When you flush the toilet after "a visit", is the 6 litres (or whatever) volume of water intended to take the solids of that "visit" all the way to the sewer or just to get it clear of the toilet and on its way?
It's just that now our system has been changed from a septic tank to a public sewer the length of our drains is much greater and there are two more 90° changes in direction, and it set me thinking while I was sat on the toilet this morning.
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If its a long run, you could have three days worth down there.
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The 'drop' of the soil pipe is critical.
Too steep, and the water will flow too fast to carry the solids, which will collect at the bottom of the pipe, blocking it eventually.
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>> The 'drop' of the soil pipe is critical.
>>
>> Too steep, and the water will flow too fast to carry the solids, which will
>> collect at the bottom of the pipe, blocking it eventually.
The slope of our drains is nominally 1 in 40 (slightly shallower in some parts of the system) which agrees with this .............. tinyurl.com/6pbv3zm The contractors who installed our drains were those employed by Anglain Water to install the public sewer, and I'm happy about their competence.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Fri 29 Jun 12 at 09:49
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maguires rule of thumb, 1:60 fall for 6 inch pipe 1:40 fall for 4 inch pipe......its known as the self cleansing velocity
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>> .......... which will
>> collect at the bottom of the pipe, blocking it eventually.
We live in a bungalow so there is no "bottom of the pipe" to get blocked. The public sewer is under our garden, about 2.1 m below the surface with the lateral pipe rising to meet our drains at about 45°. Our drains connect directly to the upper end of lateral pipe of the public sewer. Apart from the installation of the sewer pipe (which was done out of sight under the ground with a directionally controlled drill) I watched the installation of the lateral pipe, and our drains, and generally saw what had been done on our property.
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More prunes L'es, more prunes.
Pat
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>>The public sewer is under our garden
Does this mean there are properties above you, passing their offerings under your garden? If so you must hope any upstream womanhood know how to dispose of sanitary towels. Downstream owners, if any, must also be worried.
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I believe L'es is in the Anglia water area. If so, they take responsibility from the point where the pipe from an individual property joins a communal sewer.
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I was intrigued back along when my friend, who is a plumber, showed me his spirit level which has datum lines scribed on it so he can automatically allow for the correct slope in pipework when required. I had never thought about that...
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No spirit level is that accurate.
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>> Does this mean there are properties above you, passing their offerings under your garden?
Upstream but not above! Anglian Water is responsible for the sewer and the lateral pipe so if there was any blockage which affected my drains I would just ask them to clear the blockage. The final manhole in our drains is just before we connect to the lateral pipe so I can rod or flush out all parts of our system. If I lift the cover of the final manhole and put water down the drains I can hear it trickling into the sewer. The cost of the sewer, to potentially serve 37 properties, was £875,000. In point of fact I think only about a dozen are connected. The cost of having drains installed in order to connect to the sewer is not cheap, so a lot of people won't bother. I saw it as a step into the 21st century.
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>> If
>> so you must hope any upstream womanhood know how to dispose of sanitary towels. Downstream
>> owners, if any, must also be worried.
>>
Any blockage upstream wouldn't affect me.
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>>Any blockage upstream wouldn't affect me.
Unless the upstream drains overflow and the lay of the land means raw sewage flows through your property.
How do I know that?
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You seem to attract natural disasters.....
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Greenest grass I ever saw that year!
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>> The 'drop' of the soil pipe is critical.
>>
The drop of the soil pipe is vertical.
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>> >> The 'drop' of the soil pipe is critical.
>> >>
>> The drop of the soil pipe is vertical.
Anything less and those extra large ones just aint going down.
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>> When you flush the toilet after "a visit", is the 6 litres (or whatever) volume
>> of water intended to take the solids of that "visit" all the way to the
>> sewer or just to get it clear of the toilet and on its way?
If your drainage has been properly installed, laid to the correct falls, so that it is self-cleansing and is in good condition and is flowing as it should; then yes, that six litres of water and the solids carried within it will/should go all the way to the sewer in one continuous, uninterrupted movement.
Why not try it out for yourself? You can get an assistant to flush the lavatory on your command, while you wait at the last chamber (with its cover raised) before the sewer to see it enter and exit the chamber!
To make it even more exciting and interesting you could raise the covers of all the chambers between your lavatory and the sewer - having first made sure that all children and animals are safely shut indoors - and watch the waste enter and leave each manhole.
Oh! Such fun!
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>> To make it even more exciting and interesting you could raise the covers of all
>> the chambers between your lavatory and the sewer - having first made sure that all
>> children and animals are safely shut indoors - and watch the waste enter and leave
>> each manhole.
>>
>> Oh! Such fun!
A new take on Poo(h) sticks!!
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>> Why not try it out for yourself? You can get an assistant to flush the
>> lavatory on your command, while you wait at the last chamber (with its cover raised)
>> before the sewer to see it enter and exit the chamber!
