How to seal a hole in an underground rainwater pipe?

[DIYNotIan]

Hi there

Some problems with our drains recently led to the discovery that some tw@t had decided to solve drainage problems by feeding the kitchen and washing machine (WM) waste into a rainwater soakaway in the back garden. Originally, all waste from the house went to a septic tank at the front of the property...... But not anymore!

There is an area where the kitchen/WM pipe work travels directly above the rainwater pipe (I'm talking underground here). Who ever did the work decided to cut a hole into the top of the rainwater pipe, then feed into it from the pipe from the kitchen/WM directly above it.

Here's a photo of the whole area to get an idea of perspective. You can see the two rainwater down pipes (the grey pipe is just a stench pipe)...:

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• DIYNotIan
• 27 Jan 2012
• 1

Next, a photo of the network of piping! The second rainwater pipe comes in from beneath the concrete and joins the one you can see.

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• DIYNotIan
• 27 Jan 2012
• 1

The same from a different angle:

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• DIYNotIan
• 27 Jan 2012
• 1

And here's a close up of the down pipe linking the kitchen waste pipe with the rainwater pipe....:

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• DIYNotIan
• 27 Jan 2012
• 1

We are in the process of sorting it and have now managed to make the kitchen/WM waste go to the septic tank, as it should.

What I'm not sure about though is the best way to seal that hole in the rainwater pipe so that no muck can get in there/no water can get out, once all the earth is back in the trench.

Also, what's the best way to check that the rainwater soakaway is still working as it should...? I'm a bit worried that all the kitchen and WM sludge that's probably been feeding it for a few years might have clogged things up.

Huge thanks to anyone who can help out here.

All the best

Max

PS - apologies if this is this wrong forum. Wasn't sure whether to post here or in plumbing.... Please more if better somewhere else. Cheers.

 

[tim00]

To help us help you, i'd suggest that you dig out and expose connections, then take new pics labelling them as to whats what, and in which direction the pipes flow.

I would also suggest that you do a rough, plan-view, pipe diagram of the whole kitchen and garden area and scan it up.

 

[DIYNotIan]

Thanks for the heads up...

Here's a diagram of the whole area (not to scale and a bit inaccurate, but should give a good idea):

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• DIYNotIan
• 20 Oct 2011
• 2

I'll also repost a couple of the pics from the original post with added text to explain what's going on:

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• DIYNotIan
• 27 Jan 2012
• 1

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• DIYNotIan
• 27 Jan 2012
• 1

Hopefully they should make the remaining pics clear. If not, let me know and I'll do the same to them pics.

Cheers

Max

 

[tim00]

There are so many Q's ref. this amateurish installation.
1. Sludge or anything else, excepting rainwater, could only enter your soak away pipe thro the strap-on branch arrangement. Perhaps you could clear the branch
area and pic it.
2. Could you lift the IC cover and pic inside it with w/m water running thro? Then run the kit. water and observe.
3.Are you certain that the main waste line is falling, and that the venting side is rising - to the vertical pipe thats been disconnected?
4. The vent pipe/drain Wye has an outlet, is that capped or does it lead somewhere else?
5. Where the kitchen waste tee's in to the main line is there an IC?
6. I presume that your S&V pipe is on the far side of the house. At the far side of the house, is there an IC where you can verify that the kit. and w/m waste do indeed, run to the septic tank?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Get rid of the 45deg branch on the leg to the vent pipe, it doesn't appear to have a purpose. Replace with a bend and new section of pipe thus getting rid of the strap boss.

The lower (rainwater) drain looks like its 110mm, cut the affected section out and replace with a new section, use a slip collar to aid fitting.

Soakway, difficult to tell, but as long as the rainwater is getting away and not appearing anywhere else it shouldn't and getting the house wet then i'd leave well alone! It does look like the bodged connection has been made upstream of where the kitchen gulley joins the run, so hopefully the worst of the crud has gone downstream to the septic tank. This could have been a later 'alteration' to ease the load on the tank and lessen the frequency (and cost) of emptying!

 

[DIYNotIan]

Hi chaps

Thanks so much for the help.... I'll answer the questions a little later today when i get home from work.

In the meantime, would you mind clarifying:

- What does the "the strap-on branch arrangement" refer to? Not too sure what it is or what I need to take a pic of...

- "The vent pipe/drain Wye has an outlet, is that capped or does it lead somewhere else?". Are you referring to the bottom of the vertical grey vent pipe?

- "I presume that your S&V pipe is on the far side of the house." What do you mean by S and V please?

- What is a strap boss?

Huge thanks once again. Fuller answers to follow!

Cheers

Max

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Strap boss is the grey part (with a short piece of waste pipe attached) that goes from foul drain to storm drain below. Usually used to connect a waste branch to a soil pipe above ground!

S&V is Soil and Vent pipe.