Hi all,
I don't actually have a problem currently, but I am trying to locate the drain for my downspout with no luck. Downspout was disconnected from drain pipe and diverted to a cistern before I bought the house, however the overflow drains for the cistern simply dump onto the ground. There's a stub of PVC pipe sticking up from the ground but it doesn't let water flow. Well, it does, but very, very slowly. The only possible location that I could see for it to terminate is that there is a drain pipe by the curb in front of the house, however it is bone dry. Trying to stick a snake up that drain from the curb accomplishes nothing, it is open for as long as the longest snake I have. Trying to snake it from the downspout end accomplishes nothing either, I get caught at an S-curve almost immediately.
I will get a longer snake, but I have two concerns... first, I don't know whether I have a French drain or not, so the drain pipe by the curb might be for the French drain and has nothing to do with the downspout. Also I know that when the house was built there was an alley behind it, and the alley is no longer there.
So here's the question; is there any way to determine where exactly a PVC drain pipe runs if you can't snake it without digging? Digging this up would likely involve draining the cistern, moving it, and removing a large concrete pad.
thanks,
nate