was PVC S&D pipe.
Yup - 2 separate lines. Because it was practical, one long straight section of my gutter drain is actually a piece of 4" smoothe pipe. Another often overlooked problem with draining to daylight is the tendancy for animals, birds, wasps etc to crawl into the open pipe and make nests which can cause backups well up into the pipe. I know that this is a problem, sometimes doesn't show up for several years after installation, but I've looked, and no one addresses this problem in a pro-active way.
I took an end section of a rainguard (http://www.rainguardusa.com) after cutting off the top part and made a "valve" which rolls out a foot or so and opens when it rains or water wants to exit, and rolls shut when the water stops flowing to keep vermin, mosquitos and other pests out. It also prevents an erosion hole from being drilled in the ground where the water spills out of it. I would suppose you could use the full length of the thing without cutting it short if you wanted to.
BTW- to all.
The other reason for making a watertight junction under the ground is to prevent root infiltration from occurring at the joint. That also is a source of problems in drain tile. The Roto-Rooter guy will hate you for making watertight connections, though.
- Brian.