Hello,

I understand that drain pipes can be connected in one of three ways:
1. to a soak away
2. to a special rain only sewer (what's the proper name for this:
surface water sewer?)
3. to the same sewer as everything else.

My question is: does the drain need to have a trap if connected to a
soak away or rain sewer? Are these just as smelly as foul sewers?

I ask because the drain pipes on my house, and all the others in the
street, go to a 100mm clay pipe with no visible trap and yet they do
not appear to be particularly smelly.

How could I find out if they go to a separate sewer or soak away? I
know I could pour dye down the drain and see if it passes under the
manhole but if it doesn't, that wouldn't tell me where it goes.

I'm just curious why there is no trap or were they not built like this
thirty years ago (the house is mid-70s).

Thanks,
Stephen.

On 9 Sep, 14:36, Stephen wrote:
Hello,

I understand that drain pipes can be connected in one of three ways:
1. to a soak away
2. to a special rain only sewer (what's the proper name for this:
surface water sewer?)
3. to the same sewer as everything else.

My question is: does the drain need to have a trap if connected to a
soak away or rain sewer? Are these just as smelly as foul sewers?

I ask because the drain pipes on my house, and all the others in the
street, go to a 100mm clay pipe with no visible trap and yet they do
not appear to be particularly smelly.

How could I find out if they go to a separate sewer or soak away? I
know I could pour dye down the drain and see if it passes under the
manhole but if it doesn't, that wouldn't tell me where it goes.

I'm just curious why there is no trap or were they not built like this
thirty years ago (the house is mid-70s).

Thanks,
Stephen.



We didn't need traps before the terrorist threat began.

On Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:36:58 +0100, a certain chimpanzee, Stephen
randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

I understand that drain pipes can be connected in one of three ways:
1. to a soak away
2. to a special rain only sewer (what's the proper name for this:
surface water sewer?)
3. to the same sewer as everything else.

My question is: does the drain need to have a trap if connected to a
soak away or rain sewer? Are these just as smelly as foul sewers?

To a soakaway or water course, no. To a separate sewer, usually not.
It is possible that a separate sewer eventually reconnects to the foul
drain further down the line, so either the connection between the two
sewers should be trapped, or each inlet trapped.

I'm just curious why there is no trap or were they not built like this
thirty years ago (the house is mid-70s).

Separate drainage is a relatively modern invention, along with
treating the sewage. In order to stop the sewage works overflowing
every time it rains, the surface water is sent elsewhere. I would
expect an estate built in the 1970s to have separate sewers.
--
Hugo Nebula
"If no-one on the internet wants a piece of this,
just how far from the pack have you strayed?"

On Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:32:26 +0100, Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost
wrote:

In order to stop the sewage works overflowing
every time it rains, the surface water is sent elsewhere. I would
expect an estate built in the 1970s to have separate sewers.

That must be it then. So surface water sewers do not need traps
because they don't carry smelly stuff? I've learned something new.

Do many people realise the sewers are separate? What is to stop
someone inadvertently connecting their washing machine to a drain?

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Stephen wrote:

On Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:32:26 +0100, Hugo Nebula abuse@localhost
wrote:

In order to stop the sewage works overflowing
every time it rains, the surface water is sent elsewhere. I would
expect an estate built in the 1970s to have separate sewers.

That must be it then. So surface water sewers do not need traps
because they don't carry smelly stuff? I've learned something new.

Do many people realise the sewers are separate? What is to stop
someone inadvertently connecting their washing machine to a drain?

Very little! We have separate foul and surface water sewers - but soapy
water comes down our surface water sewer when it hasn't rained for ages, so
*somebody* appears to have connected their sink or washing machine to it.
Fortunately I haven't seen anything *really* smelly coming down!

FWIW, my house's original connections (built about 1968) to the surface
water sewer were all trapped - but connections from subsequent extensions
haven't been.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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