Storm drain and downspout line cleaning around Salem

A storm line is a separate pipe from your sewer. It takes roof water from the downspouts and carries it to the street, a ditch or a dry well, and in Salem it works hardest from October through May. Because it only carries rain, nobody notices it is failing until the first big storm of the season sends water spilling out at the base of the downspout.

Storm lines clog differently than sewer lines. Instead of grease and paper, they fill with fine silt, roof grit, fir needles, maple leaves and moss that slide off the roof. Many older lines are thin-walled or perforated pipe that settles and lets soil in. We clear them and show you where the trouble sits.

Why storm lines silt up between rainy seasons

Every rain washes grit from roofing, soil from gutters and bits of leaves into the downspouts. In a heavy storm the water moves fast and carries that debris along, but as the flow slows at the end of a rain, the heavier material settles in low spots and bends of the buried pipe.

Over a dry Salem summer, that wet sediment packs down and hardens. Roots sense the moisture left in the line and work into joints, and the next fall the first storm finds a pipe that is already half full of compacted silt.

Corrugated, perforated and rigid rain pipe

The type of pipe in your yard changes how we clean it and how well it holds up. We identify the pipe at the downspout connection before choosing the tool, since some older flexible pipe tears if it is handled too roughly.

• Corrugated flexible pipe traps silt in every ridge along its length
• Perforated pipe lets soil and roots in through its holes
• Rigid smooth-wall plastic drains well and handles jetting
• Older clay or concrete storm tile shifts at the joints over time

Jetting versus cabling a rain line

Because storm lines mostly fill with loose silt rather than a single solid clog, water jetting usually does a better job than a cable. The jet washes the sediment out along the whole length and leaves the pipe clean enough to carry a winter storm.

Cabling still has a place when roots have grown into a joint or a mass of packed leaves forms a solid plug. In those cases we cut through the obstruction first, then follow with jetting to carry the loosened debris away instead of leaving it in the line.

Saturated soil, crawlspaces and roof water

During a long Salem rain, the ground around the house fills with water and the groundwater rises. A blocked downspout line dumps roof water right at the foundation on top of that, and the extra water often finds its way into the crawlspace.

Clearing the storm line keeps roof water moving away from the house, which lightens the load on any foundation drain and sump pump. We often find that a wet crawlspace improves noticeably once the downspout lines are clear and flowing again.