Blocked drains

OK, downstairs loo is slow to drain when flushed and the sink which feeds into the same soil stack is also slow to clear. Tried the plunger method in the loo and also blitzed with a stong caustic solution overnight. No good.

So opened up the inspection cover directly outside my front door (still on my property by about 2 metres) and the chamber is flooded so the blockage must be between the inspection cover and the main sewer, or the main sewer itself.

Options:-

Buy some rods and get poking around.
Get a “man” in.
Contact council (but presumably only their responsibility if it’s the main sewer).

(House is 1990 build, detached, not aware of shared private drain with neighbours.)

Any poo experts in da hoose ? 🙂

water company. if its theirs they will clear it, if its yours they will clear it and charge you.

fortunately I live in an old house and all of the drains are their responsibility, have to get them out a couple of times a year. I think they have started scheduling it on to jet the drains on our street now.

If you try rods only twist in the direction that tightens the threads, if you twist then the other way they unscrew and it’s ££££££’S!!!!!!!!!!! I worked as a vacter/jetter operator for eight years for the council and seen it happen loads,
Either the council or a small local jetter man is best
DO NOT CALL DYNOROD!!! We picked up the pieces after they charged people huge sums of money and didn’t solve the problem.

If the man from the council comes out whith a big tanker, and puts a pipe down it make sure the pump is set to suck not blow, if he uses the bigger pipe, and blow if he uses the smaller pipe.

They do sometimes get confused.

DYNO ROD are owned by british gas…………..

give it a good rodding. 9 times out of 10 it will sort it no bother. very satisfying as it drains away.

If the man from the council comes out whith a big tanker, and puts a pipe down it make sure the pump is set to suck not blow, if he uses the bigger pipe, and blow if he uses the smaller pipe.
They do sometimes get confused.

The small one can’t be set to suck, it’s a hosepipe/jetter. Drove and operated dozens of em and none of em suck, only blow
But the big one, definatley suck! Blow is not good unless it’s into a freeflowing main
Yes we did get confused at times…. 😳

Rod it from yours out to the main sewer.
Starting with just the pipe and no fittings on it, if there’s a blockage on your run, use the barbed attachment and as started only twist in the direction that the pipes screw on, if it clears, do one final roding with the rubber fitting, if it clears it make sure you hose out your IC to remove all tissue, etc.

However it’s a modern system so the only reason it would block on your run is from a poorly laid pipe or damaged pipe. If you’ve not had an issue before it’s likely to be a main sewer issue.

Hose down all pipes after use.

Cheers all!

This is the first time I’ve had a prob in the 19yrs I’ve been in the house so perhaps is a mains issue then. I’ll check with the neighbours if they’re having problems also.

A set of rods is looking like £20 ish and I’ve got “Home Emergency” cover with M&S which covers domestic drain blockages so it’s either that route or the water company I think.

Ask a few of your neighbours/friends if they have a set, you’ll be surprised just how many people do have then(or chimney rods)

If you haVe insurance it’s a no brainer surely?? I’d be on the phone now!!

Not sure if there’s an excess on that part of the policy, other parts have a £100 excess.

Before you waste your time go into the street/downstream neighbour’s garden and lift a cover for a look see. If it’s backed up there, nothing useful you can do but call the water company.

Yup, good plan.

yeah but how many days would you be prepared to wait for them to come out?

sometimes all it takes is a garden hose carefully aimed at the exit pipe from the inspection chamber. At least, it does for me. Have to do it 2-3 times a year, which is pretty unpleasant for half an hour or so, but doesn’t cost me owt

sometimes all it takes is a garden hose carefully aimed at the exit pipe from the inspection chamber.

The chamber is flooded, can’t see any input or exit pipes 🙂

there will be one of each. entry pipe will be somewhere near the soilpipe; exit pipe usually in one of the opposite corners

get a big stick & wiggle it around. 19 years you say and you’ve never checked this out?

19 years you say and you’ve never checked this out?

Why should I, never had a problem 🙂 Can’t say drains fascinate me too much.

If you have a pressure washer, you can get an attachment which will jet out your drains. I have one which works pretty well in conjunction with a set of rods.

As a further word of warning, as well as remembering to only turn in the ‘tightening’ direction, you may also want to keep tabs on the plastic of the rods – my first set broke just behind one of the joints, so there are about 6 rods and the forky attachment somewhere down there. We have a problem with an open drain that tends to carry leaf litter and silt into the drain, which then blocks and backs up our downstairs toilet. A good jet wash a couple of times a year seems to keep it clear though.

