for a couple of days we have been getting a slight "gurgle" noise in the shower when we flush our bog. all waste is getting away or so it would seem.
as we have only been in the property a few months and becasue there is a septic tank in the field (40m away).
i lifted the lid of the drain in the courtyard to see if the tank had backed up (which is where it manifests itself when it does by all accounts)..... but it was as clean as a whistle.
we share this drain with two other properties. i have got them to flush bogs/run taps and they both ran through with no bother. when we flush bogs/run taps it's seemingly not getting though to this main drain.......
there are two infeeds to the main drain, one of which runs for each of our neighbours when they flush. so we must join with one of our neighbours somewhere earlier in the pipe (or perhaps later read on). i shoved drainage pipes up the pipe to see if i could dislodge any obstruction yesterday, to no avail.
anyway not knowing much (anything) about what i'm doing apart from having an ability to shove crap down the pipes with a rod if they're blocked i called a man with a camera to investigate as it would seem that the waste from our house is not getting to the main drain.
he shoved a camera up the pipe which we thought would be the one that ours joined for about 20m without it showing a join so clearly (his words) we join the other one if we join with anyone before this main drain.
when he shoved the camera up the other pipe in the main drain he found another drain just 2m away (the additional drain cover is not visible from the surface and my nieghbours with the metal detector are out). basically i think we may be in the s*1t pretty soon........
is it normal for a drain clearance guy not to investigate the problem from inside the house (i.e. shove some kind of equipment down the sh1tters etc) before suggesting that he digs up my garden to break into the pipe to get to the bottom of the problem ? i simply don't know and i'm mindfull that this could be an expensive job running into thousands to get put right, but i don't want to get ripped off.....