For trenched sewer replacement, should you haul away the pipe?

[Cali_John]

A poster made a point in a previous thread https://terrylove.com/forums/index....s-sewer-pipe-what-is-the-best-material.87694/ about negotiating for a plumber to haul away the old pipe to prevent "subsidence".

I've found a lot of plumbers a bit reluctant to haul the old broken pipe away. Should I insist on it being done? How much of a risk is it? Is it an environmental hazard? It seems like a minor issue at best given that the house I'm considering for replacing the pipe is in Southern California / LA where it's traditionally dry with the occasional heavy rain in the winter months.

But I'm curious what others' experiences are with it.

EDIT: The new pipe is about 20-30 ft of HDPE, the old "burst" pipe is the orangeburg pipe/fragements that will need to be hauled away. I also updated the title from "trenchless" to trenched. The plumbers will dig a trench, replace the old orangeburg with HDPE and inteneded to discard the old pipe by leaving it in the ground.

 

[Reach4]

If it is trenchless, how is there pipe to haul away? Maybe from the endpoints.

Is this like 10 ft of clay pipe? 100 ft?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cali_John]

If it is trenchless, how is there pipe to haul away? Maybe from the endpoints.

Is this like 10 ft of clay pipe? 100 ft?

Great ? - it's about 20-30 feet of orangeburg pipe running from the house to the connection in the street.

 

[Reach4]

EDIT: The new pipe is about 20-30 ft of HDPE, the old "burst" pipe is the orangeburg pipe/fragements that will need to be hauled away.

How would the burst pipe be accessed to be hauled away?

 

[Cali_John]

Great ? - During the replacement process, I think a trench is dug, so there is access to the old pipe. At least that's my understanding.

 

[Reach4]

Great ?

Second time you said that. What do you mean?

During the replacement process, I think a trench is dug, so there is access to the old pipe. At least that's my understanding.

https://sewerpros.com/what-is-this-trenchless-sewer-repair/ says

What does ‘trenchless’ mean exactly?
Well, a trench is a long, narrow ditch. Therefore, trenchless technology means working without trenches or doing underground construction work without extensive digging.​

 

[Cali_John]

Second time you said that. What do you mean?



https://sewerpros.com/what-is-this-trenchless-sewer-repair/ says

What does ‘trenchless’ mean exactly?
Well, a trench is a long, narrow ditch. Therefore, trenchless technology means working without trenches or doing underground construction work without extensive digging.​

"Great ?" is short for "Great question".

Sorry for all the confusion, I think when this particular batch of plumbers were describing it to me they were using mixed terminology. They are digging a trench to replace the pipe. I changed the title to reflect that. So the plumbers will dig a trench and replace the pipe. At the end of the process, they planned to leave the old broken orangeburg pipe in the ground.

 

[Reach4]

Sorry for all the confusion, I think when this particular batch of plumbers were describing it to me they were using mixed terminology. They are digging a trench to replace the pipe. I changed the title to reflect that. So the plumbers will dig a trench and replace the pipe. At the end of the process, they planned to leave the old broken orangeburg pipe in the ground.

Got it. If it were clay, you could break it. Being fiber, I don't know that you could break orangeburg. Then put it in your trash pickup over the next several weeks. I wonder if you could cut that up into garbage container sized pieces with a Sawzall.

I expect they plan to pull the orangeburg pipe, and throw it in the trench before they put the dirt back.

I don't know what I would do in your case. When I got my sewer done, a couple years later I paid to have somebody Bobcat off the junk at the top of the mound strip, and replace with topsoil. How much extra would they want to remove the orangeburg? In my area, with clay down deep, I would actually rather they also remove some of the dirt, and I could then top with topsoil as the dirt settles. Your sewer line will probably not be as deep as one around here would be. Even better would be if they would set the topsoil aside on a tarp, dig, and put the topsoil back last.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Its your call you are the boss if you dont want any of that debris buried tell them. I know this is a real pricey job. Id recomend getting a couple prices and tell them what you want done its not that big a deal to dispose of

 

[Martin Boring]

In my area how that is handled vary's widely. In the city and bigger towns it figured into the bid to clean up and remove the old pipe from the site and not just bury it or leave it in the trench. In the more rural areas a lot of time the trash man will pickup old sewer pipe no problem

 

[Jeff H Young]

In my area how that is handled vary's widely. In the city and bigger towns it figured into the bid to clean up and remove the old pipe from the site and not just bury it or leave it in the trench. In the more rural areas a lot of time the trash man will pickup old sewer pipe no problem

Yes but either way a customer can and should be able to hire a contractor to get it done. Just like replacing a water heater If the customer wants it hauled off it gets hauled off. If I make a deal with someone real cheap I can tell them to make thier own arrangements, But no need to have a toilet, water heater , or old sewer pipe in thier yard. Just my opinion.... paying me top dollar by hour you tell me what you want me to do. You think million dollar homes and Drs have to go out in the yard and pick up the poop pipe because the guy charging 10,000 dollars dosent do that kind of thing? just gotta hire the right guy!

 

[Cali_John]

Its your call you are the boss if you dont want any of that debris buried tell them. I know this is a real pricey job. Id recomend getting a couple prices and tell them what you want done its not that big a deal to dispose of

Great points all, thank you - you're right I am a paying customer, they should be able to find a way to accomodate.

 

[hj]

If subsidence is the only concern, bury the ppipe in the ditch.

 

[Reach4]

If subsidence is the only concern, bury the ppipe in the ditch.

The concern is that the dirt could work its way into the pipe under wet conditions, reducing the dirt above.

 

[Dj2]

I've always buried the old clay.

 

[Dj2]

...And laid down ABS.

 

[Cali_John]

Thanks dj2 and everyone, it's been tough finding people who want to remove the pipe (without it costing quite a bit extra) - I was mostly worried that leaving the pipe there could cause some unforeseen environmental or repair issues. It seems like it won't though.