Urgent help with Sink/Washing machine waste drainage.

[hannie0509]

Hi guys,

New member here.Please look at the two pictures i have provided of the blocked drain which has been caused by the sink and washing machine waste.Am i right in saying i can change this plumbing to allow both wastes to empty into the main sewer which is just out of the picture on the bottom pic ? The large patch of water on the grass is what i swept towards the open sewer then i had to go tend to something else.

I always thought that the gulley drain into which they are emptying is for rainwater waste only-and im miffed as to why it hasnt been rigged up right.

Lastly,just to make sure-am i allowed to connect a new waste pipe to the foul sewer in which the bath,basin and toilet empty.

Please,please help me if possible.The smell is making my little nippers ill over the last day or so.

Thanks

Lee[/img]

 

[Burnerman]

I'd want to kick off by unblocking that gully, Lee - and then finding out where the gully leads to by lifting a manhole cover and watching for water flow. Do you have a wet vacuum cleaner handy?
Usually you can't put foul water into fresh water drains, but that to me looks like a normal waste gully as there isn't a rain downcomer pipe nearby.
An answer to the other question, you can allow dishwasher / washing machine waste to discharge into a main sewer.
John

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

Is that a soil pipe to the left of the blocked gulley?

 

[hannie0509]

Thanks chaps.

We had the water board out a while back and the manhole cover in the middle of the road wasnt blocked.He flushed it quickly,and it unblocked therefore leaving tge water flowing to the drain in the road.It lasted 3 months then blocked uo again.

The pipe in the photo is a rain water pipe.I have a house with dormer windows,and it was also extended in 1973.The foul pipe is not visible and is under the brickwork/enclosed.Thats the reason i thought this drain was just for rain water.

Thanks chaps.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Gulleys are acceptable practice for discharging wastes, yours is somewhat blocked as you've gathered. Use of plunger should clear it, may be worth bailing out as much water as you can, then tip a kettle or 2 of boiling water down there. It'll soften any fat/soap build up, then when it's cooled a bit run some more water in whilst plunging the gulley. As John said, check it runs to the sewer, if you cant see the water you can usually hear it running in the pipes.

That does look like a 110mm soil pipe in the pic, suspect gulley is joined to it underground somewhere if not at the chamber.

Older houses are often on a 'combined' drainage system whereas wastes (sink, bath, shower etc), soil (from WC's) and the rainwater all go into the same drain. Newer builds have a 'seperate' system, whereby wastes and soil go to the foul sewer, and all rainwater connections are made to a surface or storm sewer. Surface water drainage often goes to nearest watercourse, for this reason it is vital no waste or soil connections are made to a surface water sewer.