Rain water drainage

[dazzler9000]

Hoping somebody can help. Currently, the main drain pipe from my house is diverted off onto my carport roof and then sent to carport guttering, and then down a drainpipe to an old water barrel. This then overflows into my garden, which will eventually flow to my neighbour's garden.

Not ideal, by any means but all there when we moved in. It doesn't cause me any issues but my neighbours would like a better solution.

I've lifted a couple of loose pavers and can see a drain which I might be able to link into. The problem is, I don't know if it's a foul water drain or one for rainwater. Any idea how I find out?

Here's a pic of the drain cover but I'm not sure how useful it is.

 

[oldbuffer]

1. Open the cover, flush a toilet and see if the water goes through.
2. If it does then its a foul drain. Might then be worth checking with the local water undertaking whether you are on a separate or mixed system. If on a mixed, you can run into the drain, if not and it is a foul drain, then you can't.

 

[dazzler9000]

Thanks, that's sound advice..... Wish I'd thought of that before posting

 

[dazzler9000]

Guess my next question should be if I can use it, how easy is it to connect? DIY job or getting in a pro?

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Where does the Neighbouring Properties rainwater go to? Without lifting that covver you wont know what the drain is carrying, or how deep it is, and also, if it's a shared drain with at least one other property, it's the Water Company's sewer and you'll need their permission to connect.

Again, without knowing more details it's impossible to say how easy it would be to connect. Chamber under that cover could be 6-8 feet deep, which would mean a lot of digging!

 

[dazzler9000]

I took the drain cover off and flushed the toilet and it's definitely connected to the house waste system. It also looked to be about 4 feet deep. One feeding pipe into the chamber seemed to have a flap on it. This wasn't the one that was fed from my house flushing the toilet. I wonder what that one is?.

I'll have a chat to the neighbours and see if they know how their rainwater is connected.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Flap is probably a Rat Blocker, stops rats getting up the pipe. Need to ascertain where that other pipe is going to, to see if the drain is shared.

Otherwise, I'd say looking at that chamber, it's from the era of 'Combined' Drainage, where foul and rainwater were fed into the same sewer. If the site doesn't lend itself to digging a soakaway, (soil type, proximity to building etc), and there isn't a storm drain available, you may be permitted to connect into the sewer anyway.

 

[HERTS P&D]

You can see rat droppings in that chamber.

Andy

 

[dazzler9000]

Thanks everyone, very helpful as always.

I will find out where the downpipe goes at the other end of the house and run the hose pipe down there. With any luck I'll see some water coming out of the flapped pipe.

If not, I'll keep exploring. There is another drain cover under my decking.

If not, I'll look into a soakaway. There is a strip of dirt at about 2000 X 60cm not sure it that would be wider enough.

 

[dazzler9000]

Bit of an update. I managed to lift the other drain, which is about 3m away. There isn't a feed into it, so I can only assume it's an overflow from the other drain.

I'll speak to my neighbours tomorrow to see if they know how their drains work. If I can't break into the foul water drain, I'm tempted to send the rainwater from my roof down under the decking into my garden.

I gave a soakaway some consideration but then I remembered that I have clay soil, so that's probably not an option.

 

[HERTS P&D]

That needs clearing out.

Andy

 

[dazzler9000]

That needs clearing out.

Andy

In what way? there's nothing in there apart from a few mm of water.