This video is a good example of both the right way and the wrong way to install a French drain Amazon affiliate store www.amazon.com... Email us at hometownacres@outlook.com
With my poor experiences of French and curtain drains on various properties, I would have just built a swale with a box blade. I enjoy your videos and it was a great sunset over the pond!
Swales, grading, the simplest way, nothing to clog. But he did an open french drain without all the crazy filter paper and grass on top so it should work good.
Add an adjustable flow control on the cylinder line. This allows full flow out of the pump to the cylinder and metered flow coming back. You can have a full load in the trailer and gently set the box down. I did it to mine and it works great
We did it to a bunch of them at work. Choose a valve with a manual knob, so you can dial it for the descent rate you want vs the load the trailer has that day, and mount it near the front underneath the bed where it’ll be easy to safely reach with the bed raised.
I've put in some French drains on a few occasions and they have worked for 30+ years and still going. There's a mesh that can be used in the ditch to line the sides and bottom of the ditch, to keep the dirt separated from the gravel. The mesh lets water thru but not soil. Elevating the pipe above the gravel 3-4 inches lets the loose dirt in ditch to settle well below the pipe. Using heavy schedule 40 pipe is worth the investment when doing that big of an investment. Using washed gravel with no fines in it is essential. Using the correct size gravel that doesn't cause cracks in the pipe (bigger gravel causes pressure points) is important. Filling the ditch all the way to the top and the entire length is perfect. Keeping a uniform drop in the pipe the entire distance is important. It keeps the water at a good consistent velocity to keep the pipe clean. To drop fast and then slow at the end only invites the end to eventually fill and stop up. I've seen contractors to make that mistake on septic pipes and the problem go on for decades. I had to eventually come in and repair my mother's pipe. Using 20 ft pipe also has less fittings and therefore drag on the water.
I'm pleased that you went the "French Drain" approach. As I told you in my earlier post, I filled a 2500 gallon tank (after a rain) with a couple hours - with water pouring out a 4" overflow for a day or two after the cistern was filled. You mentioned catching the water as it flows downhill. You will also notice that there will be (after the tire pounding on your ground settles) THOUSANDS of "tubules" under the ground, running vertically, down the hill - also through the French Drain. I wish you lots of luck and blessings! Be sure to post/picture the results!!!
I have the intelligence of a door knob when it comes to doing what you did. It looks incredible and I am looking forward to see how it all works out. The before and after is beautiful for sure. Great video as always.
I’d guess with those rock piles in the original idea there’s just not enough room for air displacement so the water is running over it instead of inside of it that’s why the rock needs to be in long areas so the air can displace and it doesn’t create a kind of lock keeping water out of that makes sense. Also o wouldn’t use gravel smaller than 2” in any French drain. I love your videos keep ‘em coming my friend
I have a dump trailer also with the problem of the battery going dead all the time. I bought a solar charger off Amazon for $75.00 dollars of so. It works great and does not over charge the battery and is always fully charged. I installed it on the cover of the battery compartment and does not get in the way at all. Good luck.
Great job with the open french drain. Get neighbor Doug to help you hook up a #2 wire from your alternator to the back of your trucks trailer hitch and mount a two pole plug there, ground it right to the hitch and then wire the dump trailer with the same wire to the other half of the plug and you’ll have infinite dumps, your truck will power the trailer and no need for the battery in the trailer…works terrific.
Very nice drain. We’ve been repairing old field stone drains and terra cotta tile drains on our farm. We use rolls of ads with no issues. However where want water to enter the drains we’ve always used 2b for water infiltration. No issues with these. Nice job.
Sadly, corrugated pipe just gets full of silt... The "vented" 3"-4" Drain Pipe works SO much better, especially when combined with ¾" CLEAN Gravel or 1½" River Rock and Landscape Fabric!
That's a great way to catch all the water from the hill side ! Idk if you did it or not but I would put a rat guard on the end of the pipe by the pond. Those darn things will be in as soon as the water stops flowing.
Hello Adam, I've got the same type of hydraulic system on my dump trailer. A way that can be corrected is install a flow control valve on the return flow side of the hydraulics. Keep up the great work. Your yard is looking good 👍👍
Did I miss the info on the amount of water coming into your pond after you completed the siphon system? Just wondered. Very nice work with this project, it looks like you guys know what you're doing! Thanks for an interesting video!
