How can I determine if the in-ground storm drain hose has a leak? It is a
flexible plastic hose of about 4" diameter.

Someone suggested this might be a cause of my wet crawlspace, since the
water from the gutter goes into these drain hoses, if they leak, then water
would get into the crawlspace.

where is it taking the roof water?
you could nspect the next vented trap downstream from it for noise as
you run hose water in it.
you could dig it up at the house and replace its trap if it is broken
perhaps from freezing if its trap is not below the frost line.
rainwater is a definite maybe, so find out where it's supposed to go,
far away from the house.

How can I determine if the in-ground storm drain hose has a leak? It is a
flexible plastic hose of about 4" diameter.

Do you have access to both ends? If so you could pour water into one end
and see that it comes out at the other. A 4" pipe should be able to drain
quite a lot of water, pretty quickly. If you start pumping a lot of water
into it and you don't quickly see the same amount coming out the other end
then something's not right. Water tries to take the easiest way downhill,
if the hose is unobstructed and it slopes properly then not much should leak
out.

I'm betting that pipe's gotten clogged. Using that sort of pipe for
permanent drainage is problematic, at best. It's rather tough clean it out
once it's gotten clogged with sticks and leaves, to say nothing of how roots
might have gotten into it.

Someone suggested this might be a cause of my wet crawlspace, since the
water from the gutter goes into these drain hoses, if they leak, then
water
would get into the crawlspace.

How do these hoses run?

"peter" wrote in message
news:RQ9nf.37034$Y7.24461@trnddc02...
How can I determine if the in-ground storm drain hose has a leak? It is a
flexible plastic hose of about 4" diameter.

Someone suggested this might be a cause of my wet crawlspace, since the
water from the gutter goes into these drain hoses, if they leak, then
water would get into the crawlspace.


You will need to pour water into the drain on a dry day and see if any water
intrusion happens in the basement or if the drain will overflow if saturated
quickly. You could also have the pipe augered just as you would a
waste/drain. Root intrususion is not uncommon and will allow small amounts
of water to drain but will cause a backup and overflow during a big storm.
Your problem may also be unrelated and the water may be coming from
somewhere else. A hole underground would not allow all that much water to
escape as compared to what the storm is dropping. A clog is more likely.
If the underground pipe is really drain pipe, it should be full of holes
that may have clogged from leaf debris and no longer can empty fast enough
causing overflow during a storm.

After you fix it, install a leaf trap (a strainer in line with the
downspout) to keep decaying leaves out of the drain pipe (unless it does
spill directly into the street or something)

Many possibilities without knowing more