Is an overflowing manhole an emergency?

If it is overflowing onto ground where people walk, or towards a building, treat it as one and ring us. If it is standing full but contained, it is urgent rather than an emergency, and it will not get better on its own.

Can I lift the cover myself?

Manhole covers are a great deal heavier than they look and the frames are often corroded shut. If you do lift one, never leave it open and unattended.

Blocked manholes

A manhole standing full is the clearest signal you get. It means the run downstream of that chamber is blocked, and the chamber is doing exactly what it was built to do by showing you where.

It is also the easiest place for us to work from, so it is usually a quicker job than people expect.

0113 418 281924 hours, 7 days a week · no call-out fee

A brick manhole with the cover slid aside, showing the channel below — Plate 01Manhole with the cover slid clear. The chamber is where we work from, and which one is holding water tells us where the trouble is.

Signs you are looking at this

A chamber full to the top, or close to it
Sewage visible at the cover, or seeping around the frame
Smell around the cover
One chamber full and the next one along completely empty, which places the blockage between the two

How we deal with it

01Find the last clear chamber. We lift covers along the run until we find one running normally. The blockage is between that one and the full one.
02Jet from the right end. Jetting downstream from the clear chamber, so the debris goes the way it is meant to rather than back towards the house.
03Look at what is left. An empty chamber is the one chance to see the brickwork and the benching. If something has genuinely broken up it is worth knowing about. If it is sound there is nothing to say, and we would rather say nothing than invent work.

What it costs

Hourly from arrival, no call-out fee. Any repair work we find while we are there is charged at the same hourly rate.

How our pricing works →

When you do not need it

A chamber that has backed up once and run properly since does not automatically need relining or rebuilding. Sound brickwork is sound brickwork, and we would rather leave it alone than find work in it.

Common questions

Is an overflowing manhole an emergency?: If it is overflowing onto ground where people walk, or towards a building, treat it as one and ring us. If it is standing full but contained, it is urgent rather than an emergency, and it will not get better on its own.
Can I lift the cover myself?: Manhole covers are a great deal heavier than they look and the frames are often corroded shut. If you do lift one, never leave it open and unattended.

24 hours, 7 days a week

Chamber standing full? Ring us.

We can usually tell you what is likely wrong before we set off, and roughly what it will take to put right.

0113 418 2819

No call-out charge. We only charge from arrival.