Very nice - your equipment inventory is most impressive. Down here it is so swampy we have to use gravel base then cover with more gravel. We don’t know what “clay” is!
I enjoy your channel. You have presented great ideas and well-done execution of your projects and video. Keep doing what you do. Thank you for the inspiration.
A thought about further up the watershed of your spring. Look into the ideas of Brad Lancaster. Berms and swales further up in the woods could potentially keep that spring flowing more through the summer months.
For longevity, I would have put a filter sock over that drain pipe to keep the dirt out and it would have been more efficient to keep the drain pipe in the middle of the trench/gravel instead of letting it sit to one side as you filled the trench.
The gravel will get clogged and prevent water from getting to the drain pipe. You should get a least year of free flow however! When you mow next Summer, direct the grass clippings away from the drain. (Dennis, Welches Pond Oregon)
Sock pipe is trash. Reference French Drain Man for proper install. Filter fabric, pipe on that, round stone burrito wrapped, more round stone to grade. Maintenance free drain for life.
Yes Sir, i am adding 400 ft of drain, watch french drain man and larned a lot. i bought the eight slot every rib pipe. fabric washed stone. renting a sod cutter this weekend. Dogs are the best Also I got a whiteman concrete buggy
And by that time the filter fabric would have been clogged 35 times. Gate City Foundation does them this way, it makes way more sense than using filter fabric before the course gravel filter.
@@jeepinass Not wrong at all, look up Gate City Foundation, he does plenty of them the right way. But go ahead and explain why french drains are the only time it makes sense to put the fine filter before the course filter.
@@bobbygetsbanned6049 his videos are hilarious actually. Guys a total stooge that does the most hack work on CZcams. Half his shit is tearing out and fixing his mistakes with more halfass work. If you did the research, you'd find engineered drawings on multi million dollar municipal projects that define the use of filter fabrics for drainage. It creates a sediment filtration zone that protects the integrity of the system. But yeah, just keep watching dumbass sHaWn hack shit and take to the internet promoting his "right way" hahaha
Good move, that will catch the water and put it in the lake. You don't find neighbors like Doug. Your very fortunate to have good neighbors. Looks like you will be able to mow now.
Unless that slope is prone to saturation, I'm not sure what the advantage of a drain tile or French drain is? Those systems capture subterranean moisture, no so much surface runoff I think. Could be wrong tho. Thanks for the update!
Surface water will naturally find its way to the bottom of the trench. Until the angular stone packs with sediment at least. The pipe (which this style in particular is not the best design) creates a path for the water to travel to the discharge point. That's the key to a functioning drain. To get the water out as quickly as possible. Angular stone itself is not conducive to flow.
I believe that's more commonly called a "curtain drain" as it's meant to catch water going down a hill. They're often used immediately uphill of a septic drain field to improve infiltration for the septic system.
Regarding your dump trailer battery, we put a solar charger on the lid of ours and it's worked great. But I guess your trailer problem is it has gravity close?
Nearly a French drain but no cigar i'm afraid. You didn't use geotextile, you will find that soil will eventually wash down and you will have clogging issues in the gravel bed.
Adam, impressive as always... A suggestion: Have a look at the CZcams video titled "Growing oranges in the snow". He uses smart tech and buried lateral loops of tubes... 'earth' tubes to get warm air to circulate in his structures... which in his case grow fruit and veg over decades at high latitude. I am thinking that with your equipment you could largely heat and cool your house almost for free, year round, with the right designed kit. Could be a fun challenge!
Unfortunately you will probably have to work on this again in 5 years depending on the amount of runoff in the soil over the years. You need to separate dirt from gravel with landscape filter cloth, it isn't important to separate gravel from perforated pipe. Dirt will readily mix in with the gravel especially with water flow. I would have carried the trench gravel to the top with landscape fabric over it then added a layer of rock over this. Any surface water reaching the french drain will quickly make it into your trench. What you did should get you some service it's just that there was a better way.
