Blocked storm water drain!

[Pickles2]

A few days ago my wife pointed out that after heavy rain she'd noticed water coming out of the ground adjacent to one of our down pipes. Put a hose down it, it flowed for a while, then blocked up. Did the same with the next downpipe halfway down the same side of the house,..same result, water flowed down the down pipe ok, but eventually stopped,..this time I noticed water bubbling out of the ground adjacent to the end down pipe on the corner front of the house, this'd be the final entry of storm water from the house before it goes into the main drain, checked this down pipe and it wouldn't take any water at all, ..fully blocked, so this is where I think the blockage is that is causing the other two outlets to bank up. There is another down pipe on the other side of the house that is not banking up, I think it goes diagonally across the front garden & enters the exit pipe on the down side of the blockage, so is not affected.
I've rung our plumber, He's quite big time, into all sorts of stuff, I mentioned to him things like CCTV etc etc, He said yeah, that's all ok, but that costs dollars, first thing we'll do is blow your drains clear with a hydro high pressure hose, then we'll see where we go from there.
I've been looking on the web, and there seems to be a huge number of "blocked drain specialists" out there, who do all sorts of stuff.
Many offer "trenchless" solutions, which would be the ideal way for us, it would avoid uprooting paths, tiles etc.
Just wondering if any of you guys have any experience with this sort of stuff.
Pickles.

[roverrescue]

Pickles long story short
We have a tonne of family staying and blocked up the poo line from house and cottage to our 4 stage sewer system.
Was day before Christmas, before calling a plumber mucked around a little trying to clear the blockage.

Ended up using a 25m length of 1.25” irrigation poly pipe with a short length of 3/4” garden hose as a leader, managed to put hose in at ORG port and punch whatever the blockage was down into the sediment tank - all fixed and flowing again as it should.

If you don’t have any obvious tree root systems near pipe is it possible the blockage is just gutter trash and worth trying to push a hose down from access point / surface drain in the first instance?

[Pickles2]

Pickles long story short
We have a tonne of family staying and blocked up the poo line from house and cottage to our 4 stage sewer system.
Was day before Christmas, before calling a plumber mucked around a little trying to clear the blockage.

Ended up using a 25m length of 1.25” irrigation poly pipe with a short length of 3/4” garden hose as a leader, managed to put hose in at ORG port and punch whatever the blockage was down into the sediment tank - all fixed and flowing again as it should.

If you don’t have any obvious tree root systems near pipe is it possible the blockage is just gutter trash and worth trying to push a hose down from access point / surface drain in the first instance?
I did think of that, but I haven't really got an access point,...all the downpipes are set into concrete where they enter a pipe at ground level.
So how the plumber will gain entry I don't know!
Pickles.

[roverrescue]

Could you cut the Down pipe nearest blockage, 90 or 100mm slip joiners and some primer glue would cost less than $20?
Cut pipe, remove from gutter
Use that for access?

S

[4bee]

Had a bloke here with a trailer mounted bit of HP kit.

He told me, by using the right jet the stream is powerful enough to cut tree roots & was what they mainly used it for. Here, he used it to clear the bathroom shower floor waste of solidified chippings & old grout the slack bastard of of a Tiler/Plumber left behind after not sealing it when removing the old tiles.

*&$@*%#!( The old adage of "If you want to **** something up, give it to a Plumber to do" seems to hold true.
[biggrin]

Oh yes, it ain't an inexpensive job to do so be prepared if you go this way.

[PhilipA]

You could always hire a "snake" from a hire place and DIY.
I had roots blocking my sewer and did that successfully.
Next day I noticed that the main sewer was leaking into the gutter so called Sydney water and they cleaned it out.

Beware the native grasses that get the beige long flower thing or the small purple flowers. Their roots go forever and they loooove sewer pipes.

I also had a blockage in my stormwater drain, used the snake and out came a mangled tennis ball which had again caught up on roots. Any Kids?
You can go from the curb with a snake and just measure to know when you are near the downpipe.
Regards Philip A

[DoubleChevron]

I have the same problem. I reckon there stormwater flows out to a "low" point in our yard somewhere .... and the pipe is buried. I'd love to clear it, but how on earth would I find it!

seeya
shane L.

