Blocked drains

Signs of a blocked drain

• Water draining slowly from sinks, baths or showers
• Gurgling from plugholes or the toilet
• Bad smells from drains or outside gullies
• Water rising in the toilet pan when you flush
• An outside gully or manhole overflowing

Is it your drain or the sewer?

This decides who pays. Since 1 October 2011, shared sewers and lateral drains outside your property boundary belong to the sewerage company. Here, that’s Wessex Water. A drain serving only your property, within its boundary, is your responsibility.

A rough guide: if only your fittings are affected, the blockage is probably in your drain. If your neighbours are having the same trouble, or a shared manhole is full, it may be the public sewer, and you should report it to Wessex Water first. If you’re not sure, call us and describe what you see. We’ll tell you which it sounds like.

What we clear

• Kitchen sinks blocked with grease and food waste
• Bathroom basins, baths and showers blocked with hair and soap
• Blocked toilets and soil stacks
• Outside gullies full of leaves and silt
• Blocked inspection chambers and manholes on your property

Keeping drains clear

Most domestic blockages come from the same few causes: fat and oil poured down the sink, wet wipes flushed down the toilet, and hair in shower wastes. Bin the wipes, wipe greasy pans with kitchen roll before washing, and fit a hair catcher.

Sources: GOV.UK, private sewer transfer, 2011; Citizens Advice, responsibility for drains and sewers.

What not to put down your drains

• Fat, oil and grease. It goes down warm and liquid, then sets hard further along the pipe and catches everything that follows.
• Wet wipes, including ones labelled flushable, along with cotton pads, cotton buds and sanitary products.
• Coffee grounds and food scraps, which settle in traps and bends.
• Hair, which binds with soap in shower and basin wastes.
• Builders’ waste. Plaster, grout and tile adhesive rinsed down a sink can set solid in the pipe.

Gullies, chambers and the drain run

Most houses have at least one outside gully, a grated opening where kitchen waste or rainwater drains, and one or more inspection chambers with a removable cover. These are your early warning system. If a gully is full of standing water, or you lift an inspection chamber cover and find it filling up, the blockage is somewhere downstream of that point.

Finding which chamber is full and which is empty helps narrow down where the problem is and whether it’s on your drain or in a shared sewer. If you can safely lift the covers, take a look and tell us what you see when you call. Keep children and pets well away from open chambers.