Filter fabric on the outside of the gravel makes as much sense as wiping your ass before you shit. You never put the fine filter (Filter fabric) before the course filter (Gravel), unless you're doing french drains on youtube, then of course you have to do it that way. That gravel might get clogged/filled eventually, but filter fabric would get clogged a hell of a lot faster.
You should build more burms to capture the water to regenerate your groundwater. and plant gardens, trees, and native grasses instead. just space it to mow between the burms
This is pop from popsoldboats also. Just curious if this run off pond would benefit a fish ladder as I am planning on doing in my pond. You would be amazed at the aquatic life that is in the small stream your pond runs off into.
On the subject of the dump bed dropping too fast I bet Doug is thinking of adding a way to switch to a flow restriction for this situation, something you can manually switch between empty and partially full situations.
That trench looks HUGE. I wonder if you saw this open style of french drain on Gate City Foundation's channel? He does a bunch of these no filter fabric, no grass on top, french drains, they flow a ton of water with much smaller trenches, but you do have a big area you're catching.
Gate city is the biggest hack on the web. No fabric, angular stone results in a failed French drain in a couple years due to silt packing. French drain man digs those out and replaces with a properly done French drain every day. He's got videos of 20 years old drains still ripping better than the day it was installed. Maintenance free.
I'm kind of wondering why you didnt put in filter fabric or a layer of washed sand at/near the top of your gravel to keep fines from infiltrating the gravel and clogging up the gravel void space. I'm no expert by any means but from what I understand the filter fabric around the pipe will keep fines from clogging up the pipe but if the gravel void space gets clogged up the water can't make it to the inside of the pipe.
Could you add a ball valve on the return line of the hydraulic system? When slightly closing the valve would restrict the flow out of the cylinders slowing the speed that the bed would come down. Then when the trailer is empty you can just leave the ball valve open and everything is back to normal
Of all your machinery and infinite tools you use on your projects, neighbor Doug is by far and hands down the most valuable.
I agree
With my poor experiences of French and curtain drains on various properties, I would have just built a swale with a box blade. I enjoy your videos and it was a great sunset over the pond!
Swales, grading, the simplest way, nothing to clog. But he did an open french drain without all the crazy filter paper and grass on top so it should work good.
Add an adjustable flow control on the cylinder line. This allows full flow out of the pump to the cylinder and metered flow coming back. You can have a full load in the trailer and gently set the box down. I did it to mine and it works great
We did it to a bunch of them at work. Choose a valve with a manual knob, so you can dial it for the descent rate you want vs the load the trailer has that day, and mount it near the front underneath the bed where it’ll be easy to safely reach with the bed raised.
Exactly what I was going to say. Dial it down.
I've put in some French drains on a few occasions and they have worked for 30+ years and still going. There's a mesh that can be used in the ditch to line the sides and bottom of the ditch, to keep the dirt separated from the gravel. The mesh lets water thru but not soil. Elevating the pipe above the gravel 3-4 inches lets the loose dirt in ditch to settle well below the pipe. Using heavy schedule 40 pipe is worth the investment when doing that big of an investment. Using washed gravel with no fines in it is essential. Using the correct size gravel that doesn't cause cracks in the pipe (bigger gravel causes pressure points) is important. Filling the ditch all the way to the top and the entire length is perfect. Keeping a uniform drop in the pipe the entire distance is important. It keeps the water at a good consistent velocity to keep the pipe clean. To drop fast and then slow at the end only invites the end to eventually fill and stop up. I've seen contractors to make that mistake on septic pipes and the problem go on for decades. I had to eventually come in and repair my mother's pipe. Using 20 ft pipe also has less fittings and therefore drag on the water.
I’ll be over when we get a heavy rain! I want to see if it works.
I'm pleased that you went the "French Drain" approach. As I told you in my earlier post, I filled a 2500 gallon tank (after a rain) with a couple hours - with water pouring out a 4" overflow for a day or two after the cistern was filled. You mentioned catching the water as it flows downhill. You will also notice that there will be (after the tire pounding on your ground settles) THOUSANDS of "tubules" under the ground, running vertically, down the hill - also through the French Drain. I wish you lots of luck and blessings! Be sure to post/picture the results!!!
Nice job Adam, Jeff Simon is spot on with the flow control valve.
