Which machine would you use?

[bigtiller]

I also plan to use perforated pipe during the last 50% of each run to give water a chance to shed off before reaching the exposed opening at the end. Even during a thunderstorm the flow won't be great and no more than 1/2" deep inside the pipes.

I think the planed 50' runs of drainage tile would be better with non-perforated tile to get the water as far away as possible from the building.

 

[Blue Mule]

Went outside today, took a guess as to where my sewer line was laid back in 2017. Marked a spot I thought will end up close to the intersection of my drain pipe and the sewer pipe. Started digging straight down with post hole diggers. Hit the pipe dead on the money in about 90 seconds. Even I was impressed. Nailed it.

Problem is it's only about 10" deep. Once I lay an inch or two of fill back in, my drain pipe on top, and then finish back filling I'll only have about 4" of soil on top of the drain pipe. Hopefully that'll be enough to grow grass. If not it's just a roughly 12" circle that'll be affected so no big deal.

Going tonight to pick up the trencher and materials. Will knock this out tomorrow.

 

[sandman2234]

Good luck with it!
Below freeze line issues isn't something we worry about too much in Florida, but I was wondering...
If you put a septic line in below freeze line, and then put another pipe in above it, will that pipe decrease the depth the septic line was buried, for freeze line effects? It is, after all decreasing the amount of insulating soil on top of the septic pipe, plus allows cold air to enter the drain pipe above the septic pipe, making it colder, faster.
Just wondering...
David from jax

 

[LD1]

Good luck with it!
Below freeze line issues isn't something we worry about too much in Florida, but I was wondering...
If you put a septic line in below freeze line, and then put another pipe in above it, will that pipe decrease the depth the septic line was buried, for freeze line effects? It is, after all decreasing the amount of insulating soil on top of the septic pipe, plus allows cold air to enter the drain pipe above the septic pipe, making it colder, faster.
Just wondering...
David from jax

Septic and drains aren't burried below frost here because they don't retain the liquid.

Not that it has frozen deep here in the past 10 years.....but our frost depth is around the 3' mark. And I know septic lines that are only 8"-10" deep and never an issue

 

[Fixastuff]

I have only used a trencher once. I am having a hard time envisioning how you could make two passes. Wouldn't a lot of the the dirt on the second pass just fall into the first trench?

Doug in SW IA

I own a trencher and this is 100%correct. If you want to chain trench 6" wide you need to rent one with an6" wide chain.

 

[Blue Mule]

Holy smoke! The walk-behind trencher made fast work of this! Got two 50' lines done in an hour! And when I say done I mean pipe buried and backfilled. I ended up taking the guy's advice above ^^^ and I did run solid pipe the entire length and terminated into a pop-up drain rather than using perforated pipe the last 25 feet because I didn't want to fool with the proper fill material to allow correct water absorbtion. Was easier and less expensive this way and still gets the water away from the house. Will do the other two on the detached garage in the morning! WAY better than a mini-ex.

 

[Rockbadchild]

Septic and drains aren't burried below frost here because they don't retain the liquid.

Not that it has frozen deep here in the past 10 years.....but our frost depth is around the 3' mark. And I know septic lines that are only 8"-10" deep and never an issue

Good luck with it!
Below freeze line issues isn't something we worry about too much in Florida, but I was wondering...
If you put a septic line in below freeze line, and then put another pipe in above it, will that pipe decrease the depth the septic line was buried, for freeze line effects? It is, after all decreasing the amount of insulating soil on top of the septic pipe, plus allows cold air to enter the drain pipe above the septic pipe, making it colder, faster.
Just wondering...
David from jax

our frost line is 6’ deep …. there isn’t a single septic field buried that deep. septic drains need to flow to a destination, if it would be 6ft deep 99% of them would flow to a dead end .., everyone know avoid packing the snow over a there septic field to avoid freezing so the snow insulated them.

it doesn’t freeze for a few reason, one hot waster from the house going in but more importantly the bacterial chemicals reaction generates heat.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Septic and drains aren't burried below frost here because they don't retain the liquid.

Not that it has frozen deep here in the past 10 years.....but our frost depth is around the 3' mark. And I know septic lines that are only 8"-10" deep and never an issue

Also, sewer lines carry mostly gray water which has a lower freezing point due to it's salt and mineral content. It will still freeze though if it gets cold enough and is allowed to remain stagnant in the pipe.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Since you seem to know your soil pretty well, the trencher may work wonderfully. However, if you hit a big rock, you'll be wishing for the mini-ex.

 

[Doz]

You can only really only plan on one pass with a trencher so if you need to be wider rent a mini.