Poo cam 2000

[Mickwhitt 5,114]

Hi all, 

Busy few days with the sewer problems I mentioned on another thread.

 

The water company did cctv examinations of every inch of drain from my inspection chamber to the blockage 400m away.

 

The only bit they couldn't access was a section 11m long that ran from a rain gulley into the inspection chamber. This was because I had put a piece of lay flat hose inside this pipe as a liner. I knew there was an issue with this bit of pipe as in heavy rain we got damp in the subfloor, hence my attempt to line it. 

 

When the main drain backed up foul water bypassed the liner and leaked out of the damaged clay pipe into the subfloor. 

 

I had to get the lay flat hose out so I could see see what was going on in the pipe.  This meant digging out the rain gutter to pull the lay flat hose out.

 

 

Here you can see the hose sticking out the rain gutter, which has a U bend on it, making it impossible to pull it out.

 

This is the drain line which had been connected to the rain gulley.  I rodded it and a bucket full of soil and sediment came out of this pipe, indicating a big failure.

This  is a pic with my phone looking down that pipe,  you can see a displaced joint and standing water which is a sign of the pipe having sunk.

I needed to see further than the phone could and so a drain camera was required. Turns out this is pretty expensive to arrange.

I had an endoscope kicking around the workshop to look inside engines etc. But it was no good for poking down a 4 inch drain. 

So the Poo can 2000 was developed.

Basically a carrier for the endoscope camera with a second light source and wheels to guide it along the pipe. Fitted to a 2m length of flexible plastic pipe into can push it along the sewer pipe.

 

Connected to a laptop it produced great pictures and video of the sewer system. I tacked a brighter lamp onto it and managed to find the damaged area and the point at which I could block off this now redundant section of pipe from the sewer. This would mean that even if the main sewer backed up it would not reach the house.

 

OK, I lose the rain gulley from the side of the house, but I have another downspout from the roof just a few feet away. 

 

What I have gained is in the money I won't have to spend on a drain survey and repair for the damaged pipe. 

The camera survey would cost £200

Replacement of the rain gulley £1500

Excavation not exceeding 1m long £1500

Lining the damaged pipe £625 per metre

Which for 10 metres is over £6000

 

So all in all with a bit of ingenuity,  McGuiver type engineering and some light digging I've saved just short of ten grand! 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 72,387]

The 💩 we see on this site......

 

 

 

 

[Mickwhitt 5,114]

Hey Eric,  over the last few days I've seen enough of that stuff to last me a lifetime. Here's hoping I don't have any future sewer problems lol.

 

 

[ebinmaine 72,387]

1 hour ago, Mickwhitt said:

Hey Eric,  over the last few days I've seen enough of that stuff to last me a lifetime. Here's hoping I don't have any future sewer problems lol.

 

 

 

 

Few days.  

 

That lifetime supply for me would be a few SECONDS.  

[Wayne0 1,163]

Great money save!!