The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Mon Apr 05, 2010 12:15 pm**

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could please offer some advice to assist with my plan to drain the surface water from my drive into a foul water drain manhole situated on my property.

I realise that this isn't ideal, and I do have a dual drain system, but it is physically impossible to get access to surface water drains. I am also in an area of thick clay (so soakaways don't work), and have no watercourse etc to drain into. So....

The manhole is only situated 15 metres away from the area I plan to drain, and there is a good fall between the areas.

Below is a picture of the manhole in question. It is actually only 10 years old, but looks older. It is 1 metre deep.

The new pipe will be coming in from the top left of the picture to join in the direction of the flow.

My question is regarding how I physically join the new pipe into the manhole. I have read on the website all about how to physically form the hole for the pipe in the side by drilling lots of little holes etc. I am a bit confused, however, about what height the new pipe would have to enter the manhole as it is purely surface water and not sewage. I gather that it is not ok, for example, to simply have the pipe sticking out the side half way up?

Any help would be brilliant,
Thanks,

G

Posted: **Mon Apr 05, 2010 1:00 pm**

ideally any new connection will come in at invert height I.E. 1 M down in your case
however myself and i am sure many of the blokes on this forum have seen many times pipes coming in at a higher level,I am in no way proposing this method but it is very very common,especially with deeper man holes
to my mind much more important is that you make sure your pipework has a roddable back inlet gully,for 2 reasons
1 to stop the smell coming out of the sewers
2 to stop detritus going down and blocking your sewers

all the best
LLL

Posted: **Mon Apr 05, 2010 1:05 pm**

Thanks LLL for the quick reply. Much appreciated.

Posted: **Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:00 pm**

lutonlagerlout wrote:ideally any new connection will come in at invert height I.E. 1 M down in your case
however myself and i am sure many of the blokes on this forum have seen many times pipes coming in at a higher level.

:O ??? :;):

Posted: **Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:16 pm**

Yep - as LLL has said - not ideal but I'd bang a hole through the concrete section and poke the pipe neatly through into the chamber.

Posted: **Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:06 pm**

I didn't advocate it Sean, its the wrong way about it but i am sure you have seen it too
its when you get the real cowboys who just bash a straight bit of pipe through with a knuckle on the other end,thats when the smell and problems start
LLL

The Brew Cabin

Surface water into foul drain