Blocked drain.

Dunno if my semi is unusual, but it shares the drains with next door, and I have the privilege of it running back to front under my house. And next door had a blockage. So the drains man wanted to lift the cover in my back garden.

He sorted things ok and it seems the problem was 'wet' botty wipes used for the baby. Tesco ones, made of cloth it says, and apparently don't dissolve as quickly as paper - if at all. He removed a carrier bag full...

No warning on the packaging.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)
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I think the problem was actually something in the drain that these things caught on! You may have roots in your drains :-(

Sparks...

Reply to
Sparks

Or a broken pipe. Normal effluent will soak away in well drained soil. How come the rods didn't push it all through? A blocked drain in good condtion would have had a fair bit of pressure behind it by the time a carrier bag's worth of baby wipes had been used.

I remember a plumber telling me about the time his firm did a test on the sewers in an office by fitting rubber bungs in all the loos. When they went up to the third or fourth floor and flushed them, or whatever it is plumbers do, all the bungs on the bottom floor went down the swannie.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

The shared drains issue is quite common with older properties. The drain from my 1900 semi runs from the back of my house to the back of the adjoining semi, from where it runs to the front of my neighbour's house. So, apart from 2 to 3 metres under my neighbours front drive, then to the pavement and road, the drains are all under the two properties. I have had one blockage so far, but a garden hosepipe and toilet plunger on the drain opening fixed that. It took several hours but Dyno-Rod at around £200 just wasn't an option.

Reply to
Phil Anthropist

I didn't actually see how he removed the blockage - but it suggests he didn't just rod then through. They have had a new bathroom installed in a different location so perhaps there is a tortuous route involved. The actual underground drains are relatively new (maybe 30 years old) and look to be in good condition. No trees close to the drains.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

A set of drain rods has saved me a lot of money over the years. About ten years ago we had a blockage that costs something like £130 to sort out (he couldn't fix it within the 45mins, so there were extra costs) and repeated warnings about tree roots and the need for camera inspections. Every now and again we might get a blockage (further down the line from our house) and my £15 drain rods sort it out in no time.

Reply to
Paul Andrews

My 20 year old house has shared drains with the neighbours. A friend's new-build house does too. They had a blockage and that was baby wipes too. The drain guy just pulled them out with his hands (I guess with gloves on.) I guess maybe with the number of diverters and traps there are plenty of places for these things to accumulate.

Reply to
adder1969

If it is a shared drain for a house built before 1937, it is a public sewer from the point where the waste from more than one house joins the pipe, and it is the sewer company's responsibility to maintain it. They also have to sort out blockages etc within 4 hours or so, I believe. No doubt they are grateful to you for doing their smelly unpleasant work for them, though.

Reply to
boltmail

That is my understanding too, but I only found out AFTER the blockage. Still, the satisfaction when all that s**te suddenly went WHOOSH was definitely worth it. That's the second drain I have unblocked. So the score so far is me 2, Dyno-Rod 0.

Reply to
Phil Anthropist

That's interesting as they join up in my back garden - then run out to the street *under* my house - through the cellar. Wonder when this came in as I was told the previous owner had paid a lot to have them replaced.

In 'my' case, the blockage was before they became common.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

We had the same issue, our house was built in 1936, with shared drains, our's being the last house before it enters the main sewer. Initially the water company denied all knowledge so I had to fork out £200 to get the drains cleared by dyno-rod (Bank holiday weekend, Sunday evening call-out, ouch!!). With the power of Google and a letter to the water company I got my £200 reimbursed and a letter confirming their responsibility. I've had to call them out twice since, all hassle free!! :-)

Reply to
Gavin

Good to see you keeping it quiet then!

Sounds like maybe you missed your vocation?

Reply to
boltmail

If it had been built in 1937, after automatic adoption of drains by the water companies was ended, you would still not have had to pay the =A3200 all by yourself - the responsibilty is shared with all houses upstream of the blockage if it is a private sewer.

Reply to
boltmail

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