Blocked Kitchen Drain

[MummyShortLeggs]

I can see water when I look into my the drain outside my kitchen window. We have had problems in the past and the drain surveyor was unable to fit a camera in to see what the issue was.
When dh gets home from his away work trip I will get him to lift the manhole cover.
In the meantime is it worth putting anything down to try and clear it? I am particularly keen to hear from @pigletjohn if still around.

Anyone got any answers as we have the same problem.

Do you mean there's a gulley outside and you can see water when you look down into it? If that's all then it's normal. There's supposed to be water in those things - they have a trap to prevent gases from the drains from getting out and causing unpleasant smells and other issues, in just the same way as a toilet bowl or the U-bend under your sink. Or did I misunderstand what you meant?

This week I lifted the manhole cover and cleared an almighty fatberg in the drain. Very satisfying. Mainly scooping and poking it though I sprinkled some drain unblocking powder in too. Saved me quite a bit of money too.

Lift the manhole cover yourself and have a look. Ours had a branch growing in ours, of sometimes it blocked and backed up and just need flushing through with a few buckets of water.

I suspect this is will be the case for ours. The cover is an old 2ft by 4ft one inch thick metal jobby. I’m strong but not that strong!
@CasperGutman sorry not sure what you mean by gully. Normally when I look down through the grid over the drain, there is no water visable or a little at the bottom. The whole thing is full and it stinks.
I guess I just wait till DH is back and we can sort it out together. I just wondered if it was worth getting anything to throw down in the meantime.

I used to have these problems in my terrace (we shared a drain with two others) and nothing shifted it. But our water authority came out for free with a big noo noo looking thing and sorted it out. So it might be worth asking?

A gulley/gully is a vertical chamber with a grid/grating drain cover on the top for water to enter, and an exit on the side to your drains, and ultimately to the public sewers under the street.

There are two main kinds - a "P-trap" gulley is easiest to understand and looks like an old-fashioned U-bend which you still find under many kitchen sinks. The bottle trap gulley uses an outer pot with a removable inner hopper, and is usually preferred these days.You can see cross sections through both kinds here: What are gullies, and where do you need them? | JDP (jdpipes.co.uk)

It's normal for there to be water in the bottom, as that's how the trap arrangement works. The water is how they stop gases getting out.

However, if there is more water in there than usual this does suggest there's a problem.

First stop is to use boiling water, several kettles, poured down forcefully.

Then if that doesn't work try a drain cleaner from the DIY shop. It is acid based and quite scary so use with caution, gloves, and stand well back.

If that doesn't work, call a local drain clearing professional.