5 Easy Steps for Maintaining Outdoor Drains and Gullies

For businesses, severe flooding can result in health and safety risks, loss of inventory and valuable documents, damaged machines, computers or other company vehicles, and indefinite shutdowns, among others.

This is why drainage and gullies shouldn’t be taken for granted. Drainage systems must be checked routinely to prevent any blockages during heavy rain or flooding. As what the adage says: prevention is better than cure.

Keep reading to learn more about outdoor gullies and how easy it is to clear them in case of blockage.

What Are Gullies

By definition, a gully is a ground-level drainage pit that discharges surface water and drains waste or rainwater. It comes in numerous shapes, sizes and construction materials including clay, plastic, cast iron, and concrete.

The basic idea of a gully is to have a trapped vessel at surface level that allows rain or stormwater to pass through and prevents gases, odours and rodents from the drainage and sewer systems to pass back the other way.

A highway gully is an example of gullies. As the name suggests, this drainage pit drains water from the highway into the drainage system. It is usually covered by an open metal grating located on the edge of the road.

An overflow relief gully (ORG) is another gully type. It is a drain-like fitting located outside the infrastructures, placed near the bathroom or laundry. ORG ensures that the wastewater will not backflow inside the property in the instance of sewerage blockage.

How to Maintain Drains & Gullies

Water gullies will not serve their purpose if they are blocked. A blocked gully may drain slowly, overflow, or worse—cause property damage when not resolved immediately.

Check out below the step-by-step procedure on how to clear drain pits alongside the tools needed for clearing blocked gullies.

Tools and accessories for the job:

• trowel
• bucket
• drain rod
• hosepipe
• screwdriver
• protective glasses
• access to hot water
• elbow-length rubber gloves

Step 1. Locate the gully

The first thing to do is to locate the gully and find where the blockage is. If the blockage sits on top of it or where the water enters, then remove any twigs, leaves, or debris to remedy the problem.

If the problem is deeper in the gully, it requires more work. (Continue to steps 2 to 5).

Step 2. Remove the cover

Most gullies have grates over the top. These safety covers can’t be removed by bare hands and require the use of a flat head screwdriver. Such a hand tool will help to prise it open. Also, this is the part where protective glasses come in handy.

Step 3. Dig the drain deeper

Once the gully is open, use a hand trowel to clear out any visible blockages inside the drain pit. Sometimes clearing the debris by hand is enough to get the gully running smoothly again.

Oftentimes, there is a need for flexible, drain rods to break a massive blockage into smaller and more manageable pieces to prepare for the next step.

Step 4. Rinse the gully with a hose

When the debris has been dislodged, water down the gully with a hose pipe. The water and pressure coming out from the hose will flush down any stubborn blockages.

Step 5. Flush the gully with hot water

Lastly, it helps to flush the gully with hot water. Doing this can remove fatty substances (i.e. kitchen grease, oil, food waste, etc.) that may have accumulated inside the gully.

Summing it Up

Outdoor drains and gullies can become a problem when not given proper attention. They must be checked routinely and maintained once or twice a year to ward off the harmful effects of drain blockages.