Install drainage systems in about 30 seconds per unit. Why maintainable weep hole filters go in fast, what drives the pace, and what it does to your schedule and your bid.
Start With the Field Number
On the Michigan DOT twin box culvert demonstration, one crew installed 52 maintainable weep hole filters in a day and a half. Crews install drainage systems of this type from the face of the wall, and that is what sets the pace. That is more than 30 units in a single working day. The math works for one reason: once a hole is cored, each unit seats against its flange and fastens in about 30 seconds. And because the units install from the exposed face, the crew never excavated behind the wall.
Why Crews Install Drainage Systems Faster
Five Reasons the Pace Holds
Front-face access. Every unit installs, and is later serviced, from the exposed face of the wall. The work stays in front of you.
No back-side excavation. The retained soil is never disturbed. No digging, shoring, or dewatering behind the wall.
Ready to install out of the box. Housing, filter cartridge, gasket, and the four stainless steel fasteners ship together. Nothing to assemble on site.
Standard tools only. A core drill, a hammer drill, and an impact driver. No specialty equipment to mobilize.
About 30 seconds per unit. Once the hole is cored, the unit seats against the flange and fastens in about 30 seconds.
Where Traditional Drainage Loses Time
Traditional weep holes lose time twice: once when you install drainage systems, and again every time they clog. Restoring a conventional weep hole usually means reaching the back of the wall, excavating, dewatering, and rebuilding the drain, work measured in hours per location. JET Filter™ puts conventional weep hole installation at 4 to 6 hours against about 30 seconds for a maintainable unit. Because flat weep holes are prone to clogging, that time is often spent again on the next failure.
The hidden cost is recurrence. A drain you cannot clean is a drain you eventually dig up. A maintainable unit turns that future excavation into a 5 minute cartridge service.
What It Means for Your Schedule and Bid
How you install drainage systems changes the line items, not just the labor hours.
| What Changes | Effect on Schedule and Bid |
|---|---|
| Front-face install | No excavation crew, shoring, or dewatering line item behind the wall. |
| About 30 seconds per unit | A predictable unit rate and throughput of more than 30 units per working day. |
| No back-side access | Work proceeds without easements or closures behind the structure. |
| Maintainable cartridge | Future service is a 5 minute swap, not a re-excavation. |
| 316L stainless housing | One install carries 100 plus years of service life, with no housing replacement cycle. |
Field pace and the 52 unit figure are from the Michigan DOT twin box culvert demonstration. Installation time comparison per JET Filter™ product data. Local conditions vary.
Maintenance Stays Fast Too
Maintenance runs about as fast as it takes to install drainage systems in the first place. Pull the inner cartridge, check and clean or replace the filter fabric, and reseat it. No housing removal, no excavation, no special tools, and about 5 minutes per unit. Standard cartridge cleaning intervals are 3 to 5 years for the 3 inch unit, 4 to 7 years for the 4 inch unit, and 6 to 10 years for the 6 inch unit, and the 316L stainless steel housing carries a 100 plus year service life.
Pricing Time to Install Drainage Systems?
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DOT approved. Buy America compliant. US Patents #7,615,148 (open end) and #10,124,281 (check valve).