Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Jun 25, 2010 10:30 pm hi all, This is my first post and hope I can get some help. I have a flooding problem on my property at the moment which I just bought 1.5 years ago- a 4 year old house. In heavy downpour, a total of 3 downpipes on both sides near the front of my house starting spouting water near the connection point where the pipes enter the ground such that I get a nice pool of water and can't walk along there without heels. The connection point council provided (stormwater drain pipe that sticks out on my property) also starts spouting water into the garden bed causing slight flooding of my front garden. A plumber had a look and found a bent pipe near one of the down pipes, but this doesn't fully explain the other downpipes overflowing or the connection point spouting water. I called the council who jet flushed the connection stormwater drain and said it was fine - no blockage. I am at lost as to what to do? Is it simply a volume issue as it only happen in heavy rain? if it is what do I do to stop pooling of water that can have bad effects on the building foundation? Any thoughts would be grateful! Leng L Re: plumbing headache 2Jun 26, 2010 1:44 pm Quote: In heavy downpour, a total of 3 downpipes on both sides near the front of my house starting spouting water near the connection point where the pipes enter the ground such that I get a nice pool of water and can't walk along there without heels. Definitely sounds like a blockage somewhere. Do the gutters overflow as well? I had a very similar problem last year. Stupidly the previous owners of my house had used slotted pipe between one of the downpipes and the pipe heading towards the footpath gutter. I guess they thought it would take away excess water - not thinking it would actually release the storm water into the ground and under the foundations. Consequently I've had to restump the house... another story. Anyway, my problem was caused by a clump of couch grass up the pipe near the road. It only takes one root and a bit of silt buildup and away they go. It looked clean from the street end, but only a small trickle of water only ever came out after heavy rain. The pipes would fill up and back-up to the roof level, at which point the gutters would then overflow. Because of the slotted pipe and gravel surrounding the pipe, the water would drain away eventually and the overflowing would stop. I eventually cut the pipe and using a piece of poly-pipe (you could use anything that would be long enough) and pushed the obstruction through to the road gutter. Pipe is now clean, the slotted pipe has been replaced and everything flows as it should. Re: plumbing headache 3Jun 26, 2010 5:52 pm Leng, Some questions: - are the 3 downpipes you mentioned the only 3 downpipes that feed to the kerb discharge? - re the areas that the water is coming out, are these points higher than the kerb disharge point? - at the areas that the water is coming out, is the joint a good/tight fit or is it a loose fit? Chris Re: plumbing headache 4Jun 28, 2010 2:39 pm Hi all, thanks for replies. Barney- my gutters do not overflow, the plumber who had a look said that if water was backing up along the whole pipe, then water would be spouting from the connection points along the pipe as it nears the roof. Since this is not happening, I am assuming that if there was a blockage, it's allowing enough water to flow through but not enough, hence the overflow - what do you think? - the council claims that it must be a property pipe problem if it recurs, but logically how would water back up if the council pipe was clear? ChrisL - I think there may be 4 downpipes that feed to the kerb discharge, I can't be sure, but the others on the back half of the house have not problems, so I assume 3-4 - the points water are coming out of are higher than the kerb discharge point - what impact does this have? (to get this right would I assume that the kerb discharge point is underground?) - the joint is not a tight fit as I can see the water running as its shooting down the pipe in moderate downfall, so I guess a loose fit? Sorry for being so vague, but its guesswork since I don't have any plumbing plans for when the house was built. Thanks for any further help. Leng L Re: plumbing headache 5Jun 29, 2010 8:39 pm Leng, One possibility .... Let's say you have 4 downpipes joining together (underground) then all the water from the 4 pipes feeds into one pipe going to the discharge point. When it rains heavily, the 4 pipes have lots of fast running water. However, when the pipes join together, the downstream pipe cannot handle that amount of water. Then the water backs up a little and comes out of your loose fitting pipe. If the pipe was tight fitting (sealed), it shouldn't be a problem, as water would have to back up a long way (up the downpipe) before becoming a problem. I would suggest that only a badly blocked pipe would back up water up 2.4 metres. I do not expect downpipes towards the back of your house to have a problem as the water would have to back up a long way before becoming a problem. How likely that this is your problem? It depends. Probability of it being your problem will increase if your roof area is large, downpipe diameter is small (75mm diameter), and your slab is only marginally higher (or lower) than the street kerb, then likelihood increases. If your slab is only a little higher than the discharge point, water would have less of a tendency to flow away. Discharge point = stormwater pipe typically go into street's kerbside, where you'll see the end of a stormwater pipe. Suggest you temporarily seal the downpipe and see what happens. Chris Re: plumbing headache 6Jun 30, 2010 11:30 am Thanks again! That was a really nice breakdown for me Chris! I will try sealing the pipe connection point and see what happens - have to wait for heavy downfall too. My roof is fairly large - covers about 38 sq metres, but the house is elevated higher than the standard for new buildings; it's on stumps. thanks again L In my experience roof is essential element of the building envelope and hence a common property and should be covered by owners corporation however a detailed review of… 3 6163 For anyone that comes across this issue in the future - Just did what aussieta said and found a plumber to inspect it and sign off on it. Was difficult to find someone to… 3 6990 5 3755 |