Help Blocked Drain in the garden (soil pipe drain)

kindofagilr

We have two manhole covers in the garden and we looked in them tonight to see what they are like (we moved in 10 weeks ago)

And one of them is blocked to hell, its disgusting, its nearly at the top and its just looks like loads of brown poop and toilet paper mixed together

So basically its blocked

I am not sure if its a shared manhole cover or not, dont know how to find out

I am pretty sure the drains were covered on the surveyors report and there was no mention of a blocked one!

Anyway lol what I am trying to ask is, is there other companies apart from Dino Rod that we can call out? just they are £110 when they come out

Also is there any cover I can buy (obv not for this time lol) to protect myself in case there is another time

OH's dad is coming over with his rods to have a go tomorrow but we probs will still have to call someone out cos I dont know if he will be able to unblock it

kindofagilr

Ok just read the surveyors report and we are attached to the main drain (whatever that means) and he apparantly couldnt get into the drain in the front garden, but managed to get into the drain in the rear (and reported no block in the rear)

I know we should have checked when we moved in, not that that would have accomplished anything.

Sunnyday

We found that ours was blocked about 3 weeks ago and it was exactly the same as you described, full to the top and `orrible!

We didn`t have any rods so improvised and used a metal clothes prop:D

The main problem at first was finding the holes in the bottom of the drain to push the gunge through, it took a couple of hours to clear and afterwards we used a hosepipe and cleaned all the inside and then threw a whole can of jeyes fluid down it. At first it looked as if it was going to back up again but didn`t.

Once it`s clear put plenty of water down it to help wash through all the connecting drains or it may back up further down the street. I think that this caused our problem and the jeyes helped.

Good luck.

SD

andyhop

As a plumber i would rather pay the £110 and get a Dynorod in than attempt myself

Try ringing your local drain jetting companies who im sure you hammer dynorods price

caveat_emptor

I read somewhere that if you share a common drain with other houses to the main sewer the water company (Thames in my case) will clear it. Give them a try before spending.

myrnahaz

Try ringing your water authority to find out if they have offer blocked-drain insurance. We always used to get blocked drains (old house) and took out a kind of insurance policy via a Welsh Water offshoot - a bit like the gas boiler service contracts except they only came out if there was a blockage (there's nothing to 'service' down a sewer).
I think it was called something like Homeshield and cost about £12 per month.
The first time they came they used a high pressure jet to clear the drain and we've never had much of a problem after that so we cancelled the policy after about a year.
I don't know how much they would have charged for a non-policy call-out.
HTH.

skinback69

depending on were you live there is a company in hull/doncastor called clear way they charge 60 pound for the first hour and usualy this will be sorted within that our with a simple jetting machine also have a look round ur garden and others near by near were the drains run to see if any building work or new fences have been put up cause it may be a colapsed drain causing the back up clear way also have a camera crew where they put cameras dow the drains to see exactally what the problem is and its far cheaper than dino rod hope this helps

kindofagilr

Thanks for you replies guys.

FIL is going over today to have a bash (rather him than me lol) he has the rods and a pressure washer, he seems to think he can unblock it as he has unblocked one before.

So fingers crossed he sorts it, if not I will try the options you guys came up with.

My mam told me this morning she has cover from British Gas, and hers got blocked once and overflowed and she called them and they sent Dino Rod out for free (well in the cover) and they sorted it.

So I may look into something like that incase it happens again

Although if FIL can sort it then he can be our unblocker lol

ormus

every house should a set of rods. best value investment ever.

there are certain rules about shared drains and free unblocking service. there also a rule about houses/drains built before a certain date, approx 1935 from memory.
google it find out more.

kindofagilr

^^^ thanks, our house was built in the 1930's actually so I will look into that

FIL has cleared the drains YAY I am so happy

dander

I used to have constant problems with a blocked drain - it was built with sharp bends and a very shallow fall - and I agree buying a set of drain rods is a brilliant investment. They're only about 10-15 quid and will sort most blocks.

Also I saw a tip on here for someone who kept suffering from a blocked loo - someone said it could be caused by the loo roll - things like quilted loo-roll are actually very difficult for the plumbing systems to cope with and the value brands are best for breaking up easily and flushing away easily. I switched to the value paper in my loo with the problematic drainage, and sure enough - haven't had a block since. Top money-saving tip!