Pakenham
Blocked, burst or leaking in Pakenham?
Blocked drains, burst pipes and leaks in Pakenham, from the old railway township to the estates north of the town centre, passed to a licensed plumber day and night.
Plumbing in Pakenham
Commission houses, northern estates and storm sewers
When Pakenham became part of a planned growth corridor, the Housing Commission acquired about four hundred hectares of land, and part of it became a housing estate. Houses of that kind usually have earthenware sewers with cement joints and galvanised water pipe, so roots at the joints and narrowed, rusted water lines are expected, and a camera comes before any dig.
A later wave came when further housing development had spread north of the Pakenham town centre, served by a new primary school. Those drains are PVC, so a blockage is more often a crushed or sagging section or builder's debris than roots.
South East Water is building the Pakenham Wet Weather Storage and Pumping Station to hold excess sewage during big storms. A sewer that surcharges in heavy rain is reported to the corporation first, and stormwater wrongly plumbed into the house sewer is ruled out before a blockage is cleared.
Jobs in Pakenham
Two ages of drain
Blocked drains
Clay joints in Commission houses and sagging PVC in the northern estates.
CCTV drain inspection
A camera to tell old earthenware faults from newer PVC ones before anything is dug up.
Gutters and downpipes
Gutter and downpipe work, with a heritage check first on graded buildings near the station.
What it costs: hot water replacement cost, gutter replacement cost, toilet installation cost
Pakenham questions
Barrel drains, wetland reuse and the Toomuc Creek
Where does the owner's stormwater duty end in Cardinia?
Cardinia Shire looks after the barrel drain and its pits, and the landowner is responsible for the stormwater pipes up to and including the connection into the barrel drain. The whole private run is the owner's to clear, and only a blocked council pit or barrel drain is reported to the shire.
Can anything besides rainwater go into the stormwater system?
No. Cardinia reuses treated stormwater from its wetlands, and already uses it to irrigate the soccer fields at IYU Reserve in Pakenham. Sewage, pool water and wash water stay out of it, and the council's legal point of discharge is used rather than an informal outlet.
Why does a yard near the creek flood when the drain seems clear?
Pakenham West has a linear park along the Toomuc Creek together with a number of other reserves and wetlands, and properties backing onto them sit at the low end of the system. Before clearing anything, the plumber checks whether the water is a blocked house drain or a creek and wetland level backing up.
Does heritage grading change gutter work on old Pakenham buildings?
On graded buildings it can. The Scout Hall now has a corrugated iron roof that replaced the original shingles, so a new gutter or downpipe there matches that profile and finish after a heritage check with the council.