Dream to live in such peaceful place
Always like your videos! Beautiful sunset!
I have the intelligence of a door knob when it comes to doing what you did. It looks incredible and I am looking forward to see how it all works out. The before and after is beautiful for sure. Great video as always.
Glad Doug was there to lend a hand. Hope this cures your issues. The trees are starting to look great!
Beautiful sunset there at 6:12 👍
That was a really beautiful sunset Adam. Great video thumbs up.
Lovely
Jeff Simon nailed it on the flow control valve. You will love making that change to the dump trailer. works great!
I’d guess with those rock piles in the original idea there’s just not enough room for air displacement so the water is running over it instead of inside of it that’s why the rock needs to be in long areas so the air can displace and it doesn’t create a kind of lock keeping water out of that makes sense.
Also o wouldn’t use gravel smaller than 2” in any French drain. I love your videos keep ‘em coming my friend
Adam, Cool video, Good to see Doug helping as well. Carl FONDEROSA FARMS MD
I have a dump trailer also with the problem of the battery going dead all the time. I bought a solar charger off Amazon for $75.00 dollars of so. It works great and does not over charge the battery and is always fully charged. I installed it on the cover of the battery compartment and does not get in the way at all. Good luck.
I swear, you have the BEST Neighbor & Friend to be able to assist you with most jobs around your families property!
-Color me with Jealousy...
Great job with the open french drain. Get neighbor Doug to help you hook up a #2 wire from your alternator to the back of your trucks trailer hitch and mount a two pole plug there, ground it right to the hitch and then wire the dump trailer with the same wire to the other half of the plug and you’ll have infinite dumps, your truck will power the trailer and no need for the battery in the trailer…works terrific.
I think with that vast improvement your pond will be up and even more beautiful in the spring. See you in the next installment.
That should work much better. Nice job. That dump trailer sure comes in handy for projects!
Very nice drain. We’ve been repairing old field stone drains and terra cotta tile drains on our farm. We use rolls of ads with no issues. However where want water to enter the drains we’ve always used 2b for water infiltration. No issues with these. Nice job.
Looks great Adam and I'm sure your pond will receive a nice amount of water!! Great to have such amazing neighbors!
Sadly, corrugated pipe just gets full of silt...
The "vented" 3"-4" Drain Pipe works SO much better, especially when combined with ¾" CLEAN Gravel or 1½" River Rock and Landscape Fabric!
6:00 What a beautiful clip!
It'll be an exciting day when that pond fills up, right??!! 😉🥰 You've really worked hard for it!! Great job! 👍
That's a great way to catch all the water from the hill side ! Idk if you did it or not but I would put a rat guard on the end of the pipe by the pond. Those darn things will be in as soon as the water stops flowing.
Yeah and foxes and coyotes in culverts too. But don't block them in any way or you may have to fix a road.
Pretty sky! And your trees are turning - beautiful! 2 seasons in Phoenix. 😄
thats the way to do it. gona need that sweet french drain working in the rain footage.
Great job Adam you saved yourself a lot of money doing that job yourself! 🇺🇸
I probably had $1,000 in stone and pipe and fuel. Not sure what it would have been if I had to pay someone to do it
Hello Adam, I've got the same type of hydraulic system on my dump trailer. A way that can be corrected is install a flow control valve on the return flow side of the hydraulics. Keep up the great work. Your yard is looking good 👍👍
Before building a surface runoff fed pond, always have a survey done to see if you have enough water to fill the size pond you want.
Looking forward to the spring melt and see how well the drain works.
Looks great! I like what you have done! Nice to have a neighbor like Doug,
Did I miss the info on the amount of water coming into your pond after you completed the siphon system? Just wondered. Very nice work with this project, it looks like you guys know what you're doing! Thanks for an interesting video!
Very nice - your equipment inventory is most impressive. Down here it is so swampy we have to use gravel base then cover with more gravel. We don’t know what “clay” is!
Smart way to control loss of gravel on the back fill.
I enjoy your channel. You have presented great ideas and well-done execution of your projects and video. Keep doing what you do. Thank you for the inspiration.
A thought about further up the watershed of your spring. Look into the ideas of Brad Lancaster. Berms and swales further up in the woods could potentially keep that spring flowing more through the summer months.
