Who knows about drains ? For a living or generally

[zippitippitoes]

I know someone does but I can't find the thread but no matter

We have a drain problem

We have pulled up a thin layer of concrete in the cellar to find out what was there and it's a drain with a big opening and we need to know if it's entirely our responsibility or partly the Water company as it's causing problems

old Victorian

and we don't know what it's for

but it's blocked somewhere

terraced house

Hi

Yes, do contact the Council - some of the drains on our property are Water Board responsibility, shows up on council plans. Don't contact any plumbers as they won't know (to be fair, the norm is for it to be your responsibility) and will simply quote you for the work. Our blocked drains were fixed quickly and for free by Yorkshire Water - slightly pissed off next door neighbour but one who had paid a couple of hundred pounds a few years previously for essentially the same work on her property - all part of the same drain so also not her responsibility.

Good luck (and crossed fingers for the toddler....)

Well we've had a plumber mate look anmd he is non e the wiser and he's done all our work

but we will were try the council and report back to you folks

We have hired the drain rods and now have a super smelly house..the drain/well? (haeven forbid we have two wells one is pain enough)
is large like metre plus and rod hits something (a crosswise drain?) before getting to the street

so i suspect that is a shared drain along the terrace

No water moving

So have rung the council and waiting for a call back from an officer

good luck!

keep us informed

It won't be a crosswise drain Zippi - I think they join at acute angles to the flow IYSWIM

Come on Zippi - the suspense is killing us.....

(and more to the point I'm out tomorrow and will miss it )

the council haven't rung back so i will ring them tomorrow

and will let you know any developments

Hi Zippi, I will ask Dh when he arrives home he is a drainage engineer and may have some answers for you. He does all the CCTV the lot. He should be back home by 9pm at the latest

Thank you lovely people..

Two men from the council came this morning so we have been having fun with hoses and luminous green dye..and a lot of chin pulling and head shaking, as we all put forward our theories...

Unfortunatley they had another appointment so after an hour or so had to go myster unsolved but are coming back next wednesday with an armoury of rods, jetters and a worm? etc

Any way the dye in the well outside hasn't appeared in the cellar although the water in both looks the same

But after they went (as these things have a tendency to happen) dp had more of a poke and found that there is an outlet directly down which is blocked and we now think that the outlet out to the front is an inlet which is no longer used...
So tomorrow dp is getting the rods back to try and clear the pipe going down

And we have to see what happens when it rains

We were also warned of the possibiliuty if sewer rats..yeeeuch

So stinky house for at least another week

Well feeling around with his hands dp managed to find inlets from the rear and the side (nextdoor?) and an outlet to the other side which is totally blocked...the angle is to awkward for drsin rods so we are waiting for the council to come back on Wednesday

if they jet the outlet I'm not sure where it goes?

It is definitely connected in some way to the well in the back yard as the dye has now come through

Well the diary of a drain continues

I have now learnt that a drain is a drain until it joins the sewer, but it is a sewer if it is itself joined by another household's drain and it has water from a source other than rainfall when it is a private sewer and a shared responsibility between the sharees until it reaches the public sewer unless

the properties which share the sewer were built and separately occupied before 1937 when the private sewer is called Section 24 and is the responsibility of the Water Company

We have now discovered another inlet/outlet to our drain and located the probable outlet to the street sewer but it is still blocked with a bout 150 years of crud.

Mr Rodders is very morose as he has not succeeded in clearing the drain and his contribution has been pointless and a waste of time

Mr SuitandTie has said no no you have achieved a lot, you have done well

Dp has been lying with his head and most of his arm down various holes fully of yeeuch along the lines of here is a hole Mr Rodders

Dp is frustrated with Mr Rodders lack of desire to find the holes

Mr Rodders wants to give up and contractors come in with a jetter to blast it

Mr SuitandTie and myself we want to find out where the inlets are coming from so that we can have a Section 24 and make the Water Company come or a shared responsibility with neighbours who can then be made to share the costs.

So next Wednesday Mr SuitandTie and Mr Rodders are coming back (Mr Rodders very depressed at this prospect)and they are not having any other appointments arranged so will have the day to spend with our drain.

Our homework for this week is to go next door and find out what they know about drains and we have been given a small amount of dye to use sparingly to try and find out where the water comes from

oh zippi ....... best of luck, have been following your thread, as there is something whiffy going on with our pipes/drains.

Thanks blue

just writng for info really having started and hope it may give some info in the end once we get sorted

also trying for the dullest thread competition