Garden Drainage

delly

AlanD wrote:

You could be right. I'm thinking that I might try just the sump and pump first and see if the natural flow of ground water brings most water to the pump.

Are pumps pretty durable? So if the water was not very well filtered before it entered the sump, could it mess up the pump with small bits of grit or do pumps like the one on eBay handle little chunks of dirt?

I'm thinking of making the sump out of a 5 gallon drum and drilling loads of holes in it. Drop it in, surround it with stone chippings and cover up.

I'm also just wondering about my "water feature" part of the plan. I'm planning on putting in gutters along the back wall so the water can flow along and then under ground again and out to the rain pipe. Would a pump be strong enough to pump water about 20/30 feet directly to the rain away?

I'm not too sure on most of these points, and can only give an opinion.

I reckon that most pumps won't last too long if they have to handle debris. If you check the diagram in my second post, there is a dirt catcher from the pipes, so i reckon that you'll have to use some form of filteration system. I would also design it so that you could gain access if needed.

In relation to the pump strength, i reckon that a distance of 30 feet shoudn't be too much trouble for a decent spec. If you think of the average central heating pump and the distance it has to work with, 30 feet isn't a great distance.

depadz

got drainage put in last year. was getting a shed built anyway so might have been a bit cheaper but got it done for 2K (garden is about 30m x 10m).
was a bit sceptical getting it done but it has worked out brilliant so far.

put in herring bone drains, draining into surface water waste which happened to be handy enough.

have two big dogs so garden was a mud bath for 6 months of the year previously. there wasn't a single puddle on it this year, no matter how wet it was.

someone told me that the drains will eventually block up but they put in a lot of stone (couple of different layers) so hopefully it will last the course..

AlanD

any idea how deep they went from deepest to shallow when laying the drainage pipes?

The pump is still the top of the list for me so far, but herring bone is still being considered.

Johnniep

Guys,

Just a couple of things that may be of help.

1. If you are doing any form of soak pit/french drain etc, ensure that you wrap/enclose it in a geotextile membrane or similar. This prevents fine soil particles entering and blocking the french drain and clogging it up over time.

2. As Delly has already mentioned, be careful in selecting your pump. A little water feature pump wount stand up to any abuse from dirt etc. Maybe consider installing a silt trap before the pump sump to prevent any dirt clogging the pump. Alternatively, select a fairly robust pump for the job. There are a number of pump companies out there (Consolidated Pumps, ABS Pumps) and they will be happy to help you select a suitable pump based on flow rates, static head.......etc.

It is very difficult to offer a generic solution that solves all problems, but it really does depend on the ground you are ultimately draining to. If it is a heavy clay, this will drain away very slowly and so soak pits may not be the best option. However if you have a gravelly or sandy soil, the percolation rate will be high and allow for rapid drainage rates.

One other point, all the councils DCC, Fingal..... are trying to reduce the volume of surface water (rain water) entering their sewers and "technically", if you want to connect to a public sewer you need to apply to the council directly and THEY will carry out the work (at your expence)

http://www.dublincity.ie/Images/drainage%20connection%20App%20form_tcm35-8496.pdf

Anyway, hope this is of some help

Regards,

John

tapest

AlanD wrote:

If I wanted to purchase such a pump and create an under ground resevoir so that water can seep in and the pump can then pump out the water when it reaches a certain level......where would I go to buy one or find out about one?

What type of shops deal with this sort of thing?

Is there a full system available that sits in the ground or would I have to make one myself and just buy a pump separately?

Hi
the price of that pump that DellY linked on Ebay...and it's "used". It's a submersible pump with a float switch on a lead. I have a lot of experience dealind with pumps from this size to ones you need a bicycle to get around (slight exageration), so before you go mad spending the hard earned on something thatbmay or may not work ( all depends if you can feed the pump quickly enough) Aldi or Lidl do a fairly good job for practically nothing...€20 ?? ..comres round every 6 months or so....pump delivery very good....Try this first
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delly

AlanD wrote:

any idea how deep they went from deepest to shallow when laying the drainage pipes?

I didn't stick to exact depths all the way, maybe 8 to 12 inchs. This picture may give you an idea. When I have the grass down in about 2 weeks or so, i'll be posting up the whole thing from start to finish.