[Pickles2]

I have the same problem. I reckon there stormwater flows out to a "low" point in our yard somewhere .... and the pipe is buried. I'd love to clear it, but how on earth would I find it!

seeya
shane L.
I've read that some of the drain "experts" use X Rays to "locate" pipes such as you mention,..I'm not exactly sure where mine are either!
Pickles.

[fitzy]

Your house drain will usually discharge into a council asset drain, depending where you live this maybe an open swale in rural areas or in suburbs it will either discharge through the kerb or directly into a drain that will be around the kerb alignment.
Look for storm water pits and inspection openings, you may have better luck sticking the hose up the outlet rather than the inlet.

[goingbush]

i used to do pipe and cable locating after I left Telstra, Did lots of jobs locating drains, sewers and gas lines for plumbers.

Sometimes I used a snake scope from Super cheap Auto to look into drains with mixed results .

The best bit of kit was a 'sonde' that I'd chuck down the drain and could locate where it ended up , then pull it out with a string . You could try the same with a shrink-wrapped cheap FM transmitter & FM receiver .

Ive got a 100m length of Electric fence string that I'd put a float on the end then flush down a toilet etc to trace a sewer . Using a special bit of kit I send a signal down the line with transmitter & follow with RX . Not sure what DIY device would work for that.

[DoubleChevron]

i used to do pipe and cable locating after I left Telstra, Did lots of jobs locating drains, sewers and gas lines for plumbers.

Sometimes I used a snake scope from Super cheap Auto to look into drains with mixed results .

The best bit of kit was a 'sonde' that I'd chuck down the drain and could locate where it ended up , then pull it out with a string . You could try the same with a shrink-wrapped cheap FM transmitter & FM receiver .

Ive got a 100m length of Electric fence string that I'd put a float on the end then flush down a toilet etc to trace a sewer . Using a special bit of kit I send a signal down the line with transmitter & follow with RX . Not sure what DIY device would work for that.

Intersting. I'm hoping if we ever get an extension done... A part of that will need to be digging up the storm water to run the new downpipes into it!

[Bigbjorn]

I remember getting all sorts of things out of the stormwater system and off the roof when I had children at home. Our house is very high at the back so I had to buy a 24' extension ladder to get balls etc. off the roof and out of the gutters. I hate heights and ladders and have not been on either for years. I am 78 and my days of climbing trees. roofs and ladders are long past. The 24' ladder has not been out of the shed in probably 15 years.

[gromit]

Just cleared a blocked drain using a Karcher drain cleaning attachment (already had the Karcher pressure washer).

Pipe cleaning set, 15 m | Karcher Australia (https://www.kaercher.com/au/accessory/pipe-cleaning-set-15-m-26377670.html)

It has backward pointing jets so it scuttles down the pipe as fast as you can untangle the hose. When you hit the blockage pulling it back & letting it run forward plenty of times can unblock the pipe. You can of course use it up to or down to the blockage.

Some time back had a plumber in to repair a pipe (on insurance), while he was here got him to track a blocked drain. He used a camera but there were issues with 90degree bends, he had to smash a pipe to get access. Couldn't see much with the camera so changed to a high pressure powered unit (like the one I used on the Karcher) but it couldn't get past the blockage, he then used a detector above ground and located where it was stuck.
I then spent a weekend digging down to the pipe in the front garden. Turned out the pipe had been driven over & split when the house was built (25 years earlier) and roots had got into the split and blocked the pipe. Grafted in a new section of pipe and no problems since. Also had to take out the smashed 90degree bend and add two 45 degree bends so access is possible in future, also added an inspection point !




Colin

[4bee]

Ive got a 100m length of Electric fence string that I'd put a float on the end then flush down a toilet etc to trace a sewer .

Oooooh YUK. One trusts you would thoroughly cleanse the string before putting it back in your Lunchbox? [biggrin][biggrin][biggrin]

[DoubleChevron]

Just cleared a blocked drain using a Karcher drain cleaning attachment (already had the Karcher pressure washer).

Pipe cleaning set, 15 m | Karcher Australia (https://www.kaercher.com/au/accessory/pipe-cleaning-set-15-m-26377670.html)

It has backward pointing jets so it scuttles down the pipe as fast as you can untangle the hose. When you hit the blockage pulling it back & letting it run forward plenty of times can unblock the pipe. You can of course use it up to or down to the blockage.

