Drain issue - blocked with soil - thoughts on solution?

gex23

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Whilst looking for a point to connect my land drains to, I thought i'd lift the concrete manhole covers off the five (yes FIVE!) mainholes around the property - upon doing this, I discovered that two of them are working perfectly, no blockages etc.....two of the others though are completely filled with soil - I honestly don't know how much, but having been down into one of them to attempt to remove manually, there's at least 1.5 foot of soil down there....


How two of the drains are laid out : (left one is the blocked one)



Working drain :



Photo of drain backfilled with soil :



The drains / manholes are laid out in a similar position at the front of the property, with the left one again being heavily blocked with soil. No issue with any foul smells, drains backing up or anything like that, the only issue is poor draining in the back garden, which I'll assume is down to the clay soil and not related to the blocked drains.

Which leads me to my question - what's the best way to proceed with this - contact a commercial drain unblocking company? Or attempt a DIY solution?
 
Call someone in, assuming they are in use?
 
I would suggest that the ones filled with soil are no longer in use. Your local council should have drainage plans for your particular area.
 
If it isn't causing a problem then perhaps just leave well alone, otherwise get a specialist to give you a quote.
 
Thanks for the replies! Having looked at the drain 'survey' from Severn Trent when we purchased the property - it doesn't detail the drains on the property, merely the main sewer locations on the road and their flow direction. Looking at the direction of the pipes in the unblocked drain (which is waste water) - I believe they connect to the main sewer rather than a soakaway.

Interesting thought on them being unused - is this common? As i find the concept of that really strange!

And yes, I feel I should get a drainage company out to assess and recommend the best course of action.
 

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