Cleaning out blocked drain or soakaway

[stealthwolf]

We have some sort of drain in the driveway. Whenever it rains, there's a huge puddle.

I decided to tackle it today. The drain was completely full of silt/mud which I cleaned out by hand. The bottom feels solid and I couldn't completely clear out the half inch of crap at the bottom.



At one side there's a channel so presumably water drains into here. How do I clear this bit out?



Also, attached to the drain grille was a spanner. Any idea what this was for? Or is it to just act as a weight?



Also any ideas whether it's just a soakway or a proper drain?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[foxhole]

Plastic grill so spanner is probably to stop it floating away, so problem must have been there years, if you suspect leaf litter is blocking then a bottle of one shot [very strong acid] should shift it.

 

[Burnerman]

Do you have a wet vac, by any chance?
John

 

[stealthwolf]

Nope. I've chucked some water down the drain after washing the car and there's still a huge puddle 3 hrs later.

 

[Burnerman]

At this stage its necessary to bale the trap out - hence the comment regarding the wet vac.
Obviously we don't know how severe the blockage is, but if the gully is empty then you should be able to feel around the bend to some degree.....hopefully the gunge in there won't be too heavy.
Does that gully connect to an inspection chamber somewhere, do you know?
John

 

[HERTS P&D]

Get it jetted for a fixed fee.

Andy

 

[stealthwolf]

@Burnerman there's two drains in the back garden and one in the alley way. There's an inspection drain on the diagonal opposite side of the driveway.

 

[stealthwolf]

Here's a sketch from my phone. The "soakaway" seems to drain forward towards the road and away from the house:

 

[Burnerman]

Is there a possibility of a pipe heading from the inspection chamber heading towards the soak away? (I assume the soak away is the gully with the problem?)
If there is a pipe, expect it to be dry.
John