Dry well (I think) help

[racerboy]

Hi everyone. I just moved into new farm in June and during one of our summer downpours, I saw what looked like a water main break down in front of the house with water shooting a foot into the air. Turns out it was a piece of the black, flexible corrugated drainage pipe (not sure of its formal name) had a split. This pipe is carrying the water off the roof. I assumed (incorrectly) that this was just a section along the run that split, and I could just replace. I went to dig it up yesterday for a look on how to fix and realized that this wa the end of the run for TWO of these drainage pipes. It looked like they just ended and were sitting on top of bricks that were about 4-6in under the soil. I am not certain, but could this have been a dry well at some point? I thought about extending the run, but I believe they ended it here because it is coming up on the septic leech field, but I have no way of knowing that for sure.

What would you think was my best option? Ironically, as soon as I opened up the ground a bit, another torrential thunderstorm rolled through and you can see how this water is just sitting there, not draining very fast. If this was once a dry well, it is no longer ‘dry’. lol

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Hard to say. But it appears to be where the drain lines were daylighted at one time and they got covered with soil and grass. Maybe the pipes water flow was cutting a ditch and the previous owner just covered them up to keep from backfilling a runoff ditch.

All guesses.

Could you extend them further downgrade past your leech field to a more desireable location?

A dry well is doubtful to me but anything is possible.

 

[GeoHorn]

According to the search-routine being called “AI” these days…: A dry well is an underground pit designed to manage stormwater runoff and prevent flooding by collecting excess water from surfaces like roofs and driveways. This pit is lined with a perforated casing and backfilled with gravel or stone, allowing water to slowly seep into the surrounding soil, thereby recharging groundwater and reducing surface runoff. Dry wells act as underground reservoirs that temporarily store water until it can be absorbed by the earth

I had to look that up… I always thought a “Dry well” was a water-well that dried up.

Anyway….. Yes…. I believe your rainwater-runoff from your roof simply overwhelmed the existing, older attempt to send that water back into the re-charge zone.

If you garden, or wife has flower-beds, etc… you might reconsider the previous owner’s plans and collect it for watering your plants. Otherwise, if you want to repair the existing “dry well”…you might have a larger pit dug and line with bricks and/or gravel to return the run-off to ground.

 

[GrumpyFarmer]

Hi everyone. I just moved into new farm in June and during one of our summer downpours, I saw what looked like a water main break down in front of the house with water shooting a foot into the air. Turns out it was a piece of the black, flexible corrugated drainage pipe (not sure of its formal name) had a split. This pipe is carrying the water off the roof. I assumed (incorrectly) that this was just a section along the run that split, and I could just replace. I went to dig it up yesterday for a look on how to fix and realized that this wa the end of the run for TWO of these drainage pipes. It looked like they just ended and were sitting on top of bricks that were about 4-6in under the soil. I am not certain, but could this have been a dry well at some point? I thought about extending the run, but I believe they ended it here because it is coming up on the septic leech field, but I have no way of knowing that for sure.

What would you think was my best option? Ironically, as soon as I opened up the ground a bit, another torrential thunderstorm rolled through and you can see how this water is just sitting there, not draining very fast. If this was once a dry well, it is no longer ‘dry’. lol
View attachment 162161

To me it seems like some cheap drainage…maybe to get water away from a building but someone not want the pipe in the yard to mow around or have to move…seems strange drain pipe that close to surface. I am assuming it freezes where you are in NJ, no? Drain pipe should either go to ground on top or be below the freeze line, JMHO.

I have a dry sump (well) and the way it works is I have schedule 80 PVC that runs from the drain below grade and freeze line into a dry sump vessel (perforated plastic basin - like a barrel with holes ) lined with landscape fabric and it’s filled with gravel. If the pipe was up near the surface then it would freeze and crack and then that would sort of negate the need for the dry sump. The vessel also have a spill over / grate on the top that is right at grade so that if too much water draining than it can bubble out and at that point the excess is just going to ground. Either way I don’t think you want the pipes buried but near surface if chance to freeze if it supposed to go into a sump/well. If it corrugated maybe not really matter so much?

from the pic above, I would be careful not to drive a brand new shiny L through that area until it’s fixed. Share some pics if you do. BH might come in handy though

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It's supposed to be daylighted like that, those are just storm run off drains and not leach drains.
They just move water away from the house to the an area below and away.

