Drainage Pipe Question

drainagepipeunderground

I need to divert water from a rain gutter. The problem is that I need to run the pipe under a side driveway. What is the best pipe that will hold up with vehicle traffic? How deep does the ditch need to be? Thanks

Best Answer

I would be tempted to go cheap and just buy the schedule 30 (20?) stuff they use for drainage at your local box store (Home Depot/Menard's/Lowe's) 10' under the driveway 6" deep. If it somehow doesn't hold up you could dig it up and put in something heavier.

Or you could bury schedule 40 PVC or if you are worried about it or you could use schedule 80 PVC if you are really worried about it.

The difference in price for a 10' length is negligible but I think you will need adapters if the rest of your drainage is regular drain pipe and you want to put standard plumbing or electrical PVC under the driveway.

Good luck with your project!

Related Solutions

How much drainage pipe should I bury for a new downspout

This page says clay soil absorbs water at the rate of 1/2 inch per hour, 4 times slower than sandy soil or loam.

http://www.ornamentaledibles.com/tips/soil.htm

Let's assume you get 5-10 gallons per minute or 300-600 gallons per hour. A gallon is 231 cubic inches or 462 square inches 1/2 inch high. So 600 gallons/hour needs 277200 square inches or 1925 square feet. Assuming your trench is 12 inches wide, you need 1925 linear feet of pipe under steady state conditions.

Let's consider another situation where you store all the rain water and let it absorb as slowly as it wants. Assume you get 600 gallons which requires 80 cubic feet. So if your trench were 12" by 12" you would need 80 linear feet of pipe.

Shower – seeing stagnant water inside the shower drainage pipe hole

Yes it's normal and what you want. It's called a P-trap and the water sitting in there seals out the sewer gasses.

My ASCII P-trap:

                  \ /
                  | |
   __________     | |
   _________ \    / /
            \*\__/*/
             \****/
              ----

The asterisks would be the water that forms the stopper.

In an empty home or in drains that are infrequently used (such as a basement) you these traps can eventually dry out from evaporation and let sewer gasses seep in.

In your case, if you aren't going to use the shower for months on end, I suppose you could add a drop of bleach to the drain. If the shower is used semi-regularly, there should be no issues at all.

Best Answer

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Shower – seeing stagnant water inside the shower drainage pipe hole

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