Unblocking the Drain

The house has a strange drainage system that starts on the right of the house and runs around the back and then down to the front again. Its a very lengthy run that has 3 manholes. Some weeks ago, one of the manholes was almost 2/3 full due to blockage. Paid Severn Trent Water to come and inspect it to check if it was shared and also unblock it. If the drain is shared then it becomes the water company's responsibility to maintain it, otherwise its the responsibility of the occupant. Although this was unblocked, we discovered another manhole near the front of the property hidden among bushes which was also heavily blocked. Being a private drain, STW wouldn't visit again to unblock it so I had to call up a private company.  Phoned up happydrains on Monday and booked an appointment for Thursday.


The plumber (what do you call someone who unblocks drains? ) go to work immediately on arrival and had to use what looked like scaffolding tubes (shown above) to first try and dislodge the blockage, otherwise hosing it would cause the contents of the manhole to come up to the surface. Once he had broken through, the drain was unblocked within an hour. Not sure how they do this job, the stench from the drain was so foul we had to go indoors.


Its possible that the drain may not be in the best condition, so we're hoping to replace it once the digging commences.


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