The Brew Cabin

We recently had a blockage in our foul water system. On investigating we found our sceptic tank was full and backing up. We emptied the tank and rodded the drain. But the blockage was still there.

Unfortunately this meant a call to the men at ClearDrains who also could not rod and had to pressure blast the blockage.

The CD guy then said that the blockage was probably caused by our pitch fibre pipes coming to the end of their life. He also said that the problem may come again next week or next year. He also mentioned he could put a camera down the pipe for a mere £300.

What I would love to know is do pitch fibre pipes have a definitive lifetime ? (these have been down since 1968). If so should we get on and replace the whole lot or can we replace where we had the blockage. The blockage was close to the sceptic tank rather than close to the house. One means digging up a field - the other means digging up the mother in laws prize garden !

Thank you for the help as always

Chris

As far as I know, pitch fibre is no longer recognised as a suitable material for drainage pipes. All the old spec books are archived and I can't get at them just at the moment, but, from memory, I think pitch fibre was dropped from the list of suitable materials in the early 1970s

I can't say what the design life of a pitch fibre pipe would be, as none of the current Drainage Fun Books give data on pitch fibre, but 35 years is not much, in terms of drain pipes. I would have expected a lifespan of at least twice that, but then, there were many 'new materials' used in the first couple of decades after the war that subsequently turned out to be more trouble than they were worth, not least of which was asbestos!

300 quid for the CCTV is about the going rate (I know firms that will do it for a bit less) and would be a good way of identifying whether the problem really is a result of pipe failure, and, if so, just how extensive is the problem. Are we possibly needing to re-lay the entire system, or is it just one or two sections that are suspect? 300 quid to determine this is money well spent, as it's the cheapest method of assessment; far cheaper than digging a load of test holes and certainly less destructive!

I think I'd get a price from the CCTV bod to survey the entire system with the aim of determining the state of the system and the extent of necessary repairs, along with some indication of urgency. There comes a point with all systems where it's more cost effective to replace the entire system than to patch sections here and there, and then cross your fingers in the hope that the remaining sections will last another decade or more.

If the survey indicates a serious problem in one or more areas, then it's time to get an estimate to replace the system and see how horrendous a figure they can come up with. If driving a trench through your beloved Mother-in-law's garden is likely to be unbearably painful, then it may be possible to use one of the 'no-dig' technologies, such as pipe re-lining, or even remote tunnelling, to minimise the devastation. Obviously, there has to be some digging, to replace fittings, access chambers, etc, but it's not always necessary to excavate a huge trench smack through the middle of the lawn and rose beds.

Thanks Tony

One small question though. If I have a digger and 2 blockages are within a couple of metres of each other in the field then is the camera still the most effective ? I guess I am asking whether it is a skilled job.

Thanks

Chris

I'm not sure what you're asking. If you have the digger and two adjacent blockages, then replacing the blocked sections with new pipe is the best solution, but to survey the entire system in order to determine the condition of the pipes and extent of any other problems, then a camera survey is still the best option.