Water runs which way?

I was at a clients house today and they had a "company" installing underground pipes to carry away the rainwater from the downspouts. They were going to drain it to the road, and they had the yard all torn up and were putting in huge 8 Inch pipes to carry it away. The only problem is that the road was about 15 inches higher than the end of the pipe where the water was going to enter.

No one would believe me when I told them it wouldn't work. WTF?

on the other end of the spectrum, we worked on a job where the house was on a good sized hill...the downspouts all drained to one outlet in a ditch beside the road maybe 30' lower, in a good rain there would be a fountain of water about 8' high :lol:

This is nothing that complicated. They just haven't a clue what they are doing, or why. The homeowners know what they are trying to accomplish, but the "contractor" keeps insisting that their method will work. It won't!

The sad part is that they have plenty of slope at a 90 degree angle from the house, but they have to go beneath the sidewalks to do it. They will sooner or later, but I am trying to keep them from expending all the effort and having all the dissapointment when what they are doing doesn't work. The husband told me that the landscaper guaranteed him if it didn't work, they would redo it. I told him not to pay him anything until it was done and not working, because I know they won't redo it without a money sledgehammer against them.

I ran into the same thing on another job. In this case, we had a company come in with a camera and ran it through the pipe. It went for 150 feet around the building with several places having the pipe flattened out to about half it's diameter. It started about two feet below the level of the floor and ended up after 150 feet 1 foot below the level of the floor. Yep, 12 inches uphill. I wonder why the water backed up?

Stupid goes all the way to the bone!

I wasn't thinking about a direct connection. I was thinking that the water should just pond up against the house until it reaches the 15" mark. They can have a nice swimming/wading pool.

Patty,

I'm laughing at OS's post cuz it's funny to me. Can't think of any other way to describe it. Wasn't laughing at you.

Jim is right in his post, but ONLY if the DS is connected to the pipe with a watertight connection. From what I read in the first post, the road is higher than the end of the pipe. Around here, most DS, particularly resi, just dump into the pipe without any kind of tight seal.

Also, it will never drain like it should in downpours, because a pipe that runs full is very inefficient. You need that air moving through it to really get good flow unless it's under high pressure.

come on everybody knows that if you use a bigger pipe or more layers of paper it will work. :blink:

Old School Said: I have to go over there and install some chimney caps, so I will. It had rained earlier that day and the trenches they dug were full of water----right up against the house! they still insist that when the system is hooked up that the presure from the water will eventualy push it over to the road. I just shook my head and left!

They are right. After the water raises past the 15" mark on their house, it will start draining into the street. They must not mind having 15" of water stored against their house.

I have to go over there and install some chimney caps, so I will. It had rained earlier that day and the trenches they dug were full of water----right up against the house! they still insist that when the system is hooked up that the presure from the water will eventualy push it over to the road. I just shook my head and left!

Puuleeeeze drive by this place in the next torential and take some pics. The laugh will be good for us all. LOLO