For longevity, I would have put a filter sock over that drain pipe to keep the dirt out and it would have been more efficient to keep the drain pipe in the middle of the trench/gravel instead of letting it sit to one side as you filled the trench.
The gravel will get clogged and prevent water from getting to the drain pipe. You should get a least year of free flow however! When you mow next Summer, direct the grass clippings away from the drain. (Dennis, Welches Pond Oregon)
better to just add a cleanout on the top side. then you can snake the length and knock the crud out.
Sock pipe is trash. Reference French Drain Man for proper install. Filter fabric, pipe on that, round stone burrito wrapped, more round stone to grade. Maintenance free drain for life.
And yet another “there must be a better way” from Doug in filling the tractor bucket
Yes Sir, i am adding 400 ft of drain, watch french drain man and larned a lot. i bought the eight slot every rib pipe. fabric washed stone. renting a sod cutter this weekend.
Dogs are the best
Also I got a whiteman concrete buggy
Good man. The good stuff!
You might need filter fabric around the aggregate. Over time the voids in the aggregate will clog up with dirt fines.
And by that time the filter fabric would have been clogged 35 times. Gate City Foundation does them this way, it makes way more sense than using filter fabric before the course gravel filter.
@@bobbygetsbanned6049 dead ass wrong bud. Do more research.
@@jeepinass Not wrong at all, look up Gate City Foundation, he does plenty of them the right way. But go ahead and explain why french drains are the only time it makes sense to put the fine filter before the course filter.
@@bobbygetsbanned6049 his videos are hilarious actually. Guys a total stooge that does the most hack work on CZcams. Half his shit is tearing out and fixing his mistakes with more halfass work. If you did the research, you'd find engineered drawings on multi million dollar municipal projects that define the use of filter fabrics for drainage. It creates a sediment filtration zone that protects the integrity of the system. But yeah, just keep watching dumbass sHaWn hack shit and take to the internet promoting his "right way" hahaha
did you wrap the pipe with "filter cloth"? If you didn't...then the holes in the pipe will get plugged up and not work....
You can add a pressure compensated flow control in the line to help with the change in speeds due to load mass.
Areal French drain would not have a pipe in it and much larger stone at the bottom.
Great job buddy. Nice seeing the different equipment working together. Thanks for sharing
You and Doug make a great team. Nice work fellas.
Was going o mention a valve in the down line,but others beat me to it. Drain looks good, hope it works.
Nice job! Should really make a difference.
Good move, that will catch the water and put it in the lake. You don't find neighbors like Doug. Your very fortunate to have good neighbors. Looks like you will be able to mow now.
Thanks Adam
Unless that slope is prone to saturation, I'm not sure what the advantage of a drain tile or French drain is? Those systems capture subterranean moisture, no so much surface runoff I think. Could be wrong tho. Thanks for the update!
You're right, the pvc pipe is unnecessary but it will still work since he left the top open.
Surface water will naturally find its way to the bottom of the trench. Until the angular stone packs with sediment at least. The pipe (which this style in particular is not the best design) creates a path for the water to travel to the discharge point. That's the key to a functioning drain. To get the water out as quickly as possible. Angular stone itself is not conducive to flow.
Say Hi to Buckin Billy Ray! At the Paul Bunyan Festival
Them boys do good work.
I believe that's more commonly called a "curtain drain" as it's meant to catch water going down a hill. They're often used immediately uphill of a septic drain field to improve infiltration for the septic system.
Nice job getting rid of the weed line as well. Should make it easier to mow that area as well.
You have a great location with plenty of scope for a few bee hives
Hope your new system works great, all the water in the pond and non coming up in the ground :-))
Nice looking trench Adam and Doug.
Regarding your dump trailer battery, we put a solar charger on the lid of ours and it's worked great. But I guess your trailer problem is it has gravity close?
A clean out or 2 in the line to future proof if you do a similar project might help.
You can put a second down line with a smaller órfico
A whole lot of work brother but it looks great. Fantastic editing
There is no substitute for doing it right.
Nearly a French drain but no cigar i'm afraid. You didn't use geotextile, you will find that soil will eventually wash down and you will have clogging issues in the gravel bed.
