Waste drain blocked somewhere

[saint1d]

Hi,

Firstly, please ignore my ignorance, I appreciate your help!

Our neighbour from 3 houses up has knocked on our door tonight and said his waste drain is blocked, as are the other 2 houses between him and us, he has lifted the inspection covers at each house to discover some nice smelling grey water! I lifted our inspection cover and there is no blockage (our toilet flushes fine). Because our drain is clear he seems to think the blockage is in our pipes, so I said I would call a plumber to come and have a look.

Now that I have had time to think about it, it seems to make sense that the blockage must be next door, as surely if it was our drain then it would also be blocked? We have noticed that the u-bend in the downstairs toilet has had a slightly lower water level for a couple of weeks, but dont know if that has any relevance or not. The houses are only 2 years old so will have a modern drainage system.

Thanks for any advice you can offer me

 

[dontknowitall]

A drain is the waste from your house (until it meets a drain from another property). A sewer is when two drains are joined.

A drain is your problem. A sewer is the water authority's (water board) responsibility.

From your description it seems that this is a sewer problem so you could all save money by calling the water authority (free) as opposed to a plumber (not free unless you buy their beers in the pub).

Hope this helps.

 

[saint1d]

Thanks for you reply, it has prompted me to try and understand more about the system and how it works.

Surely the blockage is more than likely is before the public sewer, in which case this is classed as a private sewer and would be the responsibility of the householders to sort it out?

I guess if I give the water authority a call to come and investigate it, they will only levy a charge if our house is upstream of the blockage, which I dont think it is.

Again, thanks for your help its much appreciated.

 

[NickH]

Its all fairly logical really, once you establish where the manholes are and which way the sewer is running, if you find one manhole clear and the next full of s**t, then the blockage is between those two manholes, i'm sure you've worked that out for yourself. A handy neighbour with a set of rods could probably clear it. Sewers running around a line of private houses can often be private sewers and you may all be collectively responsible for them.

 

[saint1d]

Cool, yeah that's what I thought. Just wanted to make sure cos my neighbour is adamant that its my responsibility, but I think he's talking c**p (excuse the pun).

Have spokent to the water board who confirmed that it is definately a private sewer/
My drain isnt blocked and the toilet flushes ok so going to tell him to sort it out himself.

Thanks

 

[NickH]

So presumably you have a clear manhole on your property and then the sewer runs under the boundary "up hill" to a manhole on your neighbours property which is blocked. So somewhere between the two there is a blockage. If its under your property then you may be responsible, it could be root damage or subsidence. A set of rods would be the first weapon of attack.
Beware of drain clearing firms who can charge a fortune to jet the pipe when a quick poke with a rod would get it moving.

Also you may all have covenents in your deeds/leases which say you are all collectively responsible for the whole sewer.

 

[saint1d]

We live on a hill and the blockages are upstream of us. Well I say that, but my wife has just informed me that today she flushed the toilet and the water didnt flush away, so yeah looks like the blockage may have shifted down the pipe! I'm going to buy some rods tomorrow and give it a whirl.

Will keep you posted.

 

[buffy27]

if ye are collectively responsible for the sewer then inform each tenant before u do any thing. see whose house is blocked and whose is not,and with a bit of common sence as to where to rod and not, u will sort it no bother.u could be liable if u flooded someones house with sewer water.

 

[saint1d]

Well a couple of weeks have passed since I told my neighbour that we dont have a blockage and that collectively the other houses that do also have a responsibility for it.

I have been keeping an eye on our drain and thankfully it is still fine, but I popped the cover off my neighbours when he was away, and boy does it smell lol. Also the scummy sedamant on the surface has turned a variety of different colours, none of which look particularily nice.

The guy further up the street who originally came round and blamed us for the problem has never been back, but I cant imagine his problem has got any better.

I'm just updating you on what the score is, although it's probably not too interesting haha.

 

[Bernie2]

Sounds like a classical case of blocked drains. If your neighbour wants to check whether his drain runs into yours, then tell him to put some colouring drain dye down his and look in yours to see if it comes out.

To me it all sounds as though they run in a line from one chamber to another then at some point out to the authorities main sewer.

Sounds like a drain rod job, easy but smelly.