Downpipe water drain away options

[Nick Dawson]

I was hoping to avoid digging a soakaway for a new downpipe on my house (the existing downpipes arent sufficient in number due to an extension on my house a few years back). The company who are fitting my new soffits, bargeboards, and guttering advised that I needed an extra downpipe and recently a very heavy rainstorm proved this....

Is it feasible to obtain a large water butt and have all the rainfall from the new donwpipe collect in there, and then just empty periodically - would a heavy rainfall fill it too quickly in one go, or could it last a few days before being emptied.... The other option is to locate the new downpipe adjacent to the kitchen sink drain, although I know this is technically breaking local water regs, in terms of dumping rainwater into the local drain (?).

Any one have any past expereince in this?

Thanks, Nick

[Palindr☻me]

Ask the Met Office for the highest recorded dialy rainfall for your area. Multiply that by the plan area that will use the downpipe to get a daily rainfull volume. Work out the longest time that you might be away. Multiply that by the daily rainfall volume. Get a tank at least that big but preferably much bigger. It's possibly called a swimming pool.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I've got the largest the sheds sell. It fills in around an hour of moderately heavy rain from just half of the house roof, or faster in real down-pours.

You can ask the local sewage company for permission. A friend did this when building an extension, and much to my surprise, they said yes.