Re: SOAKWELLS - How easy are they to put in and install ?

No I have done a few here and there and they are working as good as the day they were done. Have a look at using Ozone as a means of reducing chlorine dependency Or reducing salt use

Have I posted any pics of the cubes and different soak wells?


Options are...
* cheap plastic soakwells. You'll be doing the job twice
* Concrete soak wells- You be wishing you used ag drain or a cube.
* The ag pipe /ag drain, has a huge surface area for leaching the water back to the soil. One fo these is more effective than one old skool soak well.
* The new age drainage cubes which have various marketing names. These are the very best and most effective means to leach water back into the soil. They handle enormous pressures from both cars and internal water pressure.

That is correct.
A normal concrete soak well is grossly inefficient at leaching water as such a small surface area is open to the sand. 2 are often needed per down pipe. However like I have said many times, wait till it rains and see which down pipes carry the most volume and concentrate on those ones.
The more surface available to leaching water, the more effective the method. This is why the cubes are by far the most effective. They have an enormous surface area available to leach water. They are also the strongest option.

Again, don't directly connect a soak well with the down pipe! They must be separated!

Drainage should not be underestimated and in many places, Australian standards are not in line with projected increases in severe rain and hail events which look to occur 4 to 6 times as often as they do at present.

As an example, Perth should be using gutters more akin to what is used in North Qld, yes we are the fastest drying climate on the globe, but the rain events contributing to the rainfall totals are expected to be far more severe. Our tiny gutters just won't handle the volumes of water. But I will have to wait 10 years to be proven right

I Pm'd you the details of the person that did mine.

mine's a cottage block with 9 or 10 (i forget ) DWP. ~$1000 all done and dusted.
DIY would be about the same, galvins sell them but its not worth the digging for me.

Shonzilla, could you pretty please PM me this info too? Sounds great! I was sceptical when you first talked about such a bargain but you sound very happy with the results.

Fu, are you able to give me an idea of how many and/or big cubes I would need if I do go the DIY path?




Cheers!

I'll barge in with this little interruption as I am new to soakwells and have no idea what they are.
So, a quick Google search came up with some info to define what they actually are ... so here are some extracts from a few sites:

Soakwells are a requirement in Perth. By law in WA, homeowners must have soakwells installed to dispose of all their rainwater, and stormwater.

A soakwell is an innovation whereby rain water travels to a designated area and seeps into the surrounding soil. Soakwells are found near downpipes leading from gutters on practically most outdoor habitations.
Typically soakwells are made of cement, PVC, or plastic and may be found with or without concrete pavers or lids which resist pressure from above.
A soakwell can range in size from 600mmx600mm to several meters in diameter.
Soakwells are typically 500mm to 300mm below ground with the bottom edges varying in depth between 900mm to 2m.
Soakwells are important in maintaining the integrity of a building’s foundation.

We do not recommend PVC soakwells. Every week we upgrade systems that have caused damage due to insufficient volume or collapsed PVC soakwells.

etc. etc.

Are they used in NSW? Or, is there an "equivalent" structure here?

Oh no, who's going to find that !!

But we are on heavy clay anyway