Blocked drain - DIY or someone out
Discussion
Hi All,
Ive got a blocked drain at the manhole cover at the bottom of my drive. A tidal wave of water from a big bin and pressure washing down it the best I can hasnt fixed it. Southern water are going to look today, because really the block is off my property. If they tell me to do one do I
a) Get someone out, avoid agro and poo, pay money.
b) Get £20 rods from Screwfix(I dont think the angle will work, the hole is waste deep)
or
c) Buy man gadget from Karcher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq6V6Z8D9DU
Im tempted, anyone got this? Could use them again on gutter or same problem if it happens again.
Ive got a blocked drain at the manhole cover at the bottom of my drive. A tidal wave of water from a big bin and pressure washing down it the best I can hasnt fixed it. Southern water are going to look today, because really the block is off my property. If they tell me to do one do I
a) Get someone out, avoid agro and poo, pay money.
b) Get £20 rods from Screwfix(I dont think the angle will work, the hole is waste deep)
or
c) Buy man gadget from Karcher - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq6V6Z8D9DU
Im tempted, anyone got this? Could use them again on gutter or same problem if it happens again.
Something is causing the blockage and there can be only so many suspects.
1) The other half has stuck something down the toilet which they shouldn't have done
2) A foreign object has somehow got down there and caused a blockage
3) There is root ingress into the pipe
4) The pipe has cracked, collapsed or a joint has failed.
If you know it's 1 or 2 by all means shove some water down it or prod it. However if it's 3 or 4 causing it then the problem will only get worse so I would get a specialist out and get a camera put down there to check. It may be slightly more expensive, but it will be cheaper than getting the blockage cleared only to have to do it again in a little while.
1) The other half has stuck something down the toilet which they shouldn't have done
2) A foreign object has somehow got down there and caused a blockage
3) There is root ingress into the pipe
4) The pipe has cracked, collapsed or a joint has failed.
If you know it's 1 or 2 by all means shove some water down it or prod it. However if it's 3 or 4 causing it then the problem will only get worse so I would get a specialist out and get a camera put down there to check. It may be slightly more expensive, but it will be cheaper than getting the blockage cleared only to have to do it again in a little while.
Funnily enough the big G just brought this up.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=104...
Didnt really get resolved in this thread, but I do know its my daughters moist wipes in just the one toilet causing the issue so once fixed no more soft wipes and unlikely to have the problem again he says....
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=104...
Didnt really get resolved in this thread, but I do know its my daughters moist wipes in just the one toilet causing the issue so once fixed no more soft wipes and unlikely to have the problem again he says....
If the drain cover is the inspection chamber which is normally 6 foot deep with a gutter at the bottom, and it's blocked, the problem is further down the system. Let the water company deal with it and don't flush for the moment!
I had the same recently, turned out to be a main sewer blockage serving 50+ properties. The blockage was fat and wet wipes, pretty common I was told.
I had the same recently, turned out to be a main sewer blockage serving 50+ properties. The blockage was fat and wet wipes, pretty common I was told.
My in laws had a similar issue when we were round there one Sunday for lunch, tissue and 'matter' floating round on their path. We opened the man hole and tried poking a hose down there which didn't help, so borrowed some drain rods. We run nearly 12m down the drain to no avail and even broke through a gully at the front of the house and still 12m didn't make any difference.
The next day my father in law found a local dynorod type guy who had a look 'off the book's, and his cleaning pipe went just over 30m down the drain so was well under the street somewhere so we were no where near. He was only there 20 minutes and didn't change much because he called in on the way home. FYI the state of the rods and hose we tried using wasnt very nice afterwards so a posh karcher hose would take some cleaning before you'd want to put it back in the shed.
The next day my father in law found a local dynorod type guy who had a look 'off the book's, and his cleaning pipe went just over 30m down the drain so was well under the street somewhere so we were no where near. He was only there 20 minutes and didn't change much because he called in on the way home. FYI the state of the rods and hose we tried using wasnt very nice afterwards so a posh karcher hose would take some cleaning before you'd want to put it back in the shed.
