Iron blocking land drains. Any solution?

Grass Hopper

Active Member
Has anybody encountered it and/or come up with a solution.
I first saw the problem nearly 20 years ago. New pipes I'd put in less than 12 months previous blocked solid at the outlets with a rope like red growth that extended well back into the field. The result was land drains completely blocked and the field as wet as when we started.
The solution we came up with was to bury the mouth of the pipe under the water and level of the dyke in the hope that cutting off the oxygen in the pipe would stop the growth of the fungus.

Has anybody any better method as I'm not a fan of pipe ends submerged in case of silt building up etc.
Currently in a farm requiring massive drainage work to relieve springs but the dreaded red iron is present.
Already the floors of the dykes are showing signs of growth just 6 weeks after being cleaned and with a few thousand meters of pipe needed it would be nice to find a solution before I start burying the mans money.

TIA
 
Has anybody encountered it and/or come up with a solution.
I first saw the problem nearly 20 years ago. New pipes I'd put in less than 12 months previous blocked solid at the outlets with a rope like red growth that extended well back into the field. The result was land drains completely blocked and the field as wet as when we started.
The solution we came up with was to bury the mouth of the pipe under the water and level of the dyke in the hope that cutting off the oxygen in the pipe would stop the growth of the fungus.

Has anybody any better method as I'm not a fan of pipe ends submerged in case of silt building up etc.
Currently in a farm requiring massive drainage work to relieve springs but the dreaded red iron is present.
Already the floors of the dykes are showing signs of growth just 6 weeks after being cleaned and with a few thousand meters of pipe needed it would be nice to find a solution before I start burying the mans money.

TIA

Its in the clay. There is no way to stop it. You can only work around it. I have worked on jobs where the drains lasted less than 10 years because of it.

The work around is to install deep main collector drains with big clean stone in the bottom and smaller stone on top, no pipe. Then mole plough into them. But mole ploughing doesn't always suit soil type or slopes.

Other option is to wrap them in terram. Its more porous than drainage pipe so will be slower to block. But it probably will block at some stage.

Other option is to put in short runs of drains and jet them regularly.

No easy answer I'm afraid.
 
Does jetting not clear it?
Fit some man holes in places to make it easier?
 
It's called red ochre we have it here in certain fields, horrible gooey shite, in all honesty I think plenty of stone and no pipe, unless you put six inch drain pipe which will cost mega bucks, we have done endless amount of draining bogs only for them to clog up again, I have experimented with large v shaped drains and filled them with broken concrete and they are still flowing away..
 
I would say a single pipe to an open sheugh or manhole and jet them every year. I have a couple in that way and if I do any more it will be a single pipe with no connections coming of it, the couple I have I give them a run with the sewer rods with a rag tied on the end.
Don't use the yellow pipes or any pipe with ribs on the inside
 
It's called red ochre we have it here in certain fields, horrible gooey shite, in all honesty I think plenty of stone and no pipe, unless you put six inch drain pipe which will cost mega bucks, we have done endless amount of draining bogs only for them to clog up again, I have experimented with large v shaped drains and filled them with broken concrete and they are still flowing away..
+1 very few using pipe anymore around here,cheapest 2 inch broken stone that can be bought and fill the drains to the top.
 
+1 very few using pipe anymore around here,cheapest 2 inch broken stone that can be bought and fill the drains to the top.

There's a lad near here that ploughs in stone with a dozer. Apparently it's a good job.
Personally I wouldn't spend the money opening a drain without putting a pipe into it. Pipes can be jetted, stone can't.
 
Are levels as important with just clean stone?
Obviously get it fairly up hill (or falling towards the outlet!) but peaks and troughs in the run? A pipe would obviously silt up in a dip. But shouldn't matter with clean stone?

Saw an add for a stone burryer the other day. Got me thinking!
 
A farmer once told me he had trouble with weeds growing up the drains. as he was in the business of selling slurry tanks he had many old slurry pipes that had been discarded because of air leaks. he put each pipe at the end of the drain and said it was a success as the weed would only grow so far, and could not gain purchase on the pipe. I forget his name as it was so long ago.
 
Wouldn't be a fan of draining without a pipe. The pipe is the cheapest part of the operation in the long run. I'v used pipe without stone to great success but never the reverse.
I'm thinking along the lines of wat lough said. I'v opened drains through the worst field with a forestry bucket to relieve some problem spots. The floor of those drains will take up to 3x100 pipes if I choose to branch off to pick up other springs etc.
I won't then need to use T's or Yes so jetting each pipe is possible
 
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