Thorfun Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 greetings. we have 3 drainage outlets from our new build into a ditch running alongside our property, one from STP and RWH, one land drain from our green roofs and another 110mm pipe from other roofs not feeding our RWH tank. I'm thinking of adding something to the end of the pipe to protect from potential rodent incursion. firstly, is this paranoia gone too far? I see there are metal NRV for this but at £50 a pop seem a little excessive and we have NRV on the outlet pipes from our STP and RWH tanks anyway. so I was wondering if anyone had any other recommendations for this? I found these on Amazon which might do the trick although a determined rat could probably gnaw through the plastic. I've also though of 3D printing something like this but I'm not sure of the effectiveness of it. and a final thought is a simple 110mm vent like this from Screwfix but, again, don't know if it will work. anyone else paranoid enough to worry about rats in the drains and done anything about it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Chicken wire or similar mesh, scrunch up into a ball shape and push into the pipe. Rat proof, easy to pull out and clean/check and no fixings to rust or seize. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 19 minutes ago, Thorfun said: is this paranoia gone too far? NO, A rat got into my STP and blocked a pipe, smells alerted me and after “fishing” i got it out, I had no grill on the outlet pipe to a ditch which is where it must have got in, I simply used a grill fir the top of a vent stack. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radian Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Forget using anything made from plastic. If it's in their way, they have all the time in the world to chew through it. And it doesn't take them all that long anyway. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 thanks all. sorry to hear about your issues @joe90 and glad my paranoia is justified. I will forget plastic as I know a determined rat will/can chew through it. we're leaning towards some kind of steel mesh fitted over the end of the pipe and held with adhesive of some kind. we walk up the road past the ditch most days taking the dog for a walk so we can always keep an eye on things to see if it's come lose or fallen off or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 49 minutes ago, Thorfun said: greetings. we have 3 drainage outlets from our new build into a ditch running alongside our property, one from STP and RWH, one land drain from our green roofs and another 110mm pipe from other roofs not feeding our RWH tank. I'm thinking of adding something to the end of the pipe to protect from potential rodent incursion. firstly, is this paranoia gone too far? I see there are metal NRV for this but at £50 a pop seem a little excessive and we have NRV on the outlet pipes from our STP and RWH tanks anyway. so I was wondering if anyone had any other recommendations for this? I found these on Amazon which might do the trick although a determined rat could probably gnaw through the plastic. I've also though of 3D printing something like this but I'm not sure of the effectiveness of it. and a final thought is a simple 110mm vent like this from Screwfix but, again, don't know if it will work. anyone else paranoid enough to worry about rats in the drains and done anything about it? I’ve just added a flood valve about 3 meters from our dyke Whilst it will stop water in the event of a flood It will also stop rodents coming up the 75 meters of pipe to our TP 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 1 hour ago, Thorfun said: as I know a determined rat will/can chew through it. You got me worried so just went and had a look as mine has been there 18months or so, still intact 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 2 hours ago, Radian said: Forget using anything made from plastic. If it's in their way, they have all the time in the world to chew through it. And it doesn't take them all that long anyway. 2 hours ago, Radian said: Forget using anything made from plastic. If it's in their way, they have all the time in the world to chew through it. And it doesn't take them all that long anyway. Flood valve ideal Stainless steel plate in there way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Rats are worthy foes. Gun to be oiled this afternoon, off to the range later, make sure it's still zeroed properly. New batteries for the scope and image intensifier. Wind is shifting just right for a quiet dusk-time sit down and commune with the enemy. Thanks for the tip about flood valves @nod - missed that . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 we have those flood/NRVs between our STP and RWH and the ditch but I have another 2 pipes which don't have such a thing. plus I want to stop anything nesting in the pipes even if they can't get past the NRVs. I'm thinking mesh covering the outlet and then held on with a plastic sleeve/collar on the outside of the pipe which I can 3D print. will take a photo once the solution is in place for everyone to see my cowboy work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 4 hours ago, ToughButterCup said: Rats are worthy foes. Gun to be oiled this afternoon, off to the range later, make sure it's still zeroed properly. New batteries for the scope and image intensifier. Wind is shifting just right for a quiet dusk-time sit down and commune with the enemy. Thanks for the tip about flood valves @nod - missed that . 