Water Butt puzzle

SeaVixen

Davesnave said:

stator said:

1930s should have separate drains. Suspect a lazy plumber is responsible for your current setup.

Not necessarily. In 1980s we had a 30s house with all pipes  leading to the sewer. 

I'm a first time homeowner (and a relatively recent one at that), but I'll admit I'm confused as to where it would go if not into the sewer... 
I was looking into if I could get a waste water discount from my water supplier if I installed water butts on every downpipe. I can't, because the rainwater off the drive will still be going down a public pipe into the sewer. The phrasing suggests that United Utilities expect even rainwater to go in the sewer.... 

Murmansk

Installing butts on every pipe wouldn't prevent water going to wherever it used to go to, the butts will fill up very quickly in a decent shower of rain and then the water will flow as before.

Davesnave

SeaVixen said:

Davesnave said:

stator said:

1930s should have separate drains. Suspect a lazy plumber is responsible for your current setup.

Not necessarily. In 1980s we had a 30s house with all pipes  leading to the sewer. 

I'm a first time homeowner (and a relatively recent one at that), but I'll admit I'm confused as to where it would go if not into the sewer... 
I was looking into if I could get a waste water discount from my water supplier if I installed water butts on every downpipe. I can't, because the rainwater off the drive will still be going down a public pipe into the sewer. The phrasing suggests that United Utilities expect even rainwater to go in the sewer....

The problem with sending rainwater to the drains is that sewers become overloaded during extreme rainfall and the fast exit of water from roofs and hard surfaces causes the sort of flooding we often see on the news.

Nowadays, it's expected that soak-aways will be used in virtually all scenarios in order to meet Building Regulations, and there are newer, better ways of building these in difficult conditions.

There are also properties like the one I live in now where there are no sewers, just private water treatment plants and septic tanks. The last thing wanted is roof and surface water going through those, so soak-aways were constructed, even way back in the 'bad old days.'

SeaVixen

Davesnave said:

The problem with sending rainwater to the drains is that sewers become overloaded during extreme rainfall and the fast exit of water from roofs and hard surfaces causes the sort of flooding we often see on the news.

Nowadays, it's expected that soak-aways will be used in virtually all scenarios in order to meet Building Regulations, and there are newer, better ways of building these in difficult conditions.

There are also properties like the one I live in now where there are no sewers, just private water treatment plants and septic tanks. The last thing wanted is roof and surface water going through those, so soak-aways were constructed, even way back in the 'bad old days.'

aah that's interesting, and makes sense - thank you!
From what I was reading prior to buying the house I assumed that downpipes into the sewer were standard  (this was affirmed by every house I or my immediate family have ever lived in) and soak-aways were more common with farm-type properties where there would be enough space to have the soak-away far from the foundations of the house.

OfWat confirms that a vast majority of houses still put their rainwater into the sewers, so the confusion that some of the earlier posts have caused about my set up have been abated. 

I'd be interesting in installing a soak away at some point, as it does make sense to lessen the pressure on the sewers. It will probably have to be the next house though - I don't have much of a desire to dig up my mostly paved garden. :-)

nickcc

If I’ve read you post correctly your main requirement is to be able to separate your surface water from your bath/shower/washing water as they all feed into the one down pipe.  Unless you separate the surface water before it enters the waste down pipe and connect your water butts to the new (or old) down pipe then your stuck.

SeaVixen

nickcc said:

If I’ve read you post correctly your main requirement is to be able to separate your surface water from your bath/shower/washing water as they all feed into the one down pipe.  Unless you separate the surface water before it enters the waste down pipe and connect your water butts to the new (or old) down pipe then your stuck.

Not read it quite right I'm afraid - I don't need to separate it, as I can see where they join. I just needed a way to deal with putting the connector that high up. All sorted now though (see post near bottom of first page)