Will XGD Pipe Clog Up?

I post about drainage pipe a lot. I am a bit of a polyethylene nerd in that way. Having admitted that I feel I can comment on the post title legitimately as I get the question so much….NO, XGD pipe does not clog with dirt, fines, sand, silts. Well, how can it not clog, you don’t backfill with peastone, you backfill with native dirt or greensmix? Really, people, are you the same group who backfill your fairway drainage trenches with peastone to the playing surface so it doesn’t seal off the surface water flow in to your pipe? Just because you were taught that in school or your first superintendent told you that was the only way, can we never change?

I usually point to the real leaders in agriculture at times like these, and it is never more fitting. As the price of farmland skyrockets over the past few years, we are seeing more and more usually marginal cropland, outfitted and restored with farm drainage systems. Folks, what do farmers backfill with? Native SOIL, and in sandy situations they use a proven filter sock to prevent clogging. Crazy farmers, and oh yeah they have mastered GPS technology like no other industry, and should be a model to the golf business. But, if you know any farmers, they like to sit back and not be noticed on a pedestal. Smart, professional and business savvy, and if you can’t tell I was born and raised on a farm, and everyone has heard this one before,”It has made me who I am today”.

But I digress back to the blog title. As you can see from the picture below, our Hancor/ADS pipe comes with a micro-slit perforation which I liken to a closed eye-lid, it allows water to penetrate once saturation point is reached in the soil, but keeps out the heavy sand particles. Sand particles are too heavy to flush out on their own so they are the most worrisome, and cannot get in to XGD pipe.

Fines and silt particles are light enough to flush out on their own during one of Mother Natures downpours that pushes the soil to saturation point. I used to implore to all our clients to flush out the XGD mainlines once a year, which is a good practice anyway, but after realizing most clients were not doing so, I dug up some of our original installations and found the XGD laterals to be completely clean and functional after 20 years in the ground.

This last picture illustrates another XGD pipe bonus with the picture of a tee. If you look closely you can see the XGD pipe is corrugated “spirally”. This allows all the XGD fittings to be threaded in to place ensuring a nice tight, long lasting connection, in contrast to typical drainage fittings that are snapped in to position and stressed with any any pipe bend that typically occurs.

So, in summary no the pipe will not clog, however in order lo guarantee the long term effectiveness of any drainage system positive grade is needed to aid in the flushing process. If you don’t have positive grade any drainage system will inevitably fail. It is our mantra here at XGD, to give all our valued clients a long term bang for their buck, in payback for their significant investment.

Regards, Poor Old Dirt & Grass Farmer