cleaning a driveway

I have a 24 inch concrete culvert pipe with flared ends beneath the drive at the ditch.
The water has never got high enough to floe through it south to the creek.
I looked at it today with the snow all thawed and it is pretty packed with corn residue, pine needles and dirt. It is 18 feet long. How would you clean it out. Water supply is 400 feet away
Some kind of hoe with ten foot handle?

Back when I was a road commissioner, we pulled a old tire threw with a sucker-rod. 7/8 in. Start with a small tire and be sure you can pull it through. Then maybe two tires. Oh leave a chain on the tire so you can pull it back out if it sticks. We were pulling with a 580M Case backhoe with extenda hoe, so we could pull pretty hard. Vic

Get a piece of conduit or rebar and push it through.

Imagine a morter mixing hoe, big blade and stout handle. With that in mind, imagine a hinge on the hoe where it attaches to the handle. Make it out of 1/2" black iron pipe long enough to go through the culvert .6 of the way. make the hoe so it is about 1 foot square, with a rounded bottom (cutting) edge.
Push it in, and pull out debris about a foot at a time. Jim

Our volunteer fire department at one time would come out and clean a problem culvert with their high pressure hose "IF" they needed to check equipment and test pumps on occasion. They quit doing it because some guys thought they should do all their culverts for a donation. They weren't looking for a full time job and had to refuse everyone as a policy. A few guys ruined it for everybody. BUT, it is an idea if your Dept. needs to squirt some water to keeps their pumps and motors limbered up.

A friend used to clear culverts for the state with an old utility pole and his case 580D hoe.

I think you could rent a extremely high pressure washer gismo, it's on wheels, own water tank. It should cut through anything. Expensive to rent.

Maybe go to Cabellas or SCHEELS and get some tannerite (exploding rifle targets) and bury a couple in there, sit back a couple hundred yards, and go to work.

2 foot pip is pretty big. Are you sure it's not just "packed" at the ends? I'd start with a shovel. In a 2 foot pipe I think you'd be able to get perhaps 4 foot from each end that way and that'll give you a good idea how it is inside. Unless it was partially blocked at the outlet end and water was continuing to carry stuff in there but only the water could come out, I doubt it's fully clogged but you're there and I'm not so I'm just guessing. Beyond the shovel's reach a long rod of some kind with a hook on the end might break up some and a hoe with an extended handle then be able to pull some out. If it's not packed tight and you get it say 1/2 open water from storms should finish the job as long as you keep the ditch leading into it clear of derbies.

If you have equipment like a backhoe I'd think pushing a pole through it would work but I'd worry you'd catch the lip of a section of pipe doing that and open yourself up to damaging the integrity of the culvert--I'm sure you know if a hole come in it somewhere like the sections no longer mating tight, dirt from above may start entering and a sink hole form then you'd have to replace the pipe.

Lastly, I've always maintained my own culvert and felt it was mine and my responsibility as access to my property. I also maintain the ditch beside the road along my property (mowing, keeping trash out and making sure it holds all the water it needs to. But, some neighbors here have had holes come in their driveways from rusted out steel or broken concrete culverts and they got the county to fix it. They tell me the county is responsible for their access across the public roads drainage ditch. The county even cut asphalt put in a new pipe and repaved the strip over that pipe for one guy--nicest 3 foot of his drive. You might just want to check with them first before you do anything.

I would take a 20 foot rebar and push it through, downstream, then pull a cable or a chain back. Then on the downstream side I would attach an old tire or two. Then I would hook my tractor on and pull the tires through, and it should pull out most of the debris. Use a vey long chain or cable so you are not pulling with your tractor on the ditch bank. Be very careful! If this is next to a public road maybe the county or whoever owns the road will clean it out.

Had a 16" x 20' filled about 1/2 full with sediment, leaves, etc; shoveled from each end, then pulled 6" x 5' pipe section thru each way several times using long cable and small backhoe. Got enough that it no longer slowed flow causing flood upstream in heavy rain.

We often clean culverts by dragging a section of log back and forth through the culvert. We use a 4 to 8 foot log for the weight with a chain or cable on each end and pull it in both directions. A tractor on each end can make this quick and easy.

for a plastic sluice pipe-to prevent freezing up like this hard winter has happened, could you run a 4" sewer pipe the length of driveway sluice with a threaded plug on the upper end like your sewer line has & unthread if sluice freezes up again?

Thanks for the help once I get a rope or chain through there I'll find a "cleanout vessel. It's gonna have to wait . there's ice in there.

(quoted from post at 10:23:01 03/13/14) Thanks for the help once I get a rope or chain through there I'll find a "cleanout vessel. It's gonna have to wait . there's ice in there.

Click to expand...

Well that's more like it! I was having a little problem with "today with the snow all thawed" in South Dakota, while we have two degrees and two feet still in southern NH.

(quoted from post at 10:23:01 03/13/14) Thanks for the help once I get a rope or chain through there I'll find a "cleanout vessel. It's gonna have to wait . there's ice in there.

Click to expand...

Well that's more like it! I was having a little problem with "today with the snow all thawed" in South Dakota, while we have two degrees and two feet still in southern NH.