Old house rain water cisten

J

Jaffar83

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Our house was built in 1908 and the rear down pipes exit into a small look rain water cisten that used to have a hand pump in it.

It has never overflowed question is where does the water go when the level reaches maximum?
We are not on the main drains and no water goes into the septic tank when it rains
 
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Yea was thinking that but wasn’t sure if that was standard building practice on a old property?
 
Rare, but if it was installed for watering the garden or for livestock, they probably knew an overflow drain would be needed. Might be a field drain or French drain.

I once lived in a house of similar age where the large greenhouse ran the gutters into a brick tank at the end. No sign of a pump in my time, we bailed it out with a bucket, but it might once have had one.

Have you got gutter drains apart from the tank?
 
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No they literally go into the cisten and have never overflowed. Very strange
 
There is a well around 20 meters away but no sign of a run of into the well?
 
Often old cisterns had a porous section of brickwork near the top which allowed them to overflow into the surrounding soil.
 
Yea I did wonder but it’s only 6 ft from the house and none of the surrounding ground is wet?
 
Probably leaks anyway.

Bale it out and look for an overflow pipe.
 
Have also seen them with a pipe near the top leading to a soakaway further from the house. Have been down into a few when they are dry in the summer to give them a coat of render to keep/make them waterproof.
 
You may well be right about the soakaway, the amount of water they goes into the cistern from the down pipes it can’t possibly just drain onto the soil
 
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