Some time back had a plumber in to repair a pipe (on insurance), while he was here got him to track a blocked drain. He used a camera but there were issues with 90degree bends, he had to smash a pipe to get access. Couldn't see much with the camera so changed to a high pressure powered unit (like the one I used on the Karcher) but it couldn't get past the blockage, he then used a detector above ground and located where it was stuck.
I then spent a weekend digging down to the pipe in the front garden. Turned out the pipe had been driven over & split when the house was built (25 years earlier) and roots had got into the split and blocked the pipe. Grafted in a new section of pipe and no problems since. Also had to take out the smashed 90degree bend and add two 45 degree bends so access is possible in future, also added an inspection point !




Colin

Oh ... I just found a new tool I **need** to have [thumbsupbig]

15M 5800PSI High Pressure Washer Hose Pipe Drain Cleaner Set Kit Fit For KARCHER | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15M-5800PSI-High-Pressure-Washer-Hose-Pipe-Drain-Cleaner-Set-Kit-Fit-For-KARCHER/264083336227?hash=item3d7c97ec23:rk:1:pf:0)

they are less than $50 on ebay!

[goingbush]

Oooooh YUK. One trusts you would thoroughly cleanse the string before putting it back in your Lunchbox? [biggrin][biggrin][biggrin]

I've gotten a lot of milage out of that Electric fence string, Anything to do with poo seems too fascinate the grandkids but they still keep a good distance from that fence reel in the shed.

[scarry]

Had this at our place.

I worked out which section of pipe under the ground it was in.
Luckily it was a straight section.
I then dug down to access the pipe,where it was easy to access,drilled a 25 mm hole in the top,and pushed a garden hose into the pipe until it hit the blockage.I then pulled the hose out and ran it along the ground above the pipe and worked out where the blockage was.

I dug down to the pipe and found a previous owner of the place had run an Aggie pipe into the 90 mm stormwater,and this was causing leaves,etc to get caught up at this point and block it.
I pulled the aggi pipe out as it wasn’t needed,cut a 90mm joiner up and screwed it and glued it over the hole,job done.

Luckily I could dig down,as the blockage was under a garden bed.

Under paths,etc is going to be a PITA.

At one of my sons places,he had a stormwater pipe block,between his house and the outlet on the street,luckily also a straight run.We shoved lengths of electrical conduit up the drain,from the street end,kept glueing lengths together until we reached the blockage and then bashed it through the blockage.
That was about 8 yrs ago and it hasn’t blocked again.

I think we used about 6 of 4M lengths of conduit.

Conduit is very cheap,maybe 2 to $3.00 a length at the most.

[Pickles2]

Plumber has been with hi pressure hose, camera etc, entering drain from street outlet. Unable to go far enough.
So, an access point has to me made in another section of the drain, in the middle of lawn so no tile removal etc, plumber feels that from this point proper access will be achieved which will enable resolution of problem, ...good to have an access point too I suppose, in case of any future dramas,......but the whole issue is a pain in the arse.
Pickles.

[4bee]

.but the whole issue is a pain in the arse.


A pain in the drain falls mainly on the plain. Or a pain in the arse falls mainly on the grass.


Sounds a bit Audrey Hepburn-ish in My Fair Lady. [biggrin]

[ramblingboy42]

Salad Days?

[gromit]

Oh ... I just found a new tool I **need** to have [thumbsupbig]

15M 5800PSI High Pressure Washer Hose Pipe Drain Cleaner Set Kit Fit For KARCHER | eBay (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/15M-5800PSI-High-Pressure-Washer-Hose-Pipe-Drain-Cleaner-Set-Kit-Fit-For-KARCHER/264083336227?hash=item3d7c97ec23:rk:1:pf:0)

they are less than $50 on ebay!

Be careful because one picture shows it as an extension rather than the drain cleaner. Maybe they have the wrong picture..... ?
Not a Karcher part but designed to fit by the look of it.


Colin

[4bee]

I also noticed that but had I required one I would have made further enquiries & "assumed" the jet would have fitted

somehow??????

[DoubleChevron]

if you look through the pictures of the one I listed it shows the end jet and couplings.

[4bee]

Saw that & wondered why the 2nd one was different. [bighmmm]