"Stephen" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:26:00 +0100, "Calvin Sambrook"
wrote:
One inherent problem however is that this type of diverter is a
constriction
in the downpipe which means that stuff, like typically a blob of moss, can
be small enough to enter the top of the pipe but big enough to not get
past
the fitting.
This is where a larger pipe is better as it is less likely to become
blocked?
I guess the ribbed, flexible pipes are most prone to becoming blocked
because they are not smooth?
Not really what I meant, you are thinking of the pipe from the diverter to
the butt however the problem is typically within the diverter where the
"straight through" path is constricted by the bit that collects the water
for the butt so you can end up with the straight through path blocked in
which case the water can't go into the butt and can't go to the soakaway.
Look into a diverter from the top and you'll see what I mean it goes down
from 68mm to, I guess, 45mm.
I collect a good few cms each year which need to be cleaned out
How do you do that? Do you have to climb into the butt with a trowel?
Well I don't do it every year, the draw-off from that butt is about a third
of the way up so I let it build up until either I can be bothered to deal
with it or it's been a long hot summer and we are getting the last dregs out
with a bucket.
concrete tiles which spall, so much of it is fine sandy sediment
Ah, so that's where it comes from!
The butt described above is fed from a diverter which I'd love to be able
to
buy but which seems no longer to be sold. It is a Y-shaped fitting, sort
of
a straight downpipe with another pipe sticking out at about 45 degrees and
pointing downwards IYSWIM. It fits into the side of the butt near the
top.
Inside the fitting there is a fixed flat plate in the center line of the
45
degree pipe such that water coming down the pipe is forced out of the exit
pipe and into the butt, when the butt is full water spills under the plate
and down the downpipe into the ground. Obviously it collects every last
drop of water.
Anyone know if they are available anywhere? (The backup plan is to make
one
from fittings when I get time).
The picture is not brilliant but is it something like this? It doesn't
have the branch at 45 degrees (or should that be 135 degrees?) but it
does have a 45 degree plate inside.
http://www.combinedharvesters.co.uk/...ory=10#details
Expensive though.
A little like that internally but where that has a filter mine has a solid
plate. From the outside mine looks just like a 45 degree angled T fitted
upside down (but with the inside/outside mating flanges inverted as you'd
expect so that water stays inside the pipe), much more like an ordinary
fitting. It only cost about the same as an ordinary fitting too but it was
bought many years ago.