| Easy Digging Pipe and fittings for a cleanable French drain |
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How to install French drain pipe and fittings
to allow easy Roto-Rooter cleaning in the future
Additional Instructions
to allow easy Roto-Rooter cleaning in the future
Additional Instructions
Please first read Steps 1 to 4,
beginning with: Lawn and Garden Drainage Guide
This page will provide information on:
• How to install a French drain pipes
• Selection of proper fittings and pipe
• How to layout for easy cleaning with a sewer snake
| Lawn and Garden Drainage Guide Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Instructions |
The secret to good French drain system is keeping roots, soil, and debris out of the
gravel and pipes. By wrapping the gravel in permeable landscape cloth and the
piping in fabric drain pipe sleeve you minimize the soil and clay silt that can destroy
water flow.
But roots are tricky things that will wiggle their way through every gap in your
protection until they finally find their way into the drainage pipe. Once there they will
grow and expand to collect as much water as they can. When they expand too much
the roots will begin to block water flow through the French drain pipe.
Debris like leaves, twigs, nests, mulch, and even deceased animals are another
cause of blocked French drain pipes. Drainage systems that are connected to the
house downspouts or that include surface drains are especially prone to this problem.
So how do we deal with plugged pipes in a French drain? Well you could dig all the
piping up every decade or so to clean it out (no thank you), or you could build your
drainage system so that a plumbing company with a sewer snake - like Roto-Rooter -
can quickly, easily, and safely clean you pipes anytime they need it. A sewer snake is
a whirling blade on the end of a semi-flexible cable that pushed through the pipe to
cut and chew through roots, soil, or debris that is blocking the pipe.
To do this you must have the right kind of pipe, the right kind of fittings, and above
ground locations they can access.
Drain Pipe and Tile - If you want to be able to run a sewer snake through your
French drain you must use rigid PVC drainage pipe (the modern drain tile).
* Do not use the flexible corrugated perforated plastic pipe as it is too soft and the
whirling blades will cut it to bits and destroy your system.
Pipe Fittings - There are many fittings available for 4” rigid PVC pipe. We are
basically interested in tees, wyes, elbows, caps, and maybe reducers. As you select
fittings keep in mind that you want to pick fittings that a whirling blade on the end of a
semi-flexible cable can easily travel and turn through. Often a sewer snake can not
make the turn in a close elbow or a bull nose tee. Also note that a sewer snake
traveling across the top bar of a tee or wye fitting will skip right past the opening for
the upright of the tee or wye, but when traveling through the upright it will always
follow the curve in a sanitary tee or wye. See the drawings below...
gravel and pipes. By wrapping the gravel in permeable landscape cloth and the
piping in fabric drain pipe sleeve you minimize the soil and clay silt that can destroy
water flow.
But roots are tricky things that will wiggle their way through every gap in your
protection until they finally find their way into the drainage pipe. Once there they will
grow and expand to collect as much water as they can. When they expand too much
the roots will begin to block water flow through the French drain pipe.
Debris like leaves, twigs, nests, mulch, and even deceased animals are another
cause of blocked French drain pipes. Drainage systems that are connected to the
house downspouts or that include surface drains are especially prone to this problem.
So how do we deal with plugged pipes in a French drain? Well you could dig all the
piping up every decade or so to clean it out (no thank you), or you could build your
drainage system so that a plumbing company with a sewer snake - like Roto-Rooter -
can quickly, easily, and safely clean you pipes anytime they need it. A sewer snake is
a whirling blade on the end of a semi-flexible cable that pushed through the pipe to
cut and chew through roots, soil, or debris that is blocking the pipe.
To do this you must have the right kind of pipe, the right kind of fittings, and above
ground locations they can access.
Drain Pipe and Tile - If you want to be able to run a sewer snake through your
French drain you must use rigid PVC drainage pipe (the modern drain tile).
* Do not use the flexible corrugated perforated plastic pipe as it is too soft and the
whirling blades will cut it to bits and destroy your system.
Pipe Fittings - There are many fittings available for 4” rigid PVC pipe. We are
basically interested in tees, wyes, elbows, caps, and maybe reducers. As you select
fittings keep in mind that you want to pick fittings that a whirling blade on the end of a
semi-flexible cable can easily travel and turn through. Often a sewer snake can not
make the turn in a close elbow or a bull nose tee. Also note that a sewer snake
traveling across the top bar of a tee or wye fitting will skip right past the opening for
the upright of the tee or wye, but when traveling through the upright it will always
follow the curve in a sanitary tee or wye. See the drawings below...
Drainage Pipe Installation - Planning your drainage pipe installation for easy
cleaning by a Roto-Rooter type machine is mostly a matter of choosing fittings to
direct the sewer snake to the far end of the French drain. As in a home where a
sewer snake is always ran from the toilet pipe to the sewer, snaking out a French
drain is done from the collection point of the system through to the outlet.
In the example below we show a simple TEE arrangement of piping that will collect
and drain excess rainwater successfully, but can not be completely cleaned with a
sewer snake. Because a simple tee fitting is used in this example, a sewer snake that
enters from the surface drain will skip right past the opening to the French drain (and
eventually come out the downspout connection), and vice-versa when inserting the
sewer snake in through the downspout connection. See the diagram below...
cleaning by a Roto-Rooter type machine is mostly a matter of choosing fittings to
direct the sewer snake to the far end of the French drain. As in a home where a
sewer snake is always ran from the toilet pipe to the sewer, snaking out a French
drain is done from the collection point of the system through to the outlet.
In the example below we show a simple TEE arrangement of piping that will collect
and drain excess rainwater successfully, but can not be completely cleaned with a
sewer snake. Because a simple tee fitting is used in this example, a sewer snake that
enters from the surface drain will skip right past the opening to the French drain (and
eventually come out the downspout connection), and vice-versa when inserting the
sewer snake in through the downspout connection. See the diagram below...
But look at the following example to see what happens when we replace the simple
tee fitting with a collection of fittings that steer and direct the sewer snake into the
French drain.
Inserting the sewer snake into either the surface drain OR the downspout connection
results in it easily and reliably entering the French drain. This example is typical of
the type of pipe connections you will want to use in your French drain
system.
tee fitting with a collection of fittings that steer and direct the sewer snake into the
French drain.
Inserting the sewer snake into either the surface drain OR the downspout connection
results in it easily and reliably entering the French drain. This example is typical of
the type of pipe connections you will want to use in your French drain
system.
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