Well Southern Water texted to say they were too busy today! Its not urgent, but the poo soup hasnt subsided from this morning so it does need sorting. If they dont sort it Ill call a local company. I could spend 50 quid on the karcher bit and it looks good, but if it doesnt do the trick, its money wasted and as someone points out a pooey mess to clean up and store, er somewhere. I like having tools, but I think this time Ill buy someones time. Im fairly confident its our fault, the wipes can stop and there should be no more issues.
8-P said:
Well Southern Water texted to say they were too busy today! Its not urgent, but the poo soup hasnt subsided from this morning so it does need sorting. If they dont sort it Ill call a local company. I could spend 50 quid on the karcher bit and it looks good, but if it doesnt do the trick, its money wasted and as someone points out a pooey mess to clean up and store, er somewhere. I like having tools, but I think this time Ill buy someones time. Im fairly confident its our fault, the wipes can stop and there should be no more issues.
In my case, it took three events before the message finally sank in. Thank the lord for hot showers and coal tar soap.If off the boundary, it will be southern waters responsibility. If they prove on your boundary and the pipe only serves your property...
...phone your home insurer. Say you have tried to clear, but unsuccessful and you think he pipe has collapsed. They will appoint a company to attend, unblock and CCTV survey. Any damage, pay your excess and it gets fixed. No damage, no claim. Easy!
Your policy will cover you for accidental damage to underground services (which any damage beneath ground is considered unforeseen and therefore accidental). Just don't let them fob you off and say you need to investigate at your expense. Most of the insurers in the market would arrange a survey, just some of the big boys try their luck at times.
...phone your home insurer. Say you have tried to clear, but unsuccessful and you think he pipe has collapsed. They will appoint a company to attend, unblock and CCTV survey. Any damage, pay your excess and it gets fixed. No damage, no claim. Easy!
Your policy will cover you for accidental damage to underground services (which any damage beneath ground is considered unforeseen and therefore accidental). Just don't let them fob you off and say you need to investigate at your expense. Most of the insurers in the market would arrange a survey, just some of the big boys try their luck at times.
Years ago, I had a blocked drain in my front garden, it turned out the previous owner had dropped a cast iron bath out the bedroom window, which went straight through the existing manhole cover and smashed into pieces.The resulting mess was then ignored, as a cheap steel manhole cover replaced the original iron one. I called the water company, they sent someone out who cleared all the cast iron shards of the ex bath and manhole cover, then cleared the 'other' blockage leading to my house, the smell was foul! I asked the guy how much this would be costing me, he said nothing as it was clear I had only just purchased the house, what I nice man!
OP it's worth investing the 20 quid in the Screwfix drain rods. Use the plunger attachment and see if you can find and dislodge the blockage. Mine get used 4-5 times per year (due to dodgy pitched fibre drain pipes) and it saves waiting in for the water company to come out and do it.
Southern Water arrived last night at just gone 10.30pm! Rather surprised to see the guy, I had been getting text updates but thought they were automated.He said he still had one more call out, hope the over time was worth it.
The man hole cover was 1ft inside my boundry, he said hed have a quick look. Got the rods out, probably 10 rods in total before it cleared. He then attached his jet to the fire hydrant and blasted it out. All totally clear. He did say technically it was private but he carried on and sorted it anyway - what a good guy, he could have told me to do one and get dynorod out.
So if I bought the Karcher attachment, I doubt it would have been long enough(they do a 15m version) which may have worked but it would have been tricky and Id have been covered in s
t trying to poke it down the hole. If Id bought rods, would have needed 10, more than your basic screwfix kit. Defo a job for a pro.
The man hole cover was 1ft inside my boundry, he said hed have a quick look. Got the rods out, probably 10 rods in total before it cleared. He then attached his jet to the fire hydrant and blasted it out. All totally clear. He did say technically it was private but he carried on and sorted it anyway - what a good guy, he could have told me to do one and get dynorod out.
So if I bought the Karcher attachment, I doubt it would have been long enough(they do a 15m version) which may have worked but it would have been tricky and Id have been covered in s
t trying to poke it down the hole. If Id bought rods, would have needed 10, more than your basic screwfix kit. Defo a job for a pro.Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff