Do Dry Wells Work and Why Do Dry Wells Fail?

Do Dry Wells Work and Why Do Dry Wells Fail?

I get asked this question all the time. Why can’t we just dig a hole and fill it full of stone and terminate the pipe there and this is a perfect example why shouldn’t just dig a hole.

I just had a homeowner request a quote. What happened here, was all the downspout water, so roof runoff water, and there’s a French drain pipe that goes between the two homes here between the two bed areas through that green belt. They just ended it right here.  They thought, well, we had some fall and we’re far enough away from the home. Let’s just terminate the pipes right here.

Well, if you don’t have sand, just really great soil percolation. If the soil type doesn’t perc really well, this is what you create. This is just a bog. The only thing that’s going to fix this is to dig up that dry well. This is a great example of how dry wells don’t work in areas that have poor percolation. We’ll dig this dry well up and we’ll connect to these pipes and will continue with a French drain system to this culvert and take this water out to a wetland area.

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