bought a lovely house with a sewerage problem!

I

inaquandry

Guest
Bought a lovely bungalow last year (with clear surveyor's report) only to discover (after paying drainclearers and gettting cctv down the drains) that there are major sewage problems and it's taken me a year to figure out what's happening.

1. The flow of the drains in the up-sloping back yard is poor so muggins here has to check the manhole every two or three days and whoosh on the sewage.

2. The drain from my back yard goes into a main chamber used by an estate behind my back yard and flows through into another estate but we are the lowest entry so blockages further down the line (spotted by the camera) flow back and up to overflow into my back yard.

Now the council don't want to know because they haven't taken over from the builder and the builder says it's not his fault but the drains block regularly (blockages showing beyond my property).
 
inaquandry said:
1. The flow of the drains in the up-sloping back yard is poor so muggins here has to check the manhole every two or three days and whoosh on the sewage.

2. The drain from my back yard goes into a main chamber used by an estate behind my back yard and flows through into another estate but we are the lowest entry so blockages further down the line (spotted by the camera) flow back and up to overflow into my back yard.

.
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You've probably got to take the bull by the horns and sort this out. I would buy a macerating pump, install a pump chamber and pump the sewerage down the main chamber through a newly laid small bore pipe, even put the small bore pipe in the existing drain but in any event seal up the pipe leading back to your house at your boundary. I can't see how anybody can have issue with you removing waste from your property to the main drain in this way.

Cost depends on distance but pump is about €600, chamber €250 and labour depends on where you are.
 
.........And then take the builder to the small claims court for costs incurred, although I think the max they can award is 2,000
 
Thank you for advice! how long would a macerating pump last? Never heard of them. Should I get a plumber or an engineer for this job? Do you live in Carlow area? Sounds like you could sort it out for me? Still think the County council should give me another line into mains but -- County Councils???
 
THank you for advice and yes, I think you're right too, but rural areas are small communities and people I bought from were nice people and still live locally so-- not going down that road! THey say the man who built the estate behind is to blame and also the council!!
 
inaquandry said:
Thank you for advice! how long would a macerating pump last? Never heard of them. Should I get a plumber or an engineer for this job? Do you live in Carlow area? Sounds like you could sort it out for me? Still think the County council should give me another line into mains but -- County Councils???
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I don't like to get my hands dirty but I know a handy man who works on the Wexford side of Carlow town who might be interested. PM me.

Look up ABS pumps on web. They have a factory in Wexford. They are helpful if you ring and say what you want it for, distance, rise etc and they will size and price a pump.

Look up Carlow precast on the web and see sizes of sump. You need a decent size as in the event of a power cut or pump problem you need the capacity to tide you over.

I installed two ABS pumps (smaller non macerating) in a septic tank in 2000. I haven't heard from them since *fingers crossed*. Reason for two was if there was a problem with one the other would pump away the effulent. That would be a bit expensive with the larger macerating pump but still a consideration.

In lieu of the two pump setup you could leave you existing sewer pipe in place. Put the sump in line with that. Pump along pipe in new trench to just at boundary. Arrange the sump so that if there is a problem with the pump or electricity you have the capacity of the sump and then the existing flow to the drain available. Also in normal operation the pump would pump away any backflow from the mains system you say happens occasionaly. I would block my flow at the boundary though and only unblock it when there was a problem with the pump.
 
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