combined and seperate drainage question

[AWheating]

i know that its not allowed to connect a foul to surface water for obvious reasons of contamination, but does anybody know if theres anything in the regulations stopping you connecting surface to foul?

 

[kozak1968]

On new build it should be seperate system because building control will want to witness any test. On existing you could probably get away with it unless building control was involved, but dont quote me on it, check the regs

 

[erpkid]

i know that its not allowed to connect a foul to surface water for obvious reasons of contamination, but does anybody know if theres anything in the regulations stopping you connecting surface to foul?

We have just that in our village on all older properties. On the new estate this is separated. Who knows the water board might like a bit of freshish water down the works to help things through?

 

[AWheating]

as far as i know the only issue could be the design of the drain not be able to cope with the rainwater (which is highly unlikey from one small sized house)

the reason why im asking is because my brothers house has two surface water gulleys for his rwp's, because of the bad weather every time it rains for over an hour these gulleys flood. 1st time it happend it caused £8000 worth of damage inside the house, each time since he has managed to get the fire service to come and pump it down the road for him.

the drain floods because the main surface sewer system in his street cant cope with the rainfall from the farm land to the side of his street. His drains are the lowest on the system so he gets flooded. The orignal plan was to fit non returns, but that would leave the surface water off his roof no where to go when it rains, so im thinking of connecting to the foul which is not effected by the surface water system and either capping or venting the surface.

 

[snowhead]

That'll be clause B66, prevention of an emergency situation, that'll be o.k then to divert the surface water, honest Guv.

Of course the surface that was coming up might still want to do so even if you cap it.

 

[Whl4852]

as far as i know the only issue could be the design of the drain not be able to cope with the rainwater (which is highly unlikey from one small sized house)

the reason why im asking is because my brothers house has two surface water gulleys for his rwp's, because of the bad weather every time it rains for over an hour these gulleys flood. 1st time it happend it caused £8000 worth of damage inside the house, each time since he has managed to get the fire service to come and pump it down the road for him.

the drain floods because the main surface sewer system in his street cant cope with the rainfall from the farm land to the side of his street. His drains are the lowest on the system so he gets flooded. The orignal plan was to fit non returns, but that would leave the surface water off his roof no where to go when it rains, so im thinking of connecting to the foul which is not effected by the surface water system and either capping or venting the surface.

Id rather have it connected up knowing it can get away than paddling in it, building control need never know.

By the way, I design and build land drainage schemes!

 

[AWheating]

That'll be clause B66, prevention of an emergency situation, that'll be o.k then to divert the surface water, honest Guv.

Of course the surface that was coming up might still want to do so even if you cap it.

to be honest it will likely pass the problem to somebody else further down but thats life sadly

 

[AWheating]

Id rather have it connected up knowing it can get away than paddling in it, building control need never know.

By the way, I design and build land drainage schemes!

my bro had asked his local authority about it and they just said its down to water board to answer. Ive told him not to speak to anybody about it ie. keep stum!

the farmer/water board seems to need your services.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

now is too late , he has asked and they probably will come later to check on him , but isnt he taking them to court for the 8k damage already ?

 

[AWheating]

now is too late , he has asked and they probably will come later to check on him , but isnt he taking them to court for the 8k damage already ?

hes even had his MP down to look at the damage he and his neighbours suffered, one suffer'd £70,000 in damages to a £150,000 house but that was not related to the drains but just the water flow off the farm land.

His insurance company paid out and its in there hands as far as i know.

my brother has said to the water board that there drains cant cope with the amount of water, and they have said its the farmers fault as its the water off his land that causes the problem. In other words passing the blame.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

omg it looks like a real drama there

 

[AWheating]

the guy who had the £70,000 worth of damage has built a wall around his house so all the water now misses his property and goes towards his neighbours further down the street.

my bro's main issue is he goes to work wondering what he will come to home to if it rains, so its stressfull and stops him getting out the house and on with his life which is not good.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

the guy who had the £70,000 worth of damage has built a wall around his house so all the water now misses his property and goes towards his neighbours further down the street.

my bro's main issue is he goes to work wondering what he will come to home to if it rains, so its stressfull and stops him getting out the house and on with his life which is not good.

not surprised he has had the £70k, he has enough left after building the wall to build another house there .....fill sorry for your family

 

[AWheating]

not surprised he has had the £70k, he has enough left after building the wall to build another house there .....fill sorry for your family

ill do the drains for him some time in the next week or so, hopefully it will solve the issue, for him anyway his neighbours will still suffer tho.

Its scary to think how much the weathers getting worse and the problems its causing foke.

 

[Whl4852]

put him 600mm twinwall all around property and cut holes in top with a stihl saw, then put 40mm clean washed stone on top of that. You just need to find somewhere to divert it... Been out to St Asaph today working in the floods for a well known insurance restoration contractor, you should see how bad theyve got it up there. Really feel sorry for your brother.

 

[Tom Wakeman]

A very effective solution would be to fit a kind of overflow e.g. when the surface water sewer backs up from the farmland runoff and fills up to a certain height, have a 100mm non-return valve overflow from the surface sewer into the foul sewer. This would need to be fitted fairly high (e.g. just below grade level) so that one sewer overflows into the other just before it is likely to start backing up out of the surface drains and flooding the low-lying house. I had a similar problem, but I have a soakaway for surface water that filled up in heavy rain and floods, so considered using a non-return valve to add an overflow from the top of the soakaway into the foul, so when it filled, it would overspill into the foul, but the foul could never back up into the soakaway. After much persuasion, the council agreed the soakaway was pointless in clay soil and allowed me to connect all the surface drains straight into the foul sewer anyway, but this could be a solution for you.

 

[DirksPlumbing]

Just as a hint, what is going to happen if ever the drain gets blocked?

I have already seen rain water coming out the 1st floor shower tray flooding the house because of mixed systems. You should never underestimate the amount of rain water occuring during a proper land rain.

The (double) flaps will definitely be good as they prevent major amounts of water coming to daylight in addition to the water already collected by the drains. Combined with air breaks and diversions for discharging safely around the house might be a better solution then trying to beat physics and the water board in one and risking the insurance to avoid payments in future.

Only my opinion. Nothing bad might ever happen or not until it is sold. But again playing lottery you at least got a chance to win. In this case the best possibly happening is no major complications.

Edit: Remember the NRVs are service parts and have to be accessible at all times. Nothing to simply dig away and forget.