SOAKAWAY IMPROVEMENTS

[geoffreyroe]

A LARGE AMOUNT OF MY RAINWATER DISPOSAL IS HANDELED BY A SOAKAWAY, IN HEAVY AND LONG LASTING RAIN THIS OVERFLOWS.

THE CONSTRUCTION SEEMS FAIRLY CONVENTIONAL, I HAVE ACCESS TO A SMALL BRICK DRAIN CHAMBER WITH A 200MM PIPE LEADING OFF TO THE UNDERGROUND SOAKAWAY.

I AM SURE THAT IN THE PAST ALL MANNER OF MATERIAL HAS BEEN SENT DOWN THIS SOAKAWAY BY BUILDERS WORKING ON MY PROPERTY, CAN ANYONE ADVICE AN ADDITIVE (OR OTHER IDEA) TO HELP IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF THIS?

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED............

 

[Mark]

to be honest, if it has got silted up then probably the best course is to dig it out.

 

[Lime]

to be honest, if it has got silted up then probably the best course is to dig it out.

Yes, I think that the only valid option.
Cement blocks soil structure very well so that it become nearly impervious.
Also most soakaways get silted up eventually and need to be renewed/rejuvenated.
It is a good opportunity to enlarge the soakaway too.
Depending on soil structure and water table sometimes increasing the depth improves drainage, sometimes not.

 

[MdB]

A bit off topic, but I'm going to use the trenches I'm going to dig in my garden for heat pump pipes also as one humongous soak away. I think 30m long by 1m wide by 1m deep should be able to take quite a bit of water . As a bonus, the heat pump pipe like to be kept wet for heat transfer reasons so its a win all round. It will certainly be better than the down pipes just stopping 1m above the ground. Guess where we have damp....

 

[inwood]

I've been browsing the leaflets on offer at my local builders merchants.

A relatively new soakaway product has come on the market. It's basically a plastic cube with struts throughout to give it strength (similar to a plastic milk crate) and comes in various sizes. This is buried into the ground and wrapped in a membrane (e.g. Terram). As long as the soakaway pipe entering the soakaway is also wrapped in terram then this overcomes (although probably not forever) the silting up issue.

Might be worth investigating.

Of course I only found out about this after installing my soakaway but that's life!

 

[inwood]

A piccy for reference of Polypipe version:

http://www.versoprint.com/residential/products/soakaway/polystorm-lite.aspx

 

[MdB]

 

[worms]

I'm going to use the trenches I'm going to dig in my garden for heat pump pipes also as one humongous soak away

Will that not cool the ground loop? Gallons of water at winter temperatures flowing down into the warmer ground alongside the pipes?

 

[MdB]

I'm going to use the trenches I'm going to dig in my garden for heat pump pipes also as one humongous soak away

Will that not cool the ground loop? Gallons of water at winter temperatures flowing down into the warmer ground alongside the pipes?

Good point. I'll put that to the manufacturer. They did however state that using the trenches as a soak away was a good idea as it helps keep the pipes wet which will help with the heat conduction.

 

[Nemesis]

As heat pumps can be used with running water supply I don't think it can matter really, that's cold in winter too.

 

[MdB]

As heat pumps can be used with running water supply I don't think it can matter really, that's cold in winter too.

It certainly won't stop it from working but it will make it less efficient as the compressor will have to work harder.

 

[Lime]

The cold water surrounding the pipes will very soon attain the ground temperature and allow the pipes to remove the heat more readily.
It is the pipes that will reduce the ground temperature far more than anything else.
Dry ground is a relatively poor conductor of heat so anything that increases it's conduction is a plus.
The thermal capacity will be increased by the water as will the available thermal mass/area as heat will travel more quickly through the soil.

Also the pipes will be "bathed" in warm summer rain warming the soil up too.