Essendon
Blocked, burst or leaking in Essendon?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Essendon, from the railway estates to the creek, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Essendon
Shared drains and old railway estates
Fewer than half of Essendon's homes, 47.2 percent, were separate houses at the 2021 Census, and flats or apartments made up 33.0 percent. A blocked drain here is often a shared one, so the first question is which part of the line belongs to whom.
The oldest streets are near the station, where the population grew fivefold as railway estates were sold in the land boom. The last paddocks to the north and west were built on in the 1950s and 1960s. Under both sits ironstone over reactive clay, which moves as it wets and dries.
Essendon's eastern border is the Moonee Ponds Creek, and Melbourne Water's draft maps suggest around 16 percent of Moonee Valley properties could see stormwater flooding in a significant rainfall event.
Jobs in Essendon
Shared lines and old clay drains
Blocked drains
Shared lines under flats and units, and the oldest house drains near the station.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera down an old clay line in ironstone over reactive clay before anything is dug up.
Burst pipes
Leaks found and repaired, on your side of the meter.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Essendon questions
Inspection shafts, stormwater and heritage
Is the blockage mine or Greater Western Water's?
Look at the inspection shaft near the front boundary. Greater Western Water tells plumbers that if the inspection shaft is full or holding water, the blockage is in its network and must be reported to it; an empty shaft means the fault is on the property's side.
Who looks after the stormwater pipe under the footpath?
In Moonee Valley the owner does, up to the legal point of discharge, and connecting stormwater into a council drain needs council approval first.
Why do drains near the station block more often?
Age. The houses there come from the boom of the ten years to 1891, and clay pipes that old crack at the joints and let roots in. A camera shows where.
Does a heritage garden change how a drain is dug?
Yes, at the former North Park. The mansion, built in 1888, is registered with its whole garden, so a drain trench in that ground needs Heritage Victoria's permit before anyone digs.
