Overflowing! advice needed

[Kram]

I got woken up early today by a panicking landlord. The downstairs bog was rising and up to the rim! It had not been used meaning there was some kind of blockage and water from upstairs sink/loo.
Bailed it out into a bucket. Luckily it was clear and not smelly! Flushed upstairs and downstairs level rose again.

Lifted the sewer manhole in garden. The level was minimum but theres a lot of fat build up. I feel we should do something about it, probably involving lots of sodium hydroxide, but dont want to dislodge any lumps or cause bigger problems further down!

Bailed the loo again. Poured 250g of lye down it followed by hot water. 10 minutes later the level rose (not clear this time) but then receeded by itself and is flushing ok. Poured the bailed water and flushed again.

I have 2kg of lye and can buy more.
How can I stop this happening again?

Im thinking gradual 250g mixes of lye down the sinks and toilets little and often? But Im tempted to buy a big 25kg bag of lye, mixed in a bucket and down the manhole?

 

[Blobber]

Sounds like you need a good rodding! much quicker than waiting/hoping chemicals do their thing

 

[Bornfree]

Sounds like you need a good rodding! much quicker than waiting/hoping chemicals do their thing

Yes ,but what about the drains

 

[The Artilleryman]

Rodding is good for short straight lengths, say 50' max after that proper drain cleaning jet wash. If you rod DO NOT under any circumstance use the rubber disk - they jam on pipe branches and will cause you more problems. Rod from down stream so you are pulling back towards you. I used to find the hinged D scraper best, but be warned they can catch on joints.
Either way you need to work from access chamber to access chamber.

 

[MCKDAVID]

had this issue a few times when I bought our house here, built up over years, tried all the so called chemical miracle solutions, waste of time lasted a week or so, then blocked again... ended up having to dig up the down stream access point, and rodding back / forth. Bought one of these manual "rodders' for about 15 quid or so, 10M long cut the handle off and put the battery drill on the end on low speed did the trick fine.... our problem was mostly roots through the old cement pipes from an old hedge that passed over the line blocking everything. Once it was clear enough to flow, ran a hose back and fore with the rodder for a good 10 minutes etc, until there was no more "solids / bits of root" coming through, then just let the hose run for an hour or two to rinse.... no more problems for a few years, eventually it started again, so dug up the old cement pipes and installed pvc...

 

[pcwizme]

Where are you in the country? I know that round here foul water is now thames waters problem from the manhole onwards (Laterally drains). We call them they deal with it. Advice from citizens advice here

Who is responsible for repairing drains and sewers

The difference between drains, lateral drains and sewers and who is responsible for repairing them, and asking a water company to adopt a private or unadopted sewer.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

 

[Brad93]

Get the jetters in. Best money you'll sornd

 

[voipio]

Lots of detergent and very hot water, may help get you out of trouble if the blockage is caused by fat deposits. Long-term, get a proper cleaning out, like Brad93 suggests.

 

[gaz1]

forget hot water as soon as it hits clay pipe it will be flat cold

block the hole with the bung

fill with water enough at guestimate

unplug it

if you get full flow your fine but it can block need to keep doing it, filling it more and more

one thing with water at full flow it can pound most things loose

pigs tail for breaking it up and half flat to scrape it out

a cheap version of using a jet system is a sprinkler hosepipe but it does need adapting for the drains it allows full spin around the rod at hose pipe pressure

im a plumber as i have one

 

[Munkul]

Get the jetters in. Best money you'll sornd

Aye, these are the professionals, paid to stink! They'll be in and out, you'll be a little poorer but a lot happier.

 

[julianf]

Where are you in the country? I know that round here foul water is now thames waters problem from the manhole onwards (Laterally drains). We call them they deal with it. Advice from citizens advice here

Who is responsible for repairing drains and sewers

The difference between drains, lateral drains and sewers and who is responsible for repairing them, and asking a water company to adopt a private or unadopted sewer.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Where I live, it's either the moment the waste stream leaves your land, OR the moment it's combined with a stream of someone else's.

So I'm responsible to the manhole (that is in my land) but at that point other people's streams are joined. If it were only my waste that was joined a the manhole it would only be my responsibility.

 

[gaz1]

Where I live, it's either the moment the waste stream leaves your land, OR the moment it's combined with a stream of someone else's.

So I'm responsible to the manhole (that is in my land) but at that point other people's streams are joined. If it were only my waste that was joined a the manhole it would only be my responsibility.

beaware thats not always true

ive known the ones in a row to all foot the bill until it leaves the last propertys land and connects to the main drain

your responsible up to the join at the manhole, there responsible up to the manhole, your both responsible until it leaves your poperty

 

[Kram]

The way I see it, rodding/jetting/mechanical will just dislodge and move the problem further up? Chemical will disolve it, if you can keep it in the right place long enough. Probably wants both.
I dont fancy rodding the drains myself!
If the problem shows any sign of return we will get the jetters in but I think chemical for now.

A silly idea, but best may be block the house outlet to sewer with a ball on a stick, at the manhole, while not using any water. Pour in the lye and flush so its in the pipe, and leave it a while to work.

block the hole with the bung

fill with water enough at guestimate

unplug it

if you get full flow your fine but it can block need to doing it, filling it more and more

Which hole? A bung for the toilet?!

Lots of detergent and very hot water,

Detergent is not going to touch any blockage. Its going to need to be mechanical/water force or strong acid/alkali to disolve it.

I believe the manhole has one neighbour property joining it then goes off at an angle to the road, same for all the houses. It doesnt run along the row like you may expect - but the storm drain does.

 

[julianf]

beaware thats not always true

ive known the ones in a row to all foot the bill until it leaves the last propertys land and connects to the main drain

your responsible up to the join at the manhole, there responsible up to the manhole, your both responsible until it leaves your poperty

Sure, different providers deal with it in different ways, which is what I said "where I live"

We have a shared supply for incoming water. Other areas get way better service with regard to that oddity. Ours is, basically, as you say for the waste stream. Water board dont care as soon as it leaves the public highway.

 

[julianf]

If you pour enough caustic down there, even if someone's stashed a corpse down there, it's going to get dissolved.

25kg sack is about £35 delivered. Chuck a (pre disolved, else the exothermic stuff may crack the bowl!) kilo down the loo last thing at night for a month (ok, 25 days) and I reckon it will be sorted.

If it's not, you've wasted £35.

I don't know how much jetting costs. If it's £50 then, sure, go with that, but if it's £300, then the £35 gamble seems a better deal!

 

[8ob]

How about not tipping fat,oils and grease down the drains to begin with

Bob

 

[Kram]

How about not tipping fat,oils and grease down the drains to begin with

Bob

We dont

 

[gaz1]

 

[gaz1]

The way I see it, rodding/jetting/mechanical will just dislodge and move the problem further up? Chemical will disolve it, if you can keep it in the right place long enough. Probably wants both.
I dont fancy rodding the drains myself!
If the problem shows any sign of return we will get the jetters in but I think chemical for now.

A silly idea, but best may be block the house outlet to sewer with a ball on a stick, at the manhole, while not using any water. Pour in the lye and flush so its in the pipe, and leave it a while to work.


Which hole? A bung for the toilet?!

same idea with the ball but it can be pushed down the other pipe

mine was an expandable bung fastened to a rod end could tighten or unscrew without going down the drains

 

[Kram]

same idea with the ball but it can be pushed down the other pipe

mine was an expandable bung fastened to a rod end could tighten or unscrew without going down the drains

Have a photo ( or video ) of your bung? So it goes up the sewer end? Where do we buy one?

That sounds very wrong !