Probably not going to like any answers, but...

[charliegolf]

I have a small domestic, one-house sewage pumping station. On the whole it's been fine for 30 years (on our second pump so not too bad). I have a problem with a float switch that has alerted me to another problem, the pressing one...

I have a concrete, 2 piece, 2 cu m chamber for all the water and poop to run in to, before being pumped out to the main sewer. The join is leaking, and a good stream of ground water is adding significantly to the water level, and it follows, the pumping frequency and energy costs.

Can I fix it from inside the chamber? I am not so squeamish I won't empty it and go inside. If there is a fix. Is there any goop that will do the job?

Or will I have to dig down to the join and fix from outside. I can see that the ground water pressure will help if I do the latter. BTW, only one side of the join is leaking oso the dig won't be all around the chamber.

Any ideas, products, fixes happily considered. Ta.

 

[noseall]

I have a small domestic, one-house sewage pumping station. On the whole it's been fine for 30 years (on our second pump so not too bad). I have a problem with a float switch that has alerted me to another problem, the pressing one...

I have a concrete, 2 piece, 2 cu m chamber for all the water and poop to run in to, before being pumped out to the main sewer. The join is leaking, and a good stream of ground water is adding significantly to the water level, and it follows, the pumping frequency and energy costs.

Can I fix it from inside the chamber? I am not so squeamish I won't empty it and go inside. If there is a fix. Is there any goop that will do the job?

Or will I have to dig down to the join and fix from outside. I can see that the ground water pressure will help if I do the latter. BTW, only one side of the join is leaking oso the dig won't be all around the chamber.

Any ideas, products, fixes happily considered. Ta.

All builders reading this have just run a mile.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Picture of the leaking joint?

Andy

 

[charliegolf]

All builders reading this have just run a mile.

The 'doing' if it gets done will be all mine, for better or worse. So the builders are off the hook in the blame game.

One idea of mine was to drain down (shut off the water and flush every bog*; and clean the area before putting a 5"wide bit of plastic, oozing with CT1 on the seam, and propping it side to side till the goop goes off. Thoughts?

*Herself WILL flush on me otherwise lol

 

[charliegolf]

Picture of the leaking joint?

Andy

Already one pair of specs dow, Herts, not risking my phone lol.

 

[noseall]

The 'doing' if it gets done will be all mine, for better or worse. So the builders are off the hook in the blame game.

One idea of mine was to drain down (shut off the water and flush every bog*; and clean the area before putting a 5"wide bit of plastic, oozing with CT1 on the seam, and propping it side to side till the goop goes off. Thoughts?

*Herself WILL flush on me otherwise lol

I'm not sure plastic and CT1 is industrial enough or man enough for that job. We have had limited success with hydraulic mortar/concrete/sharp sand mixes and old fashioned manholes, but different scale.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

If the joint is leaking, it may be because one half or the other has moved.

Is the gap now tapered? Or is it wider at one side than at the other? If so then it probably needs removing and re-seating, on concrete with a new seal. Or in reality just replacing.

If you bung it up with anything then if it moves again then it will leak again. You just need a tiny crack for the groundwater to force its way in. Whatever you use may end up in the pump, which it definitely won't like.

I'm not familiar with your scenario, but have installed a sewage treatment plant after lots of research and comparisons of different models. There definitely weren't any that arrived in two halves, they're all made from plastic, usually GRP. They are sealed but have no strength, so must be bedded then surrounded in concrete - they're basically waterproof formwork. Ours took a mixer load of wet concrete for the base, then one and a half tipper trucks of semi-wet mix to surround it.

Two drainage companies quoted £1000s to install one, and said they'd just bed in gravel, despite the manufacturer saying use concrete. It seems to be a cowboy industry around here at least, yet they'll all somehow get a building regs certificate for it, one just by emailing a photo to the council. In the end I just bought one from the manufacturer and employed a general groundworks company to install it, then I did the plumbing. No certificate but a better job.

I've seen concrete chamber rings that stack, but on top of each other so the weight usually holds them together, unless the bottom sinks and the top gets perched on its surroundings. Is this what you have, or is it a vertical joint?