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NW Ohio | I do farm drainage work and have installed over 250 of the inline flow control structures that you are talking about. In my area, and from the few boxes I have installed for myself, it seems like they work great in the clay ground. They will hold water back for a long time, no noticeable dirt entering the system, and I believe when properly managed, they can help the crops. I have one field on sand ground with a flow control box on it and I am not convinced that one works as well. I don't believe I am getting much silt in the tile, but the water just won't hold in the box. I can not keep the water level up over the top of the outlet for very long as the water will just soak into the sand and disappear. Your experience may vary...
I will say 95% of the flow control boxes I have installed are on clay ground and 75% of the people I have installed boxes for say they help. I am very active in managing my own boxes. If it rains a bunch and my box was holding back a quite a bit of water already, I will take the time to go out and open them for 24-48 hours to let them drain down, then I will go back out and close them. Summer time, it takes a lot of water to fill them up so there is very little to do then. In my opinion, it is not a "set it and forget it" tool. I also keep the top of the stop boards down 12"+ from the ground level so the box never fills up to ground level, water can go up and over if necessary. | |
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Tile water level control structures
