Farnborough

Late on a Sunday afternoon, a call came into our Guildford office from a four-bedroom property in Crondall, near Farnham and Farnborough. The customer had a blocked drain beneath the house leading towards their private sewage system and understandably wanted it dealt with quickly.

Because we allocate engineers according to where they are working and where they live, Jed, one of our blocked-drain engineers who lives in the Alton area, and Gerry from our Guildford operation were given the job. Our sewage tanker was also arranged. The whole team, including the tanker driver, was on site before 8pm.

Within around six hours, the blocked drains had been cleared, the system cleaned and the drains were free-flowing again. The customer was very relieved and could use the house normally.

But clearing the blockage wasn’t the end of the investigation. Once everything was running, we could see there were several issues with the property’s private sewage system that needed looking at. The immediate concern was a small pump installed in a chamber which was helping to keep the water level down in what appeared to be a small brick-built septic tank or pit in the garden. We measured the chamber at approximately 750mm x 1,800mm x 1,260mm deep. Based on what we found, this appeared far too small to provide adequate capacity for a four-bedroom property.

We also needed to establish exactly where the system was discharging. Our initial findings indicated that it appeared to discharge into a large soakaway of a type more commonly associated with rainwater drainage. There was another question we wanted answered: was roof or surface water entering the private foul drainage system? We suspected that it could be, but rather than simply assume this was the case, we recommended further investigation to confirm or eliminate rainwater connections.

The important thing for the customer was that this wasn’t a situation where everything had to be dug up immediately. We cleared and cleaned the system and left the property operating normally again. A full report could then explain what we had found, what further surveys were required and the possible improvements to the private sewage system, allowing the customer to make an informed decision rather than being rushed into expensive work during an emergency.

Emergency dealt with first. Cause investigated second. Permanent improvements planned properly afterwards.

Services

• Blocked Drains & Diagnostics
• Private Drainage Systems
• Emergency Tanker Service