Locating path of rainwater pipe which might be leaking

[swebb99]

Hi,

There are rain water runoff pipe entries at the corners at the back of my house. Whilst I had the floor up in the back lounge I noticed that some water was getting in when raining. I have tested with a hose and the problem seems to be caused by water entering one of the rain water pipes. If I run the hose for 40 or 50 seconds I start to see small amounts of water trickle in at the corner edge of the bottom of the bay, close to the pipe entrance.

The house is 1930s and the man hole cover just covers the sewerage pipes and none of the plans give any indication where the rear rain run off pipes go, or the front one for that matter!

Is my only course of action to start digging along a line close to the pipe causing the problem in a hope of finding where is goes. This would involve lifting my patio and possibly cracking in to concrete.

The pipe entrance sits a few inches lower than ground level and is surrounded by mortared bricks. I took the top grate off and the initial bit of the pipe seems to be intact but there is a bend in it going up obviously to keep the crud going down the rest of the pipe where ever that goes.

None of my neighbours seem to have a clue where the rain water goes on their properties, in fact most thought it went in to the sewer, but I've checked and it isn't.

I'm thinking there might me one or two soak aways in the rear garden but not a clue where. They must me at least 35yrs old if there are.

Thanks for any idea on how to progress.

 

[Notch7]

Hi,

There are rain water runoff pipe entries at the corners at the back of my house. Whilst I had the floor up in the back lounge I noticed that some water was getting in when raining. I have tested with a hose and the problem seems to be caused by water entering one of the rain water pipes. If I run the hose for 40 or 50 seconds I start to see small amounts of water trickle in at the corner edge of the bottom of the bay, close to the pipe entrance.

The house is 1930s and the man hole cover just covers the sewerage pipes and none of the plans give any indication where the rear rain run off pipes go, or the front one for that matter!

Is my only course of action to start digging along a line close to the pipe causing the problem in a hope of finding where is goes. This would involve lifting my patio and possibly cracking in to concrete.

The pipe entrance sits a few inches lower than ground level and is surrounded by mortared bricks. I took the top grate off and the initial bit of the pipe seems to be intact but there is a bend in it going up obviously to keep the crud going down the rest of the pipe where ever that goes.

None of my neighbours seem to have a clue where the rain water goes on their properties, in fact most thought it went in to the sewer, but I've checked and it isn't.

I'm thinking there might me one or two soak aways in the rear garden but not a clue where. They must me at least 35yrs old if there are.

Thanks for any idea on how to progress.

If the gully clears quickly, then that shoukd indicate the water is running away. In which you may have a leak at the bend below the gully. Assuming there is actually pipwork below and not just a gully!

If the bend or gully trap is cracked tgen it needs digging out and replacing.

 

[JohnD]

don't the rainwater downpipes go into gullies? They're probably cracked at the bend.

Dig those out first. No need to go searching for underground pipes just yet. Anyway, you'll see which way they run once once you've dug the gullies out.

It's possible there's an unbroken gulley somewhere in the UK, but I don't know where it is.

 

[Ian H]

I'd also say the first joint on the outlet of the gully will be washed out and leaking.

 

[swebb99]

Thanks for the replies. All useful stuff. As a first step I'm going to divert the down pipe as a short term measure over my flower bed, 6M away from the house. I'm only doing this because I'm half way through sorted out some dry rot in the floor of the house (not related to this leak) and then after that is sorted I'll dig out the gully and see what it going on and replace with plastic one most likely.

 

[swebb99]

Hi just an update, the gulley was cracked so I had a plastic one fitted to replace it, problem now resolved.

 

[Ian H]

What did it cost to replace it?

 

[swebb99]

Not cheap. £500 but a fair bit of work and I had camera down all other pipes out of the house trying to track down other issues and where pipes run.

 

[Ian H]

That's not bad. I've heard of people paying that just for the CCTV.