 

[racerboy]

To me it seems like some cheap drainage…maybe to get water away from a building but someone not want the pipe in the yard to mow around or have to move…seems strange drain pipe that close to surface. I am assuming it freezes where you are in NJ, no? Drain pipe should either go to ground on top or be below the freeze line, JMHO.

I have a dry sump (well) and the way it works is I have schedule 80 PVC that runs from the drain below grade and freeze line into a dry sump vessel (perforated plastic basin - like a barrel with holes ) lined with landscape fabric and it’s filled with gravel. If the pipe was up near the surface then it would freeze and crack and then that would sort of negate the need for the dry sump. The vessel also have a spill over / grate on the top that is right at grade so that if too much water draining than it can bubble out and at that point the excess is just going to ground. Either way I don’t think you want the pipes buried but near surface if chance to freeze if it supposed to go into a sump/well. If it corrugated maybe not really matter so much?

from the pic above, I would be careful not to drive a brand new shiny L through that area until it’s fixed. Share some pics if you do. BH might come in handy though

lol. I hear you! I did use the BH on my B2601 to clear that. Handy thing to have for sure, especially with the small 4” BxPanded trenching bucket.

 

[racerboy]

It's supposed to be daylighted like that, those are just storm run off drains and not leach drains.
They just move water away from the house to the an area below and away.

They weren’t daylighted until I dug them up. I know they are carrying water from the roof, I was just surprised at the fountain that exploded out of the grass.

 

[racerboy]

 

[racerboy]

This is a screenshot from a video I took.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ok let me restate:
Those kinds of drains are supposed to be daylighted.

 

[chim]

Here's what a 76YO guy recalls from 1960. We had an old house in town shortly before the municipal sewer lines were run through the streets. Everyone had on-site sewage disposal. Some worked OK and some didn't. I remember a backhoe showing up and digging a hole, men laying concrete block and a big concrete lid being placed on it before being covered over and grass being planted. I can't remember any of the details, except someone mentioned it was done to "fix" the septic system. Within two years the borough brought sewage lines and eliminated any on-site systems.

Till then it wasn't uncommon to see homes discharge spent washwater into the street. There was one very smelly manmade "wetland" that connected from one street, across the grass between the firehouse and the ball field, into a drain pipe under Main Street and into another ditch that eventually emptied to the train tracks a block and a half past Main Street.

 

[Geezer3d]

I agree with the Wolfman, those pipes are simply intended to run the water away from the house and were probably daylighted when first installed, or should have been. That looks like a lot of water pressure so either you have a big roof or quite a grade from the house to the end of the pipes. If possible they should be extended or rerouted to end in a swale if you have one nearby.

 

[dirtydeed]

Dry wells are very common (and required) around here. Yours look like they were daylighted (non-dry well).

I've had the same thing happen to me once at another home (with dry wells). There was so much water pressure that I actually say the ground mound up about 8 inches during a very heavy rain storm. I "popped" it with a shovel and created a geyser.

Anyway, if you wanted to actually install a dry well, they make units with a pop-up emitter. They don't need to be installed below the frost line.

 

[racerboy]

Thanks everyone. I do have a pretty big roof, hence the tremendous volume. The nearest swale is about 100 yds downhill (big tree at bottom of cornfield on right). I guess I could trench it to there. There is also a small parking area (not in photo) about 20 yards to the left.

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Wish it into the cornfield. Lol

Continue the drainline into the cornfield.

I would guess that the cornfield was larger and the drainlines daylighted into it.

 

[racerboy]

Will daylighting it into the cornfield be bad for the corn stalks in the immediate area? Will it be too much water for them? Sorry if that’s a dumb question

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Maybe, and No.

1st timer farmer?

Is the cornfield yours?

 

[racerboy]

The cornfield is mine, but the corn isn’t.
Local farmer farms it.

 

[Mark_BX25D]

If you just want to get rid of the water, you can dig a sump pit, OR, you can do a 'reverse French drain'.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

When the city 'engineers' repaved my road, they forced their water onto my land so I installed 340' of weeping tile( has holes) NOT 'conductor' pipe (no holes) to deal with THEIR water .Light rains would water the field, heavy...it'd pour out the far end into a ditch.