Help! Run out of rainwater.

[JoceAndChris]

Chris, both Chris', are right, again. So, yes, thankyou (through gritted teeth)

Me and the man from the cleaning company just peered down into the Pit of Hell. He said he's never seen anything like it in his life and he's off to phone Head Office. No one would go down there unless they were completely insane.

At the bottom the slime is oozing with wriggling life. I could see a million tiny wings.

It also looks like a very old brick structure that has had metal sections bravely welded in. More than ever, I suspect a leak into the kitchen wall.

I will ignore the implication of your remark, Penners, that my dark and interesting death would only be significant for the pollution it might have caused.

Here is the entrance to The Pit.

 

[Penners]

Here is the entrance to The Pit.

No sign of a Pendulum, I suppose?

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: Probably.

 

[Feltwell]

I hadn't heard of it, you just saved me from making an embarassing phone call to the Fire Brigade.

I'd expect a very large bill from the Fire Brigade if you asked them to deliver water! We had a shipping container turn up at work today, which is fine until the driver realises that he's left the key to the padlock in Felixstowe, about 4 hours away. No problem, go to the Fire Station opposite our factory, ask them nicely and they'll soon put a set of bolt cutters on it. And indeed they would, in return for £300 ! Needless to say the driver quickly found a metal fabricators nearby who took it off with a cutting torch for the price of a pint.

Back to the subject of boreholes - sounds like the way to go to me. Shipping water in is going to be expensive and inconvienient long term, plus cause you problems if you ever come to sell. Mains connection sounds very expensive whichever way you do it.

With boreholes you may not get crystal clear water though, the village I lived in as a lad in deepest darkest Norfolk was served by a borehole. The water was perfectly fit to drink, they didn't do anything to treat it, but the water was incredibly cloudy due to the chalk soil - hold up a glass of water straight out of the tap and you could barely see through it. Lincolnshire is more a sandy soil though, is that right? In which case maybe not so much of a problem.

 

[worms]

At the bottom the slime is oozing with wriggling life. I could see a million tiny wings.

It also looks like a very old brick structure that has had metal sections bravely welded in.

You are sure this isn't your septic tank?!

And if you still have any thoughts of going down there, read this tragic report first http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Two-workers-killed-on-fish.5255868.jp.

 

[JoceAndChris]

I'd expect a very large bill from the Fire Brigade if you asked them to deliver water! We had a shipping container turn up at work today, which is fine until the driver realises that he's left the key to the padlock in Felixstowe, about 4 hours away. No problem, go to the Fire Station opposite our factory, ask them nicely and they'll soon put a set of bolt cutters on it. And indeed they would, in return for £300 !

:shock: I need the get the Fantasy Fire Brigade out of my head, you know, the gorgeous guys who happily cut the hot tap away from your big toe when you get it stuck in the bath and then rescue your cat...

Back to the subject of boreholes - sounds like the way to go to me. Shipping water in is going to be expensive and inconvienient long term, plus cause you problems if you ever come to sell. Mains connection sounds very expensive whichever way you do it.

With boreholes you may not get crystal clear water though, the village I lived in as a lad in deepest darkest Norfolk was served by a borehole. The water was perfectly fit to drink, they didn't do anything to treat it, but the water was incredibly cloudy due to the chalk soil - hold up a glass of water straight out of the tap and you could barely see through it. Lincolnshire is more a sandy soil though, is that right? In which case maybe not so much of a problem.

I'm now thinking this has to be the way to go. What's the point in spending £500, or whatever it's going to be, for the cleaning/repair/ rebuilding of our rainwater tank, when we could put that towards a borehole and unlimited water?

Yeah, it might be cloudy, but I could put it through a water filtering jug as I do for our drinking water anyway. And at present our baths are the colour of someone's Blackwater Fever wee.

You are sure this isn't your septic tank?!

And if you still have any thoughts of going down there, read this tragic report first http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Two-workers-killed-on-fish.5255868.jp.

