How do I check that a drain actually goes somewhere?

Lo all, I’m back after a brief absence while I moved house.

Need some plumbing/drain advice: in the new place they have the taps and outlet for washing machine in the garage. (There is no room in the kitchen for one). And when we moved in there was a washing machine connected there.

BUT… when we actually try to use the washing machine it just floods the garden. 🙁

The waste pipe goes outside the garage and then down to a drain at the corner of the garage that the guttering also runs to. That’s the drain that floods.

No bother, probably just blocked right? Well it’s a clay/stone pipe and reaching my hand around it I can feel a u-bend (which is clear) but I can’t get in any further.

So far I’ve tried:
– plunging it.
– one bottle of Jeyes Drain Unblocker
– THREE 1kg bottles of caustic soda followed by endless kettle of boiling water
– I have rods but no way to get them around that bend and no sign of any other access anywhere.
– I’ve tried putting a hose down it and it doesn’t get very far past the bend. Turning it on makes no odds.
– I’ve tried stuffing the drain while the hose is down it, to try to force pressure on the “blockage”. Nothing

I have a sinking feeling that the reason I’m not getting anywhere with it is that the drain doesn’t actually go anywhere! I’m beginning to think it is a soakaway that the previous owner was abusing as a bodged washing machine drainage. The gardener said they’d always had problems with it and he didn’t think it went anywhere either. It certainly doesn’t seem to match up with the direction at any of the manholes.

So how do I find out for sure?

I don’t particularly want to call DynoRod or whoever just to have them show up and say “That’s not a drain. That’ll be £200 please”.

Any thoughts?

You could try dowsing for the water that travels along it to see where it ends up

(Thats a joke. Not helpful, sorry.)

You can buy USB borescope camera’s dead cheap off Amazon, in the region of £15, just plug into your phone or PC with USB. Should be fairly obvious if you get to a soakaway dead end.

Or get some fluorescent dye and put it down there, and look for it at the last inspection hatch that flows off your property.

Oooh I like the idea of a boroscope. Good shout. I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy one of those.

Is it an old house? You might just have a soak away. If you can get a jetting extension for a pressure washer (Aldi sometimes have them) and try that. If you hit resistance and small white chips come back towards you, it’s probably a soak away.

Lots of old houses would take the rainwater to them.

Glue a go-pro to a conveniently trained stoat.

1962 build. One owner and it’s only been in occasional occupancy by a little old lady for the past 20 odd years.

Worringly I did see some small white chips when trying to clear it with a garden hose. 🙁
FFS who would drain a washing machine into a soakaway? I’m surprised any of the plants are alive!

I’m thinking I might need to run a flexible hose around the outside of the house to a different proper drain. It’ll look ugly as sin, but at least we’ll be able to actually wash clothes!
Something like 20mm fish tank hose or the likes would do it I guess.

Sounds like a soakaway for the roof.

If it’s connected to the drains there should be a manhole cover for every change of direction. Lift the nearest likely one and look for an inlet in the right direction.

How old’s the house? If it’s old enough the above may not apply but 1970s onwards it should.

If you’re going to run a proper pipe,use proper rigid waste pipe and make sure you have rodding eyes at the bends.

I am placing a bet on a soakaway also, even with U-bend.

I know as a plumber of mine once connected a new upstairs en-suite attic loo and shower to a similar drain that the kitchen sink was already attached to, assuming a proper foul connection. It was noticed three days later as sh*t backed up out the kitchen sink…

FFS who would drain a washing machine into a soakaway?

The people who do not realise that there are foul drains and soakaways, and that they are different….

Glue a go-pro to a conveniently trained stoat.

My apologies, I didn’t see it was you Graham. You could use a velcro watch strap as a more vegan friendly weasel/camera attachment solution. 🙂

But the pipe’s full of water, isn’t it? So he’d need an otter, not a stoat.

Do you have any trees that could have damaged the drains?

But the pipe’s full of water, isn’t it? So he’d need an otter, not a stoat.

No, no, no. Last idiot who tried that got confused and sent a beaver down. Bloody thing built a dam and look where that got us!

So he’d need an otter, not a stoat.

But you need a stoatally different approach to a small pipe, it is weaselly obvious that you couldn’t get them down without them being otter under the collar than planned…Beaver way, you are stuffed.

If it’s connected to the drains there should be a manhole cover for every change of direction.

There isn’t. But then there isn’t for the drain from the kitchen either and that definitely does go to the proper main waste drain.

If you’re going to run a proper pipe,use proper rigid waste pipe..

Ideally I would, but if I’m running it round the outside of the house then it needs to go around a corner, duck under the back doorstep, then up over a lip and into a proper drain. It’s only a temporary solution though. Longer term (year to 18 months) we’ll be knocking down the garage anyway to build an extension.

sh*t backed up out the kitchen sink…

Gak! Well my situation could be worse I suppose.

Do you have any trees that could have damaged the drains?

Lots of trees. Not obviously near the drain though – but then I have no idea what direction it actually travels in (assuming it does) because it heads under some chuffing massive coping slabs that aren’t going anywhere without me hiring some machinery.

Just ordered this wifi boroscope. Fun toy even if it doesn’t help 🙂
http://amzn.eu/94VKKnB

You’ll struggle to pump the waste from a washing machine any great distance. Typically a few metres, and if you are it’s best to pump vertically first then horizontally to the drain point.

Washing machine and dishwasher pumps are primarily designed to pump the length of grey pipe that’s fitted and gravity does the rest.

Just ordered this wifi boroscope. Fun toy even if it doesn’t help

Just make sure you use plenty of vaseline and relax.

I traced my new to me house drains by adding food colouring to various bogs and sinks and getting gf to run taps/etc while I ran around the various outlet options checking for colours

Any surprisingly big treesor plants nearby, good indication of a soakaway.

I put a washing machine in our garage and mistakenly plunged it into a soak away for a few weeks.

I found a standard hosepipe was a perfect push for into the outlet pipe, ran it out the garage to a proper drain. It was about 15 metres with a gentle fall and used to pump out perfectly fine.

love the otter, beaver stoat sugestions .. polecat or mink, just dont let it lose.

have the deeds got a plan of the street with drains etc ?