Yorkshire water cleared our within 2 hours after I’d wasted hours jetting and rodding from my end, before checking the downstream cover in the alleyway. It was untrained idiots putting adult nappies and wipes down the loo at the old folks home up the road.

I had this job to do last autumn. Had 8 metres of drain from inspection pit back up to soil pipe backed up with unspeakable solids.
I bought a set of rods from wickes and cable tied the hosepipe to the end section to make my own improvised dyno rod!
Worked a treat…96 litres of poo and tissue later…

Why do girls use so much tissue?

Nice 🙂 A brown Tsunami ?

Is your upstairs loo ok? If so it sounds like something very local.

It’s not the water company’s responsibility by the sound of it unless it’s the main sewer (with exceptions).

I love sewers me

Yup, upstairs loo is fine.

Doesn’t a flooded inspection chamber mean a block between that and the main sewer ?

yep

ime if the outside inspection hatch is filling then its a downstream problem. Our house is prone to the “trap” blocking, which always requires a vacuum. Not mad expensive – maybe £80 – but I know who to call directly now as dyno-dick pointed me in their direction.

On a slight tangent – dont let your kids see you messing with this stuff. It does nothing for your kudos!

Is there another cover near to where the main soil stack exits the building? Be surprised if not, even 19 yrs ago regs would have stated a mhole for every change in direction on foul!

No, only one inspection cover for the “foul” waste I believe. There is a larger manhole on my property also but I believe that’s for rainwater soakaway from the guttering. Opened that up and that was fine.

As wrightyson

If your upstairs one is draining freely it either hasn’t had chance to back up yet or connects to your other drain further down so you should be able to isolate the blockage.

Do you put much fat down the sink? If you do it might be worth properly jetting it to stop it repeating.

I know it’s late and you can’t look now but any idea of how many inlets on that mhole? If it’s 2, could be a combined system and that mhole would be the last one that is adopted by the board, if that’s the case then the problem is back to you?

No idea as to the inlet count on the inspection chamber. My house is on an estate (as in urban conurbation not CFH manor house) and so presumably there is a local estate main which feeds into the main err, “main” ! Wonder if the water company are responsible for the estate main ?

I feel your pain.. its not a nice job(bie).

Ours blocks occasionally, its an old house and not much fall on the pipe. We were given a thing which to all purposes looks like a butt-plug but is the Gardenia fitting that clips on a hose pipe. It jets forwards and also back to help it move along the pipe as well as clearing stuff out. Went downstream of the blockage and with the hose, jetted it all out with a bit of plunging upstream.

Three top tips if you have a go yourself:
1. Wear old clothes
2. Wear latex/nitrile gloves
3. Keep your mouth shut

But with insurance… do you really want to do this?

But with insurance… do you really want to do this?

That is the conclusion I’m coming to 🙂 Let the jobbie men deal with the jobbies 🙂

The drain up the estate will have been inspected and then adopted by the local water board so it’s their responsibility, as for any branches upto the first mhole onto your property which if iirc is within a metre of the boundary, hence me asking about the other mhole! anyhow I’d still go insurance if the excess isnt too big and if you can wangle it get em to camera the run after unblocking, because if its a damaged pipe etc it’s gonna happen again! Best of luck.

Have you not called anybody yet? Call the water board NOW. If your downstairs loo isn’t flowing free and your manhole(ooo er) is full then it might only be a couple of bathfuls you or you neighbour upstream sends down before the shit is all over your downstairs. If you want to get a man in to slide his rod in your manhole do that soon, but if he comes and finds it’s the main that’s blocked, the water board will refund his call out charge.

I always give mine a rodding and if nothing moves I call the insurance company.

Sometimes it’s not easy to decide which way is downstream. If you can’t be sure you’re wasting your time. My drains are about 170 years old though, so full of things to go wrong (like a U-bend because the Victorians thought “miasma” gave you typhoid, which is now under a pavement (after the council compulsorily purchased our land) which the cable company messed about with when laying cables, but is still our responsibility).

The local drain rodders round our way have a slogan on their truck “We’re Number 1 for Number 2s”

Cheers all!

I shall get the insurance people to get a jobbie man out.

Are any of your neighbors affected? If not then it’s unlikely to be the main sewer blocked. If you call out a private drainage company (dyno-rod etc) and the blockage turns out to be in the main sewer, the water authority are under no obligation to refund any expenses you may incur.

Check with your neighbours first, if their chambers are up too, then get onto the water authority as your first call, if it is a blockage in the main, then ask them to flush your lateral once they’ve cleared the main, there should be no charge for doing this.

Our local one is called the “rodfather”. 8)