Hello, I know this question has been addressed a few years ago, but wanted to check on the current regulations.
I have a downstairs toilet whose waste goes directly into a soil pipe running down into the concrete floor. I would like to replace the toilet and add a basin, but there is no easy plumbing route for the basin waste.
Is it still acceptable to route the basin waste directly into the toilet waste pipe, and if so where can I get such connectors (and what are they called?!?)
Also, is it desirable to do this, or is it the kind of thing that gets surveyors twitchy when I eventually come to sell the house?
McAlpine's do a wide range of pan connectors. Pop into a builder's merchant and ask for a leaflet, or google for their address and give 'em a bell. At least you'll be able to see which one you're looking for.
Personally, I'd avoid any flexible or 'concertina' type connectors if you can. I don't like the idea of those corrugations trapping waste.
I think I saw in one website that these are for "vented" waste pipes, though I'm not sure about this.
Can I just connect the sink waste directly to this, or are there special parts needed such as anti-siphon traps, or any other special requirements? This sounds all too good to be true ...!
Or you could direct sink waste into toilet cistern, and have your cistern overflow go down the pan. Reduces water use and avoids the problem you mention.
This is not really a serious answer to your problem but the plumbers might find it interesting.
Last year I visited Tyntesfield, the Victorian pile south of Bristol that the National Trust bought for £24,000,000 and are now asking for squillions more to refurbish.
In the only toilet that I found, the drain from the hand wash basin was led around the wall and into the 'throne' between the wooden seat and the flushing rim!
As long as the top of the water level in the cistern is at or below the water level in the sink trap it will work. That gives satisfactory sink and cistern levels in most cases. You cant use this setup if your sink's below the cistern.
If the water height difference is only small, and the plumbing long, emptying would be slower, but usually sink is near loo.
Also if you have the trap below the top of the cistern you may need to drill a hole in the cistern to take the sink pipe. Also some cisterns have the wrong type of overflow for this setup. So its not as straightforward as the more conventional setup.
According to folks that have grey water systems feeding the loo cistern, the detergent content in the sink water increases the time intervals between bowl cleaning.
If the basin was not used much, the toilet cistern may run out of water. You need at normal water supply to the cistern in case. Then how do you prioritise? How do you use fresh water to fill when no grey water? having a normal ballcock will mean fresh and grey water fill at the same time. You would need a separate grey water tank.
Have a button, which when pressed, raises the (motorised) basin upwards so it can drain into the cistern. Preferably accompanied by a cool futuristic whirring noise and maybe a few pretty flashing lights (blue of course ;-)
Why would you describe grey water recycling system as a bodge? I think it should be common practice, our present setups are pointlessly wasteful, and using grey water in loo cisterns has a proven history of working fine.
What a surveyor thinks of it is going to depends on level of knowledge, and for the ignorant ones, whether you point out that its a grey water recycling system. In reality water recycling is a positive feature.
There are off the shelf greywater re-cycling systems around. In the BENELUX countries it is standard in new builds to have a large tank under the ground to collect rainwater from the roof.
There are a few packaged waste water units, I recall they are mostly German. There is an American shower waste that is copper with a spiral of pipe around the outside. The waster shower water spirals around the outside of the waste pipe and passes heat to the incoming cold shower water in effect it extends your cylinder size with making it larger.
formatting link
This unit really works. If you are clever enough you can spiral soft copper around a large copper pipes and solder it up.
It is effective as the hot shower waste water is dumped at the same time as you are inputting cold water. You can dump a bath full of water and if no one is using incoming water then it is wasted, unless it is stored in an insulated tank.
Also concentrating on using less water, when on a meter, is very wise. We spend as much on water as on gas, yet we all go ape about gas boiler/system efficiencies and forget the water bills. Most water appliances, electrical, toilets, basins (do you really need a large wash basin?) , etc can be low usage. Power showers do not have to be 15 litres/min, 10 and less will do as the power force of the water against the skin is what people want not so much the volume. Environmentalist are lobbying ministers to restrict power showers. Also restrict water volume into basins and the likes, where high flows means more goes down the drain.
No doubt that this would work. One could redirect waste water from baths, showers and handbasins into a tank and use it for toilet flushing. To do it properly so that it is not intrusive and does not look like a bodge is going to require some work. Then there is the issue that filtering and a pump is going to be required, so it is not without maintenance and running cost.
It may be positive to you. To other people it represents re-use of dirty water and be a turn off with respect to buying a house, especially if done badly.
I know. Some will like it, most wont... if you have a collection of features like that you may get a buyer that loves it. Just one such feature would turn 99% of buyers off probably. Shame folk are so shallow.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.