Foul water drain leakage

[MikeL24]

Ive a terraced house in west London with a drain problem. The foul water waste pipe runs directly under the property from the rear garden to the front. There's an inspection cover in the front garden. Pic attached. I've noticed that a small cavity has appeared under the lip of the pipe that runs into the main sewer in the street. Foul water appears to be seeping into the ground beneath. How is it best to fix this? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Best regards. Michael

Untitled

• MikeL24
• 8 Sep 2014
• 1

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

What you have there is known as an 'interceptor', http://www.diyinfozone.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/interceptor-traps.jpg

The outlet you can see is the rodding eye, allowing the trap to be bypassed and the pipe beyond to be rodded through to the road. Below that is the outlet into the trap, which has blocked. (A common occurrence.) Dont worry about the stopper, that probably disappeared years ago....

Clear the trap out (or get the Water Company out to do it if the drain serves more than one property as shared drains are the Water Co's responsibility now). If you need to DIY it then a couple of drain rods with a 4" rubber plunger on the end should force the blockage out, plenty of water running to wash the drain through never goes amiss. (Make sure the rods and plunger are firmly screwed together, you dont want to be losing anything down there!

 

[MikeL24]

Dear Hugh. That's brilliant - thanks very much for the advice.