Toilet Flexible Connector Issues Help!

[Quddus]

Hello All,

This is my first post and request for help although I have been reading the group for about a week with much interest. I only wished I had come across this treasure chest of information before.. would have saved so much time and aggro!

We have just completed an extension with a small toilet. Our builder fitted the toilet and sink. The toilet is at a funny position relative to the soil pipe. i.e. soil pipe in the ground and the toilet has a wall exit. Please see pictures to see what I mean:

1

and

[Grunff]

How long has it been in place?

I don't think the cause is mechanical - that would cause a split. The plastic seems to have as you say disintegrated. I'd say this is caused by exposure to a chemical which dissolved the plastic, or to lots of sunlight.

Either of these things true/possible?

[BillR]

I would aggree with either of those coupled with the fact that the top bend in the flex looks very tight.. What a horrible bodge!

[Steve]

What a horrible problem. Out of interest how did the pipe end up there ?

It still looks feasible, though not easy, to plumb it with standard fittings and rigid pipes.

Personnally, I would be inclined to site the loo on a plinth, to hide the pipes, and bend 'em out of the way. I don't think you have room though.

Steve

[BillP]

[PoP]

Builders usually have a crap and a good clearout to test their handywork. In this case I think your builder might have been drinking too much meths or something similar! ;)

PoP

If you really must use the email address provided with my newsreader please be aware that the email is processed with spamcop. As a result your email to me might be treated as spam!

[BigWallop]

Good god !!! What so called builders and plumbers are you using ? I'd like to know so I can steer clear of them. The only solution I can think of, and that would work perfectly, is for your current plumber to bugger off and let a proper plumber in to do the job for you.

Get hold of 3 X 110mm rigid 90 degree bends, the grey soil pipe stuff, and do this job correctly. Or better still. Dig out the soil pipe in the floor and fit two bends to the top of it and take it right in to the wall at an angle so the opening sits directly under the bowl outlet. Then all that is needed is a extended 90 degree pan connector down from the bowl itself.

These pictures are now in the archive of "How not to do it".

[Quddus]

There is no way that any direct sunlight could have done this. The chemical culprit may be possible as it was used as a temporary drainage for a kitchen sink for a about 3 weeks. this would have included your usual household bleach and cleaner and white spirit an other cooking oils (lots of it!) This is what I thought initially and therefore decided to flush the stuff out and use a new one as you can see the second one didn't last any longer.

Do you think the acidic/caustic stuff may still be threre and heance needs a much stronger/ longer flushing out?

I could try this but another £8 this is gonna cost me £24 with no peace of mind so I'm more inclined to getting it done with something more robust.

The soil pipe was there from a previous outside loo that we had. Never saw it but the foundation and walls were there. The soil pipe drains out ok to the main sewage outlet that connects all the houses on our street. Dont ask me any more about that unpleasant affair please!

BILIP

you mention other connectors ones that click and bend rather than strain and bend any idea where to get this from? I will try the plumbers merchant tommorrow as the major stores do not have anything apart from the wickes type.

Steve

I cannot move the toilet around right now as it's all fitted. Putting it on a plinth would require a lot more work. What do you think of two right angle solvent joints and the final one being a flexible pipe?

Thank God the toilet has not been used yet. That would have been the worst possible outcome!!!

Any more suggestions guys?

[Quddus]

This guy was an "all in one" I evetually replaced the copper pipes he put in to the sink as he connected the joints with these big ugly push fit joints. He was the type that did'nt seem to listen to how you wanted things done and got upset when I suggested a different method. As it was my dads house and he was dealing with him most of the time I didn't want to poke me nose in too much and upset him.

Do you think it would be best to solvent weld them or the rubber ring seal type would work ok?

Thanks for all your help. Good job the toilet has not been used yet!!

[Grunff]

Since when is it ok to flush white spirit down the kitchen drain?!?

[Mike Hall]

I hope I'm not the harbinger of doom, but a mate of mine had a similarly damaged flexible pipe. The plumber replaced it and within the month it was in the same state. My mate had heard scuffling whilst he was 'seated', (so to speak), and it turned out to be rats that were chewing the pipe, (presumably as nesting material). ..... Sorry! Oh, the good news was that bringing in a pest controller and replacing the pipework with solid stuff seemed to cure the problem.

[BigWallop]

If you can get these:

use them back to front, so to speak, they will be a lot better than what you have. The reason I say back to front is, from the pictures you gave, the outlet in the floor doesn't have a spigot end on it but, if you get the bend they do. So fitting the new bends over the existing outlet and working back from there to the pan, the pