Emergency Drainage in London

EMERGENCY DRAINAGE

​

Whilst ideally defects should be dealt with before a repair becomes an emergency, sometimes you will not know you have a problem with your drainage until sewage starts overflowing. In these circumstances, we will get an engineer to you as quickly as possible to firstly attempt to clear any blockages that may be causing an obstruction and is not allowing the free flow of waste. The majority of household blockages are caused by abuse to the system such as flushing non-disposable wipes down the toilet and disposing of cooking fats through the kitchen sink and usually these are quick to clear, returning the pipework to a free flowing condition once it has been dislodged.

If the cause of the blockage is evident during the time of clearing, such as we see a large mass of non-disposable wipes and nappies or kitchen grease removed, then it is likely to be a one-off occurrence (unless the same actions are repeated!) however if there is no obvious cause, it is advisable to carry out a CCTV drain survey in London to ensure there are no underlying issues which could lead to repeat and potentially overflowing blockages.

​

There are a number of other things that can cause blockages and bring about other and more severe problems including heavy root masses growing in the pipework which can make the pipework collapse and if left to this stage, the only option is to excavate at this point and replace the defective section. If caught in time where the roots have just left fractures in place, these can be repaired by structural soft felt lining or structural patch lining which will seal the pipework to a watertight condition and strengthen the sleeved run. It is also common to see toilet paper snagging on fractures so we do not advise that these are ignored, especially as they will also be allowing the loss of water into the surrounding ground and can cause subsidence to the building.

With a blockage, you do usually get warning signs that the water is not flowing how it should as it will be notably slower to drain away or outside gullies are holding water and we advise you contact a contractor to return the system to its normal condition.

​

We carry out dozens of surveys each week for a number of reasons with only a smaller number directly linked to blockages and we always highlight in our reports if any deposits are in the system including the type and if they prevented passage of the camera. We advise that the larger deposits are removed by high pressure water jetting as these could accumulate and cause an overflowing blockage. We have clients who ask us to attend every one to two years to carry out high pressure water jetting to minimise this risk.

​

Over the years, we have attended large numbers of emergency drainage in London cases, cleared thousands of blockages and have seen children’s toys and footballs, plastic drinks bottles and tins, clothes and underwear removed from the system, as well as the standard everyday deposits you would expect to see in the drains.

​

Another type of urgent repair is if it is discovered that drainage serving the foul water system has been connected to a separate surface water system which is illegal against Building Regulations. If Local Water Authority are aware of these connections, they will issue a warning to rectify the misconnection and if not actioned within a short timeframe, they will issue a fine. Whatever your drainage needs, urgent or not, we are well equipped to return your system to a watertight and free flowing condition.

​

COVID-19 Update for Drainage Emergencies in London

​

During the current times of self isolation and social distancing which we support, further to an
announcement from the Government, we can confirm that we are categorised as essential key workers because poor sanitation carries its own health risks and therefore we are continuing to operate as normal but are following the Government guidelines closely and monitoring all updates on a regular basis.