My drain pipe is 12" and has a tee at the bottom , I was told that it tee,s our to a drain with a flapper, , that had a wire attached to it to pull to open. The tee is about 5 feet down and is covered is slit,mud,.currently have 2 siphons running to get level down.my questions are how far out do you think the tee end with flapper goes out into pond?, do you think think flapper will re seal if I find it and open it,? Have a excavator coming to remove mud by pipe, just trying to get some dryer weather Todd
Here's my take on it. You are wanting to drain it to dig the pond out and clean it up. You are running a siphon, which is probably just as good as the old pipe can do. However, if the flapper turns out bad and doesn't seal, is it that bad? I will assume you want the water to drain down to that level, so it will be available to work on. If it don't close, is it a type of pipe that you could go out and buy parts for. Perhaps put a new valve on the end or cap it off?
My gut instinct says that if the valve wasn't used on a regular basis, it probably is either froze up or won't close back from it not being used enough. How old of a pipe is it?
Pretty place. Take a 1/4" to 3/8" dia steel rod. Weld a ball bearing on the end that is slightly larger than the rod diameter. Weld a "T" handle on the top. Make the rod 5' or so long, longer if you are going to be probing through water and soil.
Start at the drop tube, and push the rod into the soil until you find the pipe. Keep moving in a couple of foot increments until you run past the end.
Looks like a standard riser pipe....I'm not sure where the flap valve would be, unless on the front of a TEE at the bottom so the entire pond could be drained...If it is flowing normally now, there was probably a turtle or other debris inside a bend plugging it.
No reason to have a flap valve to prevent normal overflow drainage....
I'd seriously suggest putting a trash rack on the top of the pipe to prevent anything large enough to cause a blockage from entering again...
