revelation Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 I was wondering if anyone could help. Our main building control inspector has disappeared and we are still waiting for the company to arrange a new one for our project. We have a semi-detached house which we have extended. The previous drainage had everything gaining into one underground pipe. Since the extension, the majority of rainwater is going into a soak-away in the back garden. The previous Building Inspector has said it should be okay to run a couple of downpipes which connect to that one underground pipe. As he has left and we can't get hold of him or another building inspector at the moment. We are wondering if his advice sounds about right? Has anyone else been through a similar situation? Also would a 1 cu m soaraway suffice for a 4 bed semi? Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted October 29, 2022 Share Posted October 29, 2022 all depends on your ground conditions, if its clay then pointless. You should have been asked to do a percolation test to see if your ground is suitable, it may be the previous BCO knew it would be ok based on his experience. https://www.jdpipes.co.uk/knowledge/sewage-treatment/how-to-perform-a-percolation-test.html either way its fine, dumping it into the sewer helps alleviate the shortage of water/hosepipe ban as well ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revelation Posted October 30, 2022 Author Share Posted October 30, 2022 On 29/10/2022 at 08:42, Dave Jones said: all depends on your ground conditions, if its clay then pointless. You should have been asked to do a percolation test to see if your ground is suitable, it may be the previous BCO knew it would be ok based on his experience. https://www.jdpipes.co.uk/knowledge/sewage-treatment/how-to-perform-a-percolation-test.html either way its fine, dumping it into the sewer helps alleviate the shortage of water/hosepipe ban as well ! Thank you for the soakaway info. So from your experience it’s okay to run the foul water and rainwater into on underground pipe/manhole? The previous building inspector did say it’s okay, but while we get a new one the work is happening so don’t want to find out afterwards that they won’t accept it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted October 30, 2022 Share Posted October 30, 2022 they wont know unless you tell them anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revelation Posted October 30, 2022 Author Share Posted October 30, 2022 8 hours ago, Dave Jones said: they wont know unless you tell them anyway. Its subject to building control, they want to see the new pipework before filling normally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 The SUDS hierarchy is (there are different versions but broadly speaking): Rainwater re-use (rainwater harvesting/greywater recycling) An adequate soakaway or other infiltration system Hybrid solution of infiltration and discharging to a surface water body To a surface water body (e.g. an ordinary watercourse) To a surface water sewer, highway drain, or other drainage system To a combined sewer To move to a lower level on the hierarchy should need some justification. So if the two pipes cannot be connected to the soakaway due to unreasonable practical constraints, then you should still be looking for a ditch/landdrain/surface water sewer. If that's not an option then to a combined sewer can be done. A detail I've had to use in some circumstances is a hybrid solution with infiltration and combined system. That is, to use a soakaway but connect an overflow (lower than the incoming pipe but otherwise as high as possible) to whatever drain is feasible, even a combined. This allows low rainfall storms to soakaway (even clay has a percolation rate of something, plus it only needs to get to a fissures before joining the ground water easily) and in the event of a large prolonged rainfall, it can still escape somewhere. It's easy to think oh it's just one more drain, but a lot of it starts at the household level - we have a responsibility to not overload our sewers wherever possible since that is the main reason sewage gets dumped into watercourses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 On 29/10/2022 at 04:00, revelation said: We have a semi-detached house which we have extended. The previous drainage had everything gaining into one underground pipe. Since the extension, the majority of rainwater is going into a soak-away in the back garden. The previous Building Inspector has said it should be okay to run a couple of downpipes which connect to that one underground pipe. Sorry its not clear to me what you want to do? Currently some rainwater downpipes go into the main sewer and some go to a soakaway. Which ones do you want to change and to what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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