London City Drains - Drainage news

Most of London’s drains and drain pipes are antiquated and were built during or just after the Great Victorian period.

In most of these sewers, an accumulation of over one hundred years has resulted, more often than not the pipes find themselves full of scale, silt, debris and other foreign objects which restrict the flow of the drains and eventually lead to large build ups and more often than not, recurring blockages.

In most instances, unblocking London’s drains aren’t sufficient. Because the blockage is cleared, doesn’t mean that the underlying problem has been dealt with. Having to return to clear a blockage again in a few months time, or in some cases weeks or days, can be a very costly ordeal for the customer.

London City Drains highly recommends having your drain and drain pipe cleaned using one of their high pressure jet cleaning machines. In this way, restoring the sewer pipe back to its former glory and ensuring a perfect and odourless flowing drain for many years to come, as well as peace of mind.
Why not call City Drains on 0800 007 5309 to find out about their London drain cleaning services or for some free friendly advice.

Before going any further, we apologise in advance: November 19, believe it or not, is World Toilet Day – perhaps the most ‘unloosual’ event in the global news calendar.

Falling on the day in 1792 when the first regularly flushing toilet was patented, it is ostensibly a splendid excuse to celebrate the very best in toilet humour.

Butt (apologies again – Ed) the day does have a more serious side: while we may take our porcelain privileges for granted, more than 2.6 billion people elsewhere in the world are forced to survive without adequate sanitation – a crisis the World Toilet Organisation hopes this event will highlight.

So now we’ve lifted the lid on the day’s origins, it’s time to get bogged down in some titillating toilet trivia (so sorry – eventually we’ll get it out of our cistern). Urine for a bit of a giggle.

Toilet Quiz (Answers at bottom) delivered by London Drains - Drain Cleaning Services

1. Who invented the flushing toilet in 1596?

Thomas Crapper
Sir John Harrington
Walter Closet

2. How long does the average person spend on the loo in their lifetime?

Six months
One year
Three years

3. What are the odds you will be injured in a toilet in the next 12 months?

One in 10,000
One in 100,000
One in a million

4. What did the Romans use instead of toilet paper?

Papyrus leaves
Christians
A sponge on a stick

5. How many times a year does the average person use the loo?

250
2,500
25,000

6. How much did Hampshire officials spend on a new toilet for the Queen’s visit?

£5,000
£10,000
£150,000

7. What do scientists believe is one of the most hygienic surfaces in the home?

Kitchen chopping board
Tap handle
Toilet seat

8. What percentage of the world’s population use toilet paper?

30%
60%
90%

9. How many people worldwide don’t have access to adequate sanitation?

2.6 million
26 million
2.6 billion

10. Nasa has developed a high-tech toilet for astronauts. How much did it cost?

£1.5 million
£5.6 million
£9.2 million

Answers:

1)Sir John Harrington
2)Three years
3)One in 10,000
4)A sponge on a stick
5)2,500
6)£5,000
7)Toilet seat
8)30%
9)2.6 billion
10)£9.2 million

How important a role does a company like City Drains have in the 21st century…?

As long as there are humans on this planet, drainage services will always be needed…

Throughout history the standard method of sewage disposal has been to bung it in the nearest river, which would ultimately carry it to the sea - the word ‘sewer‘ is Old English for ’seaward’.

“In the entrance to Roman taverns and workshops have been uncovered large stone vessels which can best be described as urinals. Here is the first physical evidence of London’s toilet facilities.”

“In the period of Saxon and Viking occupation there is evidence of excrement dropped anywhere and everywhere, even within the houses.”

“Regulations [in London] of the 13th century ordained that ‘no one shall place dung or other filth in the streets or lanes, but cause the same to be taken by the rakers to the places ordained.’” Human dung at that time was used on the fields outside the city.

Pigs were allowed to roam the streets, as rubbish-eaters, but they themselves became a nuisance, because they were always blocking narrow lanes, and wandering into people’s houses. There was a cull of pigs, after which they were replaced by kites. You could get the death sentence for killing a kite.

In 1349 Edward III wrote to the mayor of London complaining that the city’s thoroughfares were “foul with human faeces, and the air of the city poisoned to the great danger of men passing.” Resulting legislation damned this “grievous and great abomination” and appointed four “scawageours” (scavengers) in each ward, responsible for cleanliness.

