Sewer problems - where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

Hi,

I recently bought a house and I've got an outfall manhole in my driveway. It was overflowin the day we moved in so I had it cleared. The guy who did it said he didn't think our pipes drained into this one, but probably the next one down the road. I rang the concil draining division, but they said they didn't have drainage plans and they didn't know where I could find out. Problem is, this manhole seems to be blocking up every 2-3 months, and i don't want to have to pay for cleaning a manhole that isn't even connected to our house. The drainage division recommended we flush down food dye and see if it comes out, which we will try and he also said we could have a survey done of the connection to see if treeroots or any such thing are obstruction the connection.

Anyone got any advice or experience with same?

Many thanks

Re: Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

This is tricky. A professional survey of sewers and drains would involve lifting all accessible manhole/ aj covers and pouring a special dye down the drains to try and determine the runs of the individual drains. Dyno Rod will do a CCTV survey and prepare a report but it's not cheap, you could expect to pay a couple of grand (all depends on size of/ complexity etc) to get such a survey done. You should investigate all drains in your own property before getting anyone in. I would pursue the local authority on this, particularly where a number of dwellings might be affected.

Re: Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

Hi Carpenter,
thanks for this, just found the dyno info on the web. I've spoken to the Council and they bascially told me it was up to us to sort it out. Would the local authority be different? Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but I'm not too familiar with these things.
It appears that the blockage appears between the collective last manhole and the main sewer, I don't think there is a problem with the drains coming out of our house, I'm not even sure if they actually drain into this collective last outfall manhole. There's where the dye would come in, which should be easy enough as there is only about 10 m between our "house" manhole and the outfall manhole in the driveway. A couple of grand for CCTV is steep alright though, but the other houses would have to chip in, which would come cheaper in the long run than paying 140 Euros for having the thing cleared every couple of months!

Re: Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

Hi Petal,
How long is your housing estate built?

Re: Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

Hi There,
I had very simlar problems when I moved into our house. We have a main manhole (About 8-10 houses flow into this)in our garden and we had to get this unblocked about 4 times in the last year.
Our own sewage manhole aslo kept getting backed up too. The problem seemed to be because the individual manholes in the housing estate were incomplete- when you look into them there is piping aroung the edges but then there is a gap of about 5 inches where you can see open land and then the pipe starts again. what was happening was the land was collapsing into the pipe, people were then calling Dynorod etc but the just pushed it into the main manhole in our garden which is causing it to block up.

I really had enough of it so made sure that every time it happened I called the council so they would have a record of it. I also notified the residents association and found out that this seemed to be an estate issue not just me!

The last time the drain blocked was a couple of months ago- we got a rod from a mate and tried to clear it ourselves. It seemed though that the actual blockage wasn't in our boundaries as the rod freely went through to our wall (we are the corner house). I called the council and explained and told them that there is a history. They sent out environmental services to take photos. Environmental services were great- they said that if there is a cost involved it should be split amongst all the neighbours and they would write to the neighbours asking for the money so that we didn't have to pay.
They sent someone out the next day to clear the blockage. They then called my partner to say they would be sending out the bill to the neighbours... Then I had a thought- why should we all pay for it if the blockage wasn't on our property?? (Part of our estate has been handed to the council so it seemed the blockage was out on the road)
I called environmental services and explained this to them and they eventually said we didn’t have to pay this time and if it happened again they would conduct a full investigation in the whole estate.
I also got a local politician involved (they calling around to houses looking for votes so I vented!!).
To be fair- he has followed up on this and environmental services are currently working with the developer to get the issue resolved.

Sorry for the long post but I understand your pain!!
My advice- go to the council/local councilors/ residents association and just keep shouting!!!

PS; every time you get the drains unblocked, make sure you get a full report from the company detailing exactly what the issue was- this could prove useful.

Good luck and contact me if you need any other information!

Re: Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

Thanks very much for all this info Barroness. Did you call the drainage division or who in the Council did you ring? Ours is not really a housing estate as such, we're just in the middle of Drimnagh in one of those old Ex-Council houses which were built in the 40s. I don't think anyone else on the road has these problems, it appears just to be a row of about 6-10 houses (haven't investigated how many exactly yet). I think I just have to get all the residents of the houses affected together and see what we can do. The local councellor is probably a good idea - and who in Environmental Health did you engage? Sorry for all these questions, but I'm not familiar with all these services really....

Re: Sewer problems and where do I find out which sewer my house drains into?

Just further to this saga, my partner has just checked the manhole in the front and said it's almost filled up to the top (and it is a deep on), so obviously quite blocked. Our manhole in the back of the garden, where the toilet drains into, however, is not blocked at all. I assume this confirms that our drains are not part of that drainage system. I cannot understand hence why we have the shared drainage system of the previous terrace in our front garden. Who would I have to get onto to have this moved?

