Drained...

[georgey]

Hi all,

Can anyone help?

I've just spent most of the afternoon trying to unblock a drain. Into it is going rainwater, bath and sink water. I've treid chemicals. I've tried alternating bailing out as mutch sludge as possible with vigorous plunging using the 100mm flat plunger that came with my drain rod set. Also tried a cannister of 'power plunger'. Finally tried maneuvering a garden hose round the gully trap and blasting - none of this has worked. Oh and I've tried booiling water.

If I bail out to virtualy dry then it will gradually backfill to full again with more sludge. I assume therefore there must be a blockage further downstream and sludgy water is dribbling back off the blockage.

From reading other posts I suspect I need to get into the inspection chamber and apply the drain rods from below the blockage... Trouble is - I can't find an inspection chamber!!! %*)!$! Do I need to dig? Can I go up from a manhole on the road? Is the chamber likely to be on a neighbour's pproperty? Best to get the experts in?

Any help apppreciated!!

George

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Sounds like you're having fun, welcome to the world of the drainage engineer....

Chamber could be absolutely anywhere, some folk delight in burying the cover for aesthetic purposes, and as you say, it may not necessarily be on your property. Some jobs I have been to only have a chamber every 4th house..... If the gulley simply 'tees' into the main run then rodding (or jetting) from downstream is unlikely to achieve much. The rods (or jetter) will take the easiest path, straight by the connection.... Thus bypassing the problem. Before going much further, how old is the property? If it was built prior to 1936, then any shared drains are the water authorities responsibility. However if its only your gulley affected they wont help F.O.C. sadly.....

If you can locate a chamber (especially upstream) then check if this is full, problem may lie in the main run, in which case clearing this may solve your problem. It is unusual for a gulley to block solid in the pipe running from it, any fat usually congeals in the gulley pot itself, and once this is broken up the problem is solved.

If you are up for the challenge, dig the gulley out. New bottle gulleys are about £17 from screwfix and can easily be grafted onto the existing pipe with a suitable coupling. With gulley removed you have a clear run at the pipe with the rods.