# Cleaning Culverts



## 2dogs (Jan 26, 2014)

To begin with I don't have access to a water truck. I have a dozen or so culverts to clean on 3 miles of road. I have a backhoe to clear the inlets and to dig new trench. The road takes a lazy gentle path down a steep mountain. I don't want anyone to crawl inside even with ankle straps. Most of the culverts are 18"-24" diameter. Suggestions?


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## lfnh (Jan 27, 2014)

Almost embarassed to mention this, as there is probly something much better to use now.
A long time ago used truck rims. 4 of 5 eye bolts through lug, short lengths (3-4') log chain and clevises from out eye bolts to ring. Heavy cable to truck winch to ring. Worked for silt, leaves and stuff. Not heavy silted for round culverts. French drain, cut up truck tire strips bolted together to cable to winch. Ranch rigs. Never get me to crawl into dry culvert. Have my limits. fwiw

Beaver jammed, track hoe, new culvert.

forgot to add, relocate beaver. first.


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## lfnh (Jan 27, 2014)

Forgot to add a pullback cable through the rim hub to ring is a plan B to pull it back out in case it jams and a smaller rim is better first pass through culvert. Lee


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## Frank Boyer (Jan 27, 2014)

Shoot the grade from the inlet to the outlet side. As long as the inlet side stays clean they should self clean.


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## 2dogs (Jan 27, 2014)

lfnh said:


> Almost embarassed to mention this, as there is probly something much better to use now.
> A long time ago used truck rims. 4 of 5 eye bolts through lug, short lengths (3-4') log chain and clevises from out eye bolts to ring. Heavy cable to truck winch to ring. Worked for silt, leaves and stuff. Not heavy silted for round culverts. French drain, cut up truck tire strips bolted together to cable to winch. Ranch rigs. Never get me to crawl into dry culvert. Have my limits. fwiw
> 
> Beaver jammed, track hoe, new culvert.
> ...



How did you get the winch line through the culvert in the first place or was it left there year around?


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## madhatte (Jan 27, 2014)

This is a good thread. I have been wondering about the same and have forgotten to ask about it.


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## les-or-more (Jan 27, 2014)

lfnh said:


> Almost embarassed to mention this, as there is probly something much better to use now.
> A long time ago used truck rims. 4 of 5 eye bolts through lug, short lengths (3-4') log chain and clevises from out eye bolts to ring. Heavy cable to truck winch to ring. Worked for silt, leaves and stuff. Not heavy silted for round culverts. French drain, cut up truck tire strips bolted together to cable to winch. Ranch rigs. Never get me to crawl into dry culvert. Have my limits. fwiw
> 
> Beaver jammed, track hoe, new culvert.
> ...


They use utility poles here to clean them out, the towns have poles at most of the culverts they drive the backhoe up chain the pole to the bucket and ram them through.


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## lfnh (Jan 27, 2014)

2dogs said:


> How did you get the winch line through the culvert in the first place or was it left there year around?


 
Used an old Stitka pole saw 4 or 5 section to push through a sender and then pulled the cable in. Could have just left it in place after, but never did. Imagine someone has made a power head to scape and flush the culverts clean by now. The old Ditch witch company that made the horizontal boring equip, maybe?


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## 1270d (Jan 28, 2014)

I have cut a twenty five ish foot hardwood pole and pushed them through with the forwarder crane. As long as the plug is holding back water it has worked great.


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## slowp (Jan 29, 2014)

An engineering question. Are these ditch relief culverts? Or instream culverts? Is water going through them now? Are they plugged? I don't see how you could get a pole through a ditch relief culvert because the cutbank would be in the way. I've only seen culverts flushed clean with water. 

For plugged pipes, we'd be out in the deluge with a shovel and dig away. We've even hooked a choker up to some of the debris and yanked it out with a pickup...and for a while slowed the water down even more and started to lose more road and the water shot out so the world was safe. Speaking of, I hope we all know not to stick our arms and legs into water filled plugged up culverts. That's a bad thing to do.


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## 2dogs (Jan 29, 2014)

One of the culverts is in a stream channel and it is clear. All the rest are ditch relief culverts with the ditch and mountainside on one side and a VERY steep slope/drop off on the other side. The outlets on 2 or 3 are ten feet off the ground. They are all metal and screened to prevent logs from entering the mouth.


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## Jabuol (Jan 29, 2014)

2dogs said:


> One of the culverts is in a stream channel and it is clear. All the rest are ditch relief culverts with the ditch and mountainside on one side and a VERY steep slope/drop off on the other side. The outlets on 2 or 3 are ten feet off the ground. They are all metal and screened to prevent logs from entering the mouth.



You said that you don't have access to a water truck. Can you rent one? Would a fire trailer work?


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## slowp (Jan 29, 2014)

Yes, a water truck would be the thing to have.


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## wowzers (Feb 1, 2014)

Is there water running in the relief ditch? We stashed some beer in a culvert head on the way to work only to get off and find it was washed mid way down a long culvert. So we grabbed the rubber floor mat from the manhual and used it to make a splash dam covering the mouth and flushing out our beer!


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## imagineero (Feb 2, 2014)

I'd love to see that in action!


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## Oliver1655 (Feb 5, 2014)

Some fire departments for a donation, will flush culverts using it as an "training exercise / equipment check".


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## 2dogs (Feb 17, 2014)

Update. Yesterday Cody and I tackled the most plugged up culvert. We started about 30' from the mouth of the opening of the culvert and rebuilt the ditch and berm with the backhoe. The culvert was just visible on the road surface so I started working on that until the ranger's 14 yo son pointed out that the angle didn't line up with the opening. I had been working on an abandoned section while the other guys were working on the correct part.
Once we opened up around the culvert we found an torn section on the top that we pried up. Inside was a large rock that was nearly the diameter of the culvert. We pried and hacked and lifted the pieces with the backhoe. Cody was the only one of us strong enough to lift the rock out of the hole we created. The culvert was plugged from the rock to the opening, maybe 15'. Everyone took a turn shoveling rocks till I fell through another hole and landed in the culvert! As it turned out we think a dozer shoved a rock through the top of the culvert. The hole I stepped in was the exact triangular shape of the rock. Now I am trying to get the OK to rent a water trailer. Now we only have a dozen to go.


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## 2dogs (Mar 9, 2014)

An update to my update: So far so good. We have only had to send one guy to the hospital and that was just for stitches. Cody brought his old girlfriend along and she is a tiny little thing but tough. She crawled down the more plugged up section and brought out 2 more big rocks (crawling backwards uphill dragging rocks).(Everything was going well till the next day when I mentioned our work to his current GF, seems Cody forgot to mention Camille. If looks could kill). The next weekend, with the current GF, we hand dug a narrow ditch on the inside slope. It has worked well so far.

One big problem is that we don't have good trash racks in front of the mouth. I am going to use t-pickets or rebar depending on price. Any suggestions?


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## northmanlogging (Mar 9, 2014)

I think rebar may be cheaper? and comes in longer lengths. short pieces are fairly easy to drive in


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## 2dogs (Mar 9, 2014)

I think you are correct.


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