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Blockedd drain yesterday. Sorted the Poonami last night, with pressure drain unblocker.
But still does not feel right, wanting to have a peak. Dont really want cough up £500+ for one use only.
Anyone tried the cheapo ebay specials. The run is straight about 9m long with the possibility of a forgotten IC under a conservatory chamber. All vc pipes and brick IC's.
Thoughts.
RT
Haven't tried the eBay device but it looks credible, if you accept that it's going to be pretty crude and the seller is turning stuff over fast and cheap - 97% positive feedback.
The only part of the link that's necessary is this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353498911238
I got a 5m one from ebuyer (not ebay) last week for this very purpose. Delivered late so had already dug out and replaced 2m of soil and root blocked clay pipe (surface water not poop).
Seems OK. Bit blurry when moving but image is good if you hold it still. No complaints for £10 plus post.
Even if it’s perfectly clear water you’ll struggle to get a picture that shows much if it’s underwater. Dirty water no chance at all.
My work team uses £1000’s worth of pro drainage camera equipment and it can never get an acceptable pic in dirty water.
Check to see if the drain is a public one or not as your local water company will sort if it is. Even shared rainwater drainage to the main sewers make it public.
If you are in Yorkshire DM me and I may be able to help!
Thanks for the offer.
I'm in South Glos.
The drain is not totally flooded at the moment, but something is odd about half way in say 6m or so.
Might go for the one above. Might even try the Borescope with a slightly higher res. I know the view is likely to be crap and Crap 😉 but a glimpse might help.
Thanks for your help guys. Still as this progresses any more suggestions are more than helpful.
@greybeard
Thanks for the link help, hard to post on my phone. This forum doesn't link my phone.
I've one of those at home somewhere you're welcome to have/borrow if you can be bothered to wait for me to post it (eg it won't be going anywhere until next week because I'm too lazy to go to the po).
Dm me your address if you want me to sendit
Had a main drain camera inspection recently after a blockage for and they checked all the others at the same time. Cost £100. Fortunately the blockage had cleared itself somehow but there was clearly something wrong to have caused it. I stood and watched them and you may want to consider it as they knew what they were looking for and at and they had a locator for the end of the camera. They provided me with a video of the inspection including the broken main drain - which was a foot outside my property thank goodness. Sent the video to the water company who came and did the same again, confirmed the position, marked it and they are coming at some point to dig it up and mend it. The ability to locate and mark the problem may be a bonus of getting someone in in especially if it’s a long drain.
If any shared drainage goes into that sewer that is blocked it isn’t your responsibility. Check to see if you share any roof water drainage as that is quite common. Even if your house is detached you might have a shared foul sewer.
If it was me I’d ring the water company anyway, they will come and check it and confirm whether it’s private or not. If you sent me a full map of your drainage system or let me know your address I could maybe check it via Google street view.
Just checked that eBay camera. Utter crap. Will be useless for what you want it for. Even if there is the slightest amount of liquid or material on the bottom of the pipe you will see nothing. Proper drain cameras have skids on them to raise the camera up above the flow and gas pressurised camera cases which stop them fogging up. They will also have a sond on them which emits a frequency which can be detected with a special detector so you can find where the fault it above ground.
We use robotic cameras at our work, great devices they are!
If you’ve managed to clear it but it’s still holding water or the flow is slow there are a few things that can go wrong. There might be a swilly or dip in the line, you need to dig them up to repair them. Or there might be a displaced joint (common under extensions as the weight pushes the pipes down) or it could be damaged and disintegrating. The last two can be fixed with a liner if they aren’t too bad but past a certain amount of damage or displacement you have to dig it up and replace it and as soon as possible. Having a house flooded with human waste is beyond disgusting.
I wouldn’t be doing my job right if I didn’t ask you if you put wipes or anything else other than pee/poo/toilet paper down your toilet, or any fat down your sinks? If you do then that will be adding to the problem.
Reduced flush toilets can be a problem too, many drains were designed to expect a certain amount of water with the solid but eco toilet just don’t put enough water in the system. Always use the big flush on the toilet if you can!
I’m a gravity sewer network technician specialist in my day job BTW.