What kind of "stuff" is in the front manhole? It could be part of the rainwater system, which may be seperate from the foul water system.

The city council will only deal with pipes that are in their charge - i.e. in a public street or serviced laneway. If the blockage is in a private house or garden it's up to you to get it cleared. If you suspect the blockage is somewhere on the street, (causing your drains to back up), call the main drainage division. They are usually pretty good about coming out quickly to check the public drains.

Hi Extopia,
It's definitely the nast stuff in that manhole. The main drainage division was out the last time and checked the main sewer which was ok, so it's definitely somewhere between that last manhole and the main sewer. It's just that our house doesn't seem to be connected to this one and I'm not happy that I've got other people's "stuff" flowing out of a manhole in my front garden, that has nothing to do with us....
Following advice from above I'm trying to get hold of the Environmental Health... Have been on hold for 13 minutes so far....

Unfortunately I'd say the even if your drains don't flow into this manhole there may be nothing you can do about it. If it's on your property you are responsible for it. Annoying I know, but there are some very poorly designed drainage systems around Dublin. You need to clear the manhole then do some tests with the neighbours to try to determine exactly where this stuff is coming from. If it's not from your house it's likely to be from your immediate neighbours, but I suppose if you have houses at the end of your back garden it's possible (though unlikely) that it's coming from there.

By the way if these houses were built by the Council in the 1940s they should have drainage plans somewhere, despite what they're telling you.

I've got a Council notice of their webpage that says

Petal said:

What I intend to do is advise them that it is their responsibility![/FONT][/SIZE][/LEFT]

Click to expand...

Well you don't know that for sure yet, as you need to clear it before you can test it properly, right? Maybe it does serve your property in some way. The blockage has to be affecting others in some way. Have you knocked on doors to find out whose drains are backing up?

I'm planning to knock into them tonight. Last night one of the neighbours knocked in and said she was getting a bad smell in her kitchen again. My partner has checked the manhole in the meantime and it's filled up to the top he says. our manhole in the back is clear. If we are connected we'd be the last in the row of houses, so you would think that ours must be blocked up if the collective manhole in the front is almost overflowing. I rang the drainage division again and explained that and he said we are probably not connected. You're right though, I can't be sure entirely. Once it's cleared I'll try what the drainage division recommended - flush down food dye and see what happens. What I'm gonna do is try and get them all together and explain to them. I get a feeling that they think because it's in our front garden and it's overflowing there it's our responsibility. Last time it was overflowing for days - we were only doing work here and there and weren't actually living there, and noone seemed to want to do anything about it. When we finally got Dyno-rod out some of them came down and said they had been ringing the council for days complaining!

We got through to them from our council- they have said that there should be a division for every local council... hope that helps.

Hi Petal, exactly the same set up at my place in Crumlin, probably built around the same time as yours. Manhole in my drive is for the next terrace of houses to the right. Mine drains to the left along with the rest of the houses in that terrace. Your neighbours should be able to check their own drains at the back of their houses, chances are the levels will be high for those nearest the manhole on your proprty.

The level being high at that manhole suggests that the issue lies between there and the main sewer. If the rest of the neighbours complain enough, you should be able to get the corpo housing services out to jet the pipes.
Leo

When you flush your toilet do you see water in your back garden manhole? Does the water quickly clear, and in what direction? If the direction is towards the front manhole and it clears slowly, the blockage could be between these two manholes.

If you look at other manholes in the street, front gardens and back gardens, you can usually figure out what way they are connected. Most houses of that age would have a sewer pipe running along the backs of the houses (unless bathrooms/kitchens are at the front), with an outlet to the street every 8 houses or so. There should be a manhole at each 90-degree turn of the pipe to facilitate cleaning.

[post crossed with above]

It's exactly like Leo describes and my toilet flushes no problem and my manhole is clear and draining quickly. Leo, the corporation housing services - how are they connected to all this? Sorry, I'm just new to all this! I've been onto the council and the EHOs so far...

I think Leo is suggesting that if the houses (or some of them) are still owned by the corporation then the corpo will take responsibility. This might be an option unless the entire terrace has been privatised? Housing Services look after maintaining local authority property, you'll find their number in the phone book.

In my case one of the residents works for the corpo, so was able to contact someone in housing services. As extopia says, if any one of the houses are still corpo maintained, they should be able to get them to act.

I will try and find out. I was going to speak to the neighbours yesterday evening, but the weather was not one for knocking into lots of houses! I've tried today to find out which houses are draining into the manhole. The former owner of the house seems to believe that our terrace and the terrace to the right drains into it (I still have no blockages though). I've spoken to the Drainage Design, Drainage Maintainance, Council itself... no joy. I don't find them particularly helpful at all, they keep sending me round in circles... Does anyone have any ideas who I'd have to get onto to get the old building plans for the houses (built in the 40s). They were built by the council, so surely someone in there must know!