I'm not sure Worms! I think the previous owner has modified an existing structure. Perhaps it did start life as a septic tank.

What a terrible tale. They speak in the article of having "vented" the hold 15 mins prior to going down, does that mean that opened the lid, as I was thinking of doing?

My ignorance, as a DIYer, is understandable- but theirs- shouldn't they have realised it was potentially lethal? Isn't that what all these laws and Enclosed Spaces certificates are all about?

 

[Schoolmarm]

Borehole. .................

:roll:

 

[JoceAndChris]

A contractor went in a little way today; it's not a rainwater tank, it's a room. He was visibly shaken when he came back up the ladder and said it would not be possible to work down there without breathing apparatus.

It's a very large Georgian or maybe Victorian brick and stone room, most peculiarly shaped, under the garden. Somebody has plastered the walls, long ago.

It's not going to be possible to reline the walls.

I now want to dig up the garden to get a proper look!

 

[Schoolmarm]

Ice house?

 

[Penners]

it's not a rainwater tank, it's a room.

Blimey - this is getting really exciting! A room?? :shock:

Does there appear to be any way of getting into it, other than through the ceiling?

Could the revolting mess at the bottom be the remains of a mad relative who was imprisoned there?

Did the Lord of the Manor keep it as a secret meeting place for him and the chambermaid?

Was there ever a local chapter of the Hellfire Club?

For goodness sake find us some answers!!!

 

[Penners]

Ice house?

Oh, don't be so boring, Marm!

 

[Flyfisher]

Wow. How big (roughly) is it?
Who was the previous owner - Lincolnshire's answer to Sweeny Todd perhaps? :shock:

 

[Schoolmarm]

Sorry


Our water storage tank is brick built and 7/8ths underground. It is approx 5' x5'x 7'. The internal walls are plastered in some grey mortar stuff which I thought was to do with keeping the water in the tank.
We dropped a 1000l food grade plastic tank into it and use that instead. It holds a lot less but we decided it would be easier to keep clean.
Previously we twice drained the brick thing off, climbed in, shovelled/bucketed slutch and dead slimy animals out then refilled.

 

[Penners]

we twice drained the brick thing off, climbed in, shovelled/bucketed slutch and dead slimy animals out

:x

I surely luuuurve mains water!

 

[DaveBrigg]

We dropped a 1000l food grade plastic tank into it .

Is it possible to get collapsible tanks? I would like to do this with ours, but the access is not much more than 2ft by 18 inches.

 

[Penners]

What about those soft, military "bladder" type things that someone else posted about? They would surely be crushable to squeeze through the access hatch.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Does there appear to be any way of getting into it, other than through the ceiling?

Could the revolting mess at the bottom be the remains of a mad relative who was imprisoned there?

Did the Lord of the Manor keep it as a secret meeting place for him and the chambermaid?

Was there ever a local chapter of the Hellfire Club?

For goodness sake find us some answers!!!

:lol:
How can I find any answers when you have all banned me from going in?

The only way in is shown in my earlier picture.

Wow. How big (roughly) is it?
Who was the previous owner - Lincolnshire's answer to Sweeny Todd perhaps? :shock:

Not sure - 12-15 sqm maybe

 

[Flyfisher]

Water Ghost at Harrowby Hall? http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/WateGhos.shtml

Ah, the Mistress's house, not the Master's - should have read your post more carefully .

 

[Penners]

How can I find any answers when you have all banned me from going in?

What you need is a kind of upside-down periscope.

Get yourself a length of wooden batten and attach a mirror to the end, at about 135 degrees to the batten. Dangle this vertically down through the trapdoor. You should find that if you place a torch roughly parallel with the batten and shine it down on to the mirror, its beam will be deflected into a horizontal path inside The Pit. You can then look down through the trapdoor at the mirror and see what the beam illuminates.

 

[CHRIS]

As I have told you off it makes sense that I should offer a solution.

http://www.yorksurvey.co.uk/instruments/endoscopes/

I use one every now and then for looking down manholes if I have problems with the lid.