Anyone ever replace a section of clay sewer pipe?
 

Make a long story short...

I'm not gonna replace the whole run just the broken section... then buy the F'n insurance for $5 a month.

I am thinking of useing clay since I wont be replacing the whole length of pipe to the main and that would be consistant material if I go trenchless at some point in the future... also cameras would see only clay pipe as I am doing this al la Robert De Niro in 'Brazil'...

Any tips, tricks in connecting the sections together? How much gravel, how deep under and high above the pipe...? ...?

...needle in a haystack...
 

Started digging last Sunday morning with an Electric jack hammer and a lot of anxiety about where the pipe ran mystery, but all in all felt pretty good about my best guesstimating. Took out a 12"² piece of the previously unknown 4" concrete pad under my asphalt and burried under it, dead center, was a 4" clay pipe that ran verticaly down to the main. :bulb:

The place where the dousing indicated water appears to have no pipe but most likely is the path of the run off from the break... btw.

Replacing some broken sections is pretty cut and dry as opposed to laying an entire run. Hopefully your is a straight run no branches. I referenced the National Clay Pipe Institute, they have everything you need to know to becoming the best ditch digger and pipe layer in town, Line and Grade, connections, trench widths, bedding. Anyways they are at ncpi.org;)

no, i leave those things for the professionals.

:D I didn't feel very professional while doing it. In fact maybe the opposite.

Ouch, jackhammers. You do have a project. I learned the grass is always greener near the break.

if nothing leaked then consider yourself a professional...:gorgeous:

Yeah, it seems pretty well covered here:
http://www.ncpi.org/installhand.htm
Thanks for the tip.

P.S. By the end of reading the documents I am feeling an uncontrolable desire to install a manhole :silly:

Does Home Depot rent the miniature backhoe's there? Could save your back, not to mention having some fun.

My driveway is about 40' long and if I were doing the whole line I would go for a mini excavator 2 day $435 rental including tax that I found through an insider. As it stands I am 60% dug by hand already and down to the pipe. Once your in the hole it only gets easier. Fingers crossed.

Never replace clay with clay you can mend then section with PVC.

Do you know how 'trenchless' works?

I don't, but thought I heard they break up the old pipe as they insert the liner and was thinking that would be a 'possible obstacle'. Also want to restore the function in a way that looks as 'original' (via camera etc.) as possible. So there would be little evidence of the connection being made... estheicly from a governing bodies perspective.

By trenchless, do you mean something like insituform?

There's an easier explanation. Dowsing is a scam, and even the dowsers can't admit it to themselves; that is, they really believe that it works.

It doesn't work. They rely on their senses to see where the pipes (or underground aquifers) might run, and unconsciousely move the rods there.

Cool I had no idea dowsers had xray vision. Do you think they can see you panties?
I watched a worker from Denver water use dowsing to find a broken water main. It was exactly where he marked the spot.

Found this:

How it Works
Roto-Rooter's trenchless excavation technology uses advanced equipment to enter the ground via two small access pits, approximately three four feet by four feet square. Using the broken sewer line as a guide, Roto-Rooter's hydraulic pipe-bursting machinery pulls full-sized, seamless replacement pipe through the old pipe's path while breaking up the old damaged pipe in the process. Once the job is completed, the entrance and exit pits can be quickly refilled, leaving little or no evidence of activity. The manufacturer claims the new heavy-duty polyethylene pipe has a life expectancy of up to one hundred years. And since the pipe is seamless, it is impervious to leaks or root intrusion. The entire process goes on below ground leaving almost everything on the surface undisturbed. Roto-Rooter can replace pipes of varying sizes using this revolutionary and versatile equipment. Similar to the pipe-bursting technique described above, Roto-Rooter also utilizes a process called "trenchless pipe re-lining." Pipe re-lining can thread a new inner skin into damaged underground pipes, sealing cracks and creating a smooth new inner wall that will last for decades. Like the aforementioned pipe bursting technique, the pipe re-lining equipment is very non-invasive and requires only a couple of small pits to gain access to the damaged pipes below ground. The re-lining process is particularly useful for repairing damaged pipes encased in concrete slabs.