However, emptying your bowels directly into the river was still thought to be fine; on London bridge there were 138 houses and a public latrine.

Between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, London had variously three streets known as Pissing Lane or Pissing Alley, which were used for the purpose suggested. Also noted are Dunghill Lane and Dunghill Stairs. Pudding Lane is named after dung. Sherborne Lane is nothing to do with Dorset; it was once Shiteburn Lane.

The first public bogs (since Roman times) were built in the 13th century. “The new bridge across the river was equipped with one of these modern conveniences, which had two entrances, while the smaller bridges across the Fleet and the Walbrook also made provision for them.

Against the streams and tributaries there were ‘houses of office,’ too, although many consisted simply of wooden planks with holes carved out of them. More elaborate public privies were constructed, some with four or more holes, culminating in Richard Whittington’s fifteenth-century ‘House of Easement’ or ‘Long House’ over the Thames at the end of Friar Lane. It contained two rows of sixty-four seats, one row for men and the other for women.”

In 1275, the White Friars complained to the king that the public privy above the Fleet gave out “putrid exhalations” which “overcame even the frankincense” and “had caused the death of manie Brethren.”

The law in the 14th century took lav-related crime pretty seriously. One man was charged for dung-dumping so bad that “there may neythir hors ne cart pas for his dong.” [sic]

Much later, Samuel Pepys recorded “Going down to my cellar, I put my foot in a great heap of turds, by which I find that Mr Turners house of office is full and comes into my cellar.”

Ackroyd seems to suggest that the Great Stink was caused by reform, not neglect. The Metropolitan Commission of Sewers in 1847 ordered that all privy refuse was to be discharged directly into sewers. This was to keep the streets clean and healthy; previously cesspools had become a real menace. However, this reform meant that all effluent went “straight into the central reaches of the Thames. As a result the swan and the salmon, together with other fish, vanished in an open sewer.”

The water supply for many Londoners was taken directly from the river, and the water “from this time forward” was often described as being of a “brownish” colour.

Ackroyd points out that the Stink was “the odour of progress,” since the massively rising middle-class consumption was partly to blame for it; affluence leads to effluence.

All the above from the book: ‘London the Biography’ by Peter Ackroyd.

More interesting facts brought to you by London City Drains, unblocking and cleaning drains for London and serving all your London drainage needs.
Free phone: 0800 007 5309

London City Drainage reports on toilet phobias:

The National Phobics Society has revealed that more than four million Brits suffer from a toilet phobia of some kind. People up and down the country are going potty with anxiety because they always need to find a stress-free place to do their business.

Problems range from a mild dislike for public loos to complete fear of leaving the house in case a suitable toilet can’t be found. People have even turned down job offers because the toilet facilities are not up to scratch.

Shy Bladder Syndrome, when people have a fear of urinating in the company of others, and bashful bowel syndrome, which is the inability to defecate in public toilets, are two of the key causes of toilet phobia.

London City Drains are now pleased to offer their clients, in line with their other services, drain pipe sewer tracing for both foul water and surface water drains.

Using state of the art Sonde Tracers and CCTV drain surveys, City Drains can give you an accurate picture of the condition and location of the problem at hand.

“Pinpointing the exact location of the problem or locating a buried drain or manhole so as to deal with the problem effectively and thereby saving the customer time, stress and money”

If your drain requires tracing, call City Drains now on 0800 007 5309 to arrange for an appointment or free estimate.

Now accessing City Drains drainage services is even easier, as we’re listed in the London Drainage Services section of google maps.

The new googlemaps listing displays our contact details and customers reviews - just search for London Drainage services on google.

Here’s a recent review from a satisfied customer of City Drains:

In this case we determined the cause of the drainage problem, and provided a fast, effective drain repair.

“Really great service by this company. Highly reccomended, will use again. Thanks for your help City Drains, you managed to get to the root of the problem when nobody else could.”

One of the qualities that stands out when dealing with London City Drains and which our customers agree on, is the go for attitude and determination to solve the drainage problem at hand.

One job recently undertaken in central London was for a solicitor firm whose drains were located in their basement offices.

Over the years a score of London drainage service firms had been called out to try and solve the drain problem of the horrendous bad smells that were emanating from their basement office area and which was affecting all those that worked in that confined zone.