Adam, impressive as always...
A suggestion:
Have a look at the CZcams video titled "Growing oranges in the snow".
He uses smart tech and buried lateral loops of tubes... 'earth' tubes to get warm air to circulate in his structures... which in his case grow fruit and veg over decades at high latitude.
I am thinking that with your equipment you could largely heat and cool your house almost for free, year round, with the right designed kit.
Could be a fun challenge!
Hmm, Meadville Redimix's yard. Ran their portable plant for a season years ago.
Unfortunately you will probably have to work on this again in 5 years depending on the amount of runoff in the soil over the years. You need to separate dirt from gravel with landscape filter cloth, it isn't important to separate gravel from perforated pipe. Dirt will readily mix in with the gravel especially with water flow. I would have carried the trench gravel to the top with landscape fabric over it then added a layer of rock over this. Any surface water reaching the french drain will quickly make it into your trench. What you did should get you some service it's just that there was a better way.
Filter fabric on the outside of the gravel makes as much sense as wiping your ass before you shit. You never put the fine filter (Filter fabric) before the course filter (Gravel), unless you're doing french drains on youtube, then of course you have to do it that way. That gravel might get clogged/filled eventually, but filter fabric would get clogged a hell of a lot faster.
You should build more burms to capture the water to regenerate your groundwater. and plant gardens, trees, and native grasses instead. just space it to mow between the burms
This is pop from popsoldboats also. Just curious if this run off pond would benefit a fish ladder as I am planning on doing in my pond. You would be amazed at the aquatic life that is in the small stream your pond runs off into.
Great job Adam.
You probably feel like I do "How did I ever do without a Excavator?"
The siphon still running?
Yes it is
Great video Adam
Why no LANDSCAPE FABRIC to keep the "Silt" out of the Perforated Drain Pipe?
On the subject of the dump bed dropping too fast I bet Doug is thinking of adding a way to switch to a flow restriction for this situation, something you can manually switch between empty and partially full situations.
Well done sir. Well done.
That trench looks HUGE. I wonder if you saw this open style of french drain on Gate City Foundation's channel? He does a bunch of these no filter fabric, no grass on top, french drains, they flow a ton of water with much smaller trenches, but you do have a big area you're catching.
Gate city is the biggest hack on the web. No fabric, angular stone results in a failed French drain in a couple years due to silt packing. French drain man digs those out and replaces with a properly done French drain every day. He's got videos of 20 years old drains still ripping better than the day it was installed. Maintenance free.
I hope it works out for you
I'm kind of wondering why you didnt put in filter fabric or a layer of washed sand at/near the top of your gravel to keep fines from infiltrating the gravel and clogging up the gravel void space. I'm no expert by any means but from what I understand the filter fabric around the pipe will keep fines from clogging up the pipe but if the gravel void space gets clogged up the water can't make it to the inside of the pipe.
Nice job guys 👍
That pound looks lower? Losing water still?
Why didn’t you put drain cloth on top of the perf pipe?
Time for a Ventrac with a tough cut deck.
Your leaves are much more advanced in color than in NC
Could you add a ball valve on the return line of the hydraulic system? When slightly closing the valve would restrict the flow out of the cylinders slowing the speed that the bed would come down. Then when the trailer is empty you can just leave the ball valve open and everything is back to normal
Should have laid some geotextile - it'll still silt up from the dirt in time.
Laying pipe!
Great job
I wonder if one pipe is going to be enough for the drain. Just to be safe I would have installed 2
Nice to have friends who show up when there's a job to be done. Did you let Doug dig or was it just you who dug and Doug backfilled after the dig?
Plant shrubs on the top side of French drain to keep sediment out!
Florida boy here. What is that red leaf tree in the background?
French Drain Man channel.
gravel, fabric, gravel, pipe, gravel, fabric, gravel
Wrong. Fabric, pipe, round stone, burrito wrapped fabric, round stone to grade.
First!😄- I'm here for accountant content!
No fabric around the pipe?
I think it's just been too dry here this year. My French drain just started getting water to my pond in the last week
You will mike and Melissa there
Missing Silt Sock :(
Great videos... but why showcase half measures?