You could sit on a stool......;-)
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My dad's front garden contains an inspection cover for the last stretch of foul water drainage from his row of 4 houses before it joins the main sewer. I recall from my childhood there was some problem (I may or may not have been responsible!) and I remember watching my dad lift the cover and clear out the gully at the bottom of the chamber underneath. What a pleasant job.
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In the street where we previously lived there was an issue with drains and some houses had problems. This was not a rain related issue.
Basically the sewerage drains could not cope and so it could 'back up' and end up in your cellar! If you'd had a problem then United Utilities used to install a new one way valve... a huge chamber was dug (you'd fit a family car in it!) under the drive to install the necessary piping and valves. Basically a flap that would let out the outflow but close if there was a back surge.
Just before we sold up a neighbour was being told UU wanted to install a new super-duper valve. It was electronic and was so much better. But it needed a computerised controller near his property etc. And if that failed then someone would be paged etc. They even started digging up the road twice... he finally got them to stop.
With all the flooding I am glad we are on a raised bit of ground - quite raised above the town below. Otherwise the cellars could end up flooded for starters.
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The slope of the pipe is surely a compromise, based on the average composition of the substances passing along? For example, a higher paper/water ratio would need a steeper gradient, perhaps. Also older poorer houses designed for use with magazines might need a steeper drop than later richer homes designed for Andrex?
So I don't see that you can necessarily say that the waste always makes it to the end in one go.
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>> Also older poorer houses designed for use with magazines might need a steeper drop
>> than later richer homes designed for Andrex?
Well, that tracing paper toilet roll* they used in school toilets seemed to get flushed away. God know's how because it didn't absorb anything or turn into a soft compact mush.
* horrible stuff - it basically spread the waste around rather than clean it off. Very much like the consistency of magazine paper actually.
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tinyurl.com/clx83oq
Strong toilet tissue resisted 'push through'.
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many moons ago i was caught short ( of toilet paper) and had to resort to using the yellow pages ...apparently not recommended as the print isnt very friendly to our bodies
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>>the print isnt very friendly to our bodies
I would've thought it's quite safe. Think licking fingers and turning pages. I don't think I've heard of anyone being harmed as a result.
I caught daughter using these 'damp wipe' things on her sons botty. She used the excuse that the marketing says they're safe to flush (I doubt if they'd come and rod my blocked drains). I made it clear she wasn't flushing them at my house. Fortunately SWMBO had seen the same 'mucky jobs' on the telly and backed me up.
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Star-Trek tissue is specially designed to shift the Clingons! (Nephews joke!)
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Who started this topic?
In the same house 40 yrs this week and no problems with drains. Scottish Water called in for the chap over the street - 2 x visits, rods etc then the tanker/drain cleaner...........all free!! Until April the owner was liable but since then the costs are added to water/sewage charge (~£3.00 per house).
Could have cost £XXX's otherwise.....12 yrs ago my son's flat in Acton was on the point of spilling sewage into the house - £470 appeared on my credit card (he was a card holder) as the London Landlord was unavailable.
I have 5 x manholes in my garden - last house in a row and zigzag pattern to avoid too steep a drop - a bit of a disaster as far as the gardening was concerned but should be excellent if any troubles.
Anybody worse off thn 5 x manholes?
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We ain't got none.....so the metal tealeafs would have slim pickings at Tedton Abbey.
Ted
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>> Who started this topic?
Me.
>> Anybody worse off than 5 x manholes?
>>
Originally I had two manholes and a septic tank. Now I have five manholes and mains sewerage. I'll never have any need to call in a drain unblocker because the last manhole is inches/centimetres before the sewer lateral pipe and I can clear all my drainpipes myself. I'm now in the 21st century drains-wise.
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5x manholes in one garden! - must be one heck of a size! - Tis an undercover way of measuring wealth tho` "Ere this geezer must be minted! ee`s got 5 manoles"!!
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I have three. I have crap fall and have to clean them out at least twice a year.
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We all have Crap fall dear.
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>> 5x manholes in one garden! - must be one heck of a size! - Tis
>> an undercover way of measuring wealth tho` "Ere this geezer must be minted! ee`s got
>> 5 manoles"!!
It's simple. Originally there were just two manholes ~ one at the start of the system and then one to turn the flow path through 90° to get it pointing towards the septic tank. When the sewer was installed it was necessary to move part of the second part of flow path sideways to bypass the septic tank. This required one manhole (the third in the system) to turn the flow path through 90° clockwise (looking downwards) and then another (the fourth in the system) to turn the flow path back through 90° anticlockwise so as to be parallel with the original path to the septic tank. The fifth manhole (an inline manhole) was put in at my request just before the point of connection of our drain to the lateral pipe of the sewer so that I could check in both directions all sections of our new system.
Our back garden is only 16 metres long.
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Toilet/drains question. - MD