A second problem was that of a blocked basement kitchen sink waste pipe. This again had been dealt with on numerous occasions but the drainage problem never solved.

The problem at hand was not an easy one as the basement was carpet tiled and there was only access to one manhole. This was the manhole that all the other drainage contactors had been heading straight to without ever investigating any further.

Our drainage engineer decided to approach the job with a different attitude altogether. The first thing he had to investigate was whether there were any other manholes available in the basement. His many years of experience told him that there had to be a main interceptor in the basement somewhere. It was crucial that this be found as this would give a clear indication of whether:

A) The smell was due to a blocked drain
Or
B) Whether the drain had an eye cap fitted

This had never been undertaken by other London drainage engineers, as was confirmed when the drain was located and exposed. The drain, although it was running perfectly and there was no blockage, had no eye cap fitted. *One was immediately fitted and one of the problems resolved.

The problem of the blocked kitchen sink waste pipe was now addressed;

The previous London drainage engineers had all tried the same method and had failed in their endeavour. They would go direct to the only exposed manhole and use the high pressure jet up a side connection, which they thought was the waste for the kitchen sink. This method failed and no time was taken to investigate further the possible reasons for this failure.

London City Drains Engineer tried a different approach. Again, all his years of experience told him that obviously something was not right. After removing every item under the sink area, he traced the waste pipe and found that this was going directly into the floor and it would be normal to assume that this would be connected into the side connection that other engineers had tried drain jetting up and had failed. The problem was that it made no sense, as there was a pool of water on the floor and this was not normal unless there had been some form of flooding.

After obtaining permission from the office manager, the engineer removed the floor lino and found that there was an old rain water gully which had been sealed with a metal cover; the kitchen sink waste pipe was running into this gully. The gully as it turned out was an expired soak away and this particular area was originally an outdoor area that had been rebuilt over to accommodate for the new offices. The builders who had connected the kitchen sink waste pipe into the gully had made a serious blunder! This was not connected to any foul drain and there was no way the waste from the sink could flow away. The problem in the end was remedied by cementing over the old gully and realigning the kitchen waste pipe so it would flow directly into the manhole drain.

Because the waste in the old gully had just been sitting there for so long, this had also gone stagnant and was another contributing factor for the bad smells.

All the problems were effectively dealt with and the office workers were very relieved to be working under healthier conditions.

• The eye cap which is normally fitted on the rodding eye in the main interceptor serves to stop bad smells and rats from coming up from the main sewer on the road into your property. Most properties in London do not have one fitted.

If your property is suffering from bad smells then this could be the reason why.

For help and advice call London City Drains on freephone 0800 007 5309

London Drainage Service | Drain Repairs London | Blocked Drain London | Drain Clearing London

Drainage London | CCTV Drain survey footage - London Drainage Service

We’ve added a report of a recent drainage survey to the City Drains London website.

In this example we inspected a 4 inch PVC drain pipe at a house in London - the customer was suffering a blocked drain which needed immediate attention. 

The cctv drain survey showed that the blocked drain was caused by a kinked pipe which caused water retention and flooding.

Drain repair was possible by excavating the blocked pipe, and realigning the drain to the correct angle, allowing the drain to flow freely and preventing any futher drain blockages.

You can see the full cctv drain survey footage, plus the drain schematic and drainage service report by visiting the London drain inspections page on our website.

Thames Water is proposing to upgrade its sludge treatment facilities at Riverside Sewage Treatment Works, in Rainham – which will enable the plant to treat the solid waste left behind after the sewage treatment process and turn it into enough renewable energy to power the entire site.

The proposed upgrade will be located entirely within the existing sewage treatment works and will involve refurbishing existing digestion tanks and building new sludge thickening, de-watering and storage facilities. All measures are being taken to ensure the works will have no effect on odour.  All process tanks and sludge storage areas will be covered or enclosed in buildings.

Sludge will be treated through anaerobic digestion, whereby solid waste is broken down in enclosed tanks in the absence of oxygen. The process generates renewable energy, in the form of biogas (methane) which can be used to run engines and turbines for heating and electricity. The process also leaves behind a nutrient-rich solid which can be used as fertiliser.

A planning application will be submitted in May 2008 and subject to approval, construction will begin in early 2009 with works due for completion by 2010.