Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

cltt97

Hi,

I recently bought a house and I've got an outfall manhole in my driveway. It was overflowin the day we moved in so I had it cleared. The guy who did it said he didn't think our pipes drained into this one, but probably the next one down the road. I rang the concil draining division, but they said they didn't have drainage plans and they didn't know where I could find out. Problem is, this manhole seems to be blocking up every 2-3 months, and i don't want to have to pay for cleaning a manhole that isn't even connected to our house. The drainage division recommended we flush down food dye and see if it comes out, which we will try and he also said we could have a survey done of the connection to see if treeroots or any such thing are obstruction the connection.

Anyone got any advice or experience with same?

Many thanks

GreeBo

If you are in an estate I would get on to the residents association.
People wrongly assume that this is the problem of whoevers drain the sh1te pops out of, its not, its everyones problem.

In theory you could just block up your drain and it will back up to the next blokes house.
Get onto your neighbours aswell and ask them are the seeing any problems or smells.
If its spilling out in yours drive then its backed up in someone elses house aswell.

The dynarod boys should be able to give you an idea of where its coming from and what is causing the blockage (nappies, etc)

cltt97

Hi there,
I'm not in an Estate, I live in one of those ex-council houses in Drimnagh. last night one of the neighbours said they had a bad smell in their kitchen again and would be check. My partner checked and the manhole is almost filled up to the top. Our manhole in the back is not blocked up at all. This leads me to believe that our house is not part of this drainage system. And the dynorod guy last time said he didn't think so either when he looked at the direction our pipes go off under the house. It appears this is a recurring problem - we only bought the house about 2 months ago and it's the 4th time already it needs draining this year. I don't feel we should have to pay for it as it's not our drains, just unfortunately in our driveway!

tapest

Cltt 77
"I've got an outfall manhole in my driveway"
I don't know how good the guy was who cleared your blockage...But the chances are your house does feed into the manhole (MH). MH is obviously on the sewer line, maybe taking feed from a number of houses in a row, so why would they connect your drains elsewhere. You are probably connected either directly into or near MH. Every connection in yard for both foul and surface water should have inspection / cleaning access. Very little use of buried bends instead of "AJs" (inspection /cleaning access).
If MH is blocking up logic dictates that the obstruction is either at MH outlet or downstream of MH. People downstream won't readily admit to causing problem. someone upstream dumping nappies might cause blockage downstrteam of you. your connection should be at /or upstream of MH, unless builder was obliged to install extra MH on your yard to accommodate odd bend, but very unlikely as they could install this MH in neighbours yard and go direct from there to main sewer...easier and cheaper for him.
If worst comes to worst, an undergtround survey ( you get report and video, compass direction of sewer outfall and distances etc) is very expensive.
Food dye down your drains and check its entry to MH is your first job. Note sewer and surface water are seperate, so lift every possible inspection hatch. That has to be your first step.
Do this first . PM me if you're still in trouble What council area are you in??
t

cltt97

Hi Tapest,

I'm in Drimnagh. I bought an ex-council house. I think that our house doesn't drain into that manhole though. At the moment, the outfall manhole in the driveway is almost overflowing with something that is definitely not rainwater, and one of the neighbours knocked in yesterday saying that her kitchen started smelling again. When we got dyno-rod out the last time, pretty much just after moving in he said our pipes were running off to the left under the house, defnitely not a straight line out to the manhole in the driveway. Also our manhole in the back now, where the toilet drains into, is not blocked at all, which you would assume was the case as we'd be the last house in the line being served by that manhole. Dynorod would charge 355 for the first two hours and then 140/h after for a CCTV survey (plus VAT added to it in the end). It's all very weird - I was wondering myself why we would have a shared manhole for the terrace to our right in our front garden when we're draining into the one at the end of our terrace (we're end of terrace)....

tapest

cltt97 wrote:

Hi Tapest,

I'm in Drimnagh. I bought an ex-council house. I think that our house doesn't drain into that manhole though. At the moment, the outfall manhole in the driveway is almost overflowing with something that is definitely not rainwater, and one of the neighbours knocked in yesterday saying that her kitchen started smelling again. When we got dyno-rod out the last time, pretty much just after moving in he said our pipes were running off to the left under the house, defnitely not a straight line out to the manhole in the driveway. Also our manhole in the back now, where the toilet drains into, is not blocked at all, which you would assume was the case as we'd be the last house in the line being served by that manhole. Dynorod would charge 355 for the first two hours and then 140/h after for a CCTV survey (plus VAT added to it in the end). It's all very weird - I was wondering myself why we would have a shared manhole for the terrace to our right in our front garden when we're draining into the one at the end of our terrace (we're end of terrace)....

PM on its way

recoveringeng

I called out Dynorod for a problem. I'm on a row of houses. My normal plumber advised me that he would only be able to fix the job within
the house and get out Dynorod to make sure they put rods up stream
as well.

They came out, told me the job was done after 20 minutes, and foolishly
I believed them. The problem is back, but I only discovered it after
the 30 day guarantee had expired. They say I have to start from
scratch. It took 2 days and four phone calls for a manager to call me back. I would never use them again.

GreeBo

recoveringeng wrote: »

I called out Dynorod for a problem. I'm on a row of houses. My normal plumber advised me that he would only be able to fix the job within
the house and get out Dynorod to make sure they put rods up stream
as well.

They came out, told me the job was done after 20 minutes, and foolishly
I believed them. The problem is back, but I only discovered it after
the 30 day guarantee had expired. They say I have to start from
scratch. It took 2 days and four phone calls for a manager to call me back. I would never use them again.

The problem could easily have arisen again after 30 days. A neighbour of ours has to get them out frequently as people keep flushing those wet-wipes and they block the pipes and dont breakdown. I wouldnt go assuming that DynoRod are trying to screw you, did they explain what the problem was the last time?

recoveringeng

Dynorod were in and out in 20 minutes. They didn't go upstream
although I asked them to do a thorough job. I should have
pushed.