Soakaway blocked.

[maileman28]

Hi all,

Somewhere along the way, my rainwater soakaway is blocked. Everyone who has given there suggestions have said that I need to install a new one.

Although I am happy to do this, before going through with buying the bits, what is the best way to find out the cause of the blockage. I have a downpipe that disappears into the ground so surely there will be a soakaway already there? Could this not be fixed/cleared? Or is is a case of once its clogged the whole lot needs digging up and re-rubbling?

Thanks in advance.

Chris M

 

[stuart45]

The pipe leading to the soakaway might just be blocked.

 

[maileman28]

Thanks,

So you recommend digging up the pipe leading to the soakaway first. Presumably if this is all clear then the fault is with the soakaway itself and will need replacing or aquacells putting in?

Chris

 

[stuart45]

You might not need to dig it up. Either rod it or get it flushed first. Tree roots can sometimes get in.

 

[WabbitPoo]

Or the soakaway could be silted up. Or was simly dug into clay, which has now filled up with water with nowhere to go. Or....


In other words, several possible reason, but I'd check for a blocked pip before digging a new one!

 

[maileman28]

I have since been informed by my better half that the pipe has been rodded and flushed but in both cases was not able to get through the blockage.

Next step is to dig up the pipe presumably? I will start at the downpipe end as the location of the soakaway is not known, does this sound the best course of action?

 

[joe-90]

But if the ground is saturated with a raised water table what good would that do?

 

[maileman28]

I was planning to do this mid/late march when the water table has gone down

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

So it will work if the rain eases off then?

 

[maileman28]

Indeed! To be honest, it is only bad when severely down pouring and will go after about 1 day of no rain.

 

[stuart45]

What's the subsoil, clay or chalk?

 

[maileman28]

I have yet to find this out yet, but based on the area I would suspect clay.

 

[WabbitPoo]

Its not unusual for someone to dig a big pit in their clay, thinking it'll sort out the problem of soakaway. Trouble is, that clay pit acts like a big reservoir, and once full, it backs up/overflows somewhere.

If your water eventually flows away I suspect the soakaway IS working, but slowly. With the last year we have had rain-wise, the ground itself is probably saturated too, which won't help.

By all means, clear any blockage in the pipe. Find out where the blockage is by measuring how much of the rod siappears from the rodding point.

Have fun!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Could easily be the level of the water table rather than any fault with the actual soakaway. If anyone watched 'The year Britain flooded' on Ch 4 recently, the level of the water table was tested for the programme and found to be IIRC the highest ever recorded, about 250mm below ground level! Any soakaway lower that that level would simply fill and not drain until the water table eventually lowered once more....