Dry Well or Drain?
Hi all, we’re new homeowners (yay) and we’ve got two completely clogged drains in our backyard, clogged with dirt and roots. I pulled a ton of dirt out yesterday but reading another previous post on a similar subject, I am now wondering if this is a drain or a dry well? This may be a…
Hi all, we’re new homeowners (yay) and we’ve got two completely clogged drains in our backyard, clogged with dirt and roots. I pulled a ton of dirt out yesterday but reading another previous post on a similar subject, I am now wondering if this is a drain or a dry well? This may be a stupid question, but how do I know if it is a drain or dry well? I was going to get someone out to snake the drain.
Thanks as always…
We got a huge drywell dug at least the size of jre’s drywell (fyi it has to be at least 10 feet from the house) and it contains the runoff just fine. We had a little drywell behind the back basement door contained inside a closed vestibule under a hatch, that was filled with mud and never did the job and would make water come in the back door so we had it plumbed to the sewer line. But I would never ever send backyard runoff into the sewer. There are leaves and seeds and mud in that water. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.
To OE. Yes, tried and tested in several properties for over 10 years, never had it overflow, I have a mesh stainless grate to keep out the leaves, never had to remove it, just to sweep away some leaves from the top. As for maxsdad, your wells are not big enough, for example my pit of 2 ft x 4 ft x 4 ft deep takes all rainwater of a 1000 sq. ft. roof plus 1000 sq. feet of a concrete yard.
Good luck,
i have a couple of dry wells and during heavy rain it cant always keep up but it drains after a few minutes. you do have to cleen it out every 12 months though, unless your yard is clean and has no leaves.
jre’s idea sounds very risky.. during heavy storms I can’t see how that will catch all the rain. jre: is that what you actually have?
Anyway, another rec for Bedford sewer .. they are reasonable, and do a good job.
Convert it into a dry well. Those backyard drains always get clogged up. With a dry well you will eliminate the problem. If you make the dry well big enough and if you have a flat roof, you can also divert the roof drain into the dry well. Once you do that, you can forget about basement floods or yard water problems after heavy rains.
Also $400 for cleaning a drain is a ripoff. I had one of those $49.99 cleaning companies try to convince me that I needed a new sewer line for $7000. Some of these sewer cleaning people routinely prey on people who are in a desperate situation and know nothing about plumbing. Classic con men, and watch out who you invite into your house, some of them also swipe valuables.
Good luck.
$400. for any amount of snaking in a rear yard (max 2 drains) is unconscionable. I was only using the well know “RotoRooter” as an example vis a vis a conventional plumber. If that’s what they are currently charging, stay away. There are many reliable outfits out there that charge appropriate rates. Oftentimes folks in the brownstone section get whacked with unreasonable prices. Caveat emptor!
i recommend Bedford Sewer, 718-789-0818, reasonably priced less than $100, great service
$100 per line? Someone tell me how to get Rotorooter to cut their standard rate by 75%. I’ve never had them even visit for less than $400. But still, they’ve done a good job – if I only need them every four years or so.
let us know if it was a drain….or a dry well 🙂