It is a drain-like fitting located outside the home, it’s essential that your ORG is visible and not covered with any garden ornaments, pot plants or anything that may prevent it from operating correctly. It’s generally located parallel to a house wall. It’s designed to release any sewage overflow from the interior of your home and outside to the garden in case of a sewer blockage.
Function and Uses of ORG (Overflow Relief Gully)
The ORG is an extremely important part of your sewer system, as it will prevent sewage from overflowing into your home. I don’t know if any of you have experienced a situation where an ORG wasn’t allowing the sewer to overflow outside, but let’s just say it’s one of the worst situations you can imagine happening to your beloved house.
I have seen units with over 2 inches of sewer across the entire floor and all due to the simple fact that ORG was blocked due to a pot plant, the pot plant prevented the overflow of sewer whilst the owner was away, however, the unit above continued to use their toilets, showers and everything else for a period of days without noticing anything different. It wasn’t until the owner arrived home that the mess was discovered. All this could have easily been prevented if the owner of the house understood what an ORG was and how it operated.
Ensure that your ORG is never covered and is free to run and operate if there ever is a blocked drain. Ensure that your ORG is above the level of any stormwater runoff and that no down pipes or stormwater pipes are connected to or can flow into your ORG, this could potentially cause greater issues for sewer treatment plants and the larger environment. Storm water run-off from water tanks or downpipes should not be directed to your ORG or connected to the sewerage network.
Most councils will issue warning letters and sometimes fines for houses that use their ORG to take away stormwater runoff or the like. This is a big No-No in plumbing terms as stormwater and sewer should always be in separate lines and disposed of in vastly different ways. Can you imagine what your council sewer fees would be if they were made to treat millions of litres of additional stormwater runoff each week? At the end of the day, it’s really important that you understand these simple rules.
Give Us A Call
If you are unsure of whether or not your ORG is installed correctly or where in fact it is actually located at your premises, then please don’t hesitate to contact The Plumbing & Electrical Doctor and we will happily assist. Serving areas in Canberra, Newcastle, Central Coast, Hunter Valley, Lake Macquarie, and Port Stephens. Call 13 10 91 now!