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Can your House Automation system cope with the solution they used on the exhaust pipe of the Death Star? Just need to make sure that none of your local rats are Jedis. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 (edited) first pipe done. should keep the little buggers out. 2 more to do once I've finished printing the collars Edited September 11, 2022 by Thorfun 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundtuit Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Looking good. A cable tie and a couple of self tappers would be easier than printing perhaps. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 1 minute ago, Roundtuit said: Looking good. A cable tie and a couple of self tappers would be easier than printing perhaps. maybe and most definitely quicker! but why have a 3D printer if you're not going to use it? 😉 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundtuit Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 49 minutes ago, Thorfun said: maybe and most definitely quicker! but why have a 3D printer if you're not going to use it? 😉 Of course...🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Sorry to hijack the thread but on Sunday I was walking through the burn that our treatment plant empties into, clearing our branches etc while the level is still low. I noticed that the outlet pipe does not have a rodent guard and had a couple of thoughts. 90% of the time the burn is below the pipe but occasionally it will be above in heavy rain. Should I: A. put a flap valve on the end instead of a grill? B. put an angle on the end of the pip so it is pointing downstream? My concern is that if the stream is too high, will it flush back to the treatment plant causing issues? It’s a klargester bioficient and I don’t know if it has some sort of internal check valve. http://www.svrplastics.co.uk/uploads/images/spigot_connection21.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Really depends on how much higher the treatment plant is against the expected upper level of the burn. A down stream bend wouldn’t hurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 Rats are clever little buggers. I thought I had rat proofed our chicken run as no rats for two years after building it. We put the house on the market and obviously the rats spotted it on Rightmove as they moved in to the chicken run underneath the coup. I didn’t notice straight away but did notice that the chickens were suddenly getting through a lot more food. Eventually I noticed the tell tale signs of some excavation work at the back of coup. Moved the coup, the pallet it sat on and the slabs the pallet sat on. I was very impressed with the basement apartment they had built. Sleeping quarters packed with feathers, en-suite loo in the opposite corner, and a well stocked larder of chicken feed and various bits of vegetables. There were two very neat tunnels great escape styli leading out from either side of rat mansions underneath all my carefully installed rat proof mesh, underneath my sunken perimeter barrier all the way to the boundary with the neighbouring field. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 14 minutes ago, Kelvin said: the rats spotted it on Rightmove 🤣🤣🤣🤣, yes they are very clever, my chicken run was built on 200mm of rolled MOT, they got through that 🤷♂️, then I ran chicken wire underneath it, they simply dug up to it so the chicken food fell through into their tunnels. Yum yum. Our neighbour gave up keeping chickens on account of rats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 12, 2022 Author Share Posted September 12, 2022 1 hour ago, joe90 said: 🤣🤣🤣🤣, yes they are very clever, my chicken run was built on 200mm of rolled MOT, they got through that 🤷♂️, then I ran chicken wire underneath it, they simply dug up to it so the chicken food fell through into their tunnels. Yum yum. Our neighbour gave up keeping chickens on account of rats. once the house is finished I'll start work on the new chicken run. am thinking of a concrete slab or using leftover concrete blocks (I have quite a few from the block and beam in the house)so there's no chance of tunnelling underneath! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markc Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 6 minutes ago, Thorfun said: so there's no chance of tunnelling underneath! Oh yes they will, but yes, unable to enter the chicken coop 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted September 12, 2022 Author Share Posted September 12, 2022 11 minutes ago, joe90 said: Oh yes they will, but yes, unable to enter the chicken coop 👍 which is the ultimate goal. they can tunnel all they like as long as rats (and foxes) can't get in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 12, 2022 Share Posted September 12, 2022 At least two Rolands have won Nobel Prizes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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