Roadside Drain Filter Cleaning

The process carried out by the machine involves the lifting, segregation and dry cleaning of the filter material and the return of the graded and cleaned material to the drain it came from.

The drain cleaning machine is usually set to clean a width of 600mm and to a depth of 300mm although it has the capability to clean down to 600mm. On a typical 300mm depth of cleaning, the machine will normally dispose of between five and eight tons of spoil and dirt for every 100m of drain. Currently the machine is set up to only deal with type B specification French Drains although it could be altered to deal with other specifications. The ideal material for use through this machine is angular crushed rock to single size 40mm specification or type B.

Disposal of arisings is via a cleated belt, which can either load accompanying trucks or may in some circumstances place the spoil well away from the drain on the verge or bank. As the process is a dry clean as opposed to wet clean, it works at its very best in the summer months but will still perform well in dry periods in the winter. The key to the process is dry ground conditions. On carrying out its process, the machine (based on a large track laying vehicle) proceeds forward with its left track over the drain to be cleaned, digging the material behind the track as it proceeds and then returning cleaned material behind the digging point in a mobile continuous process. Depending on conditions, 100-150m of drain can be cleaned per hour making the process much faster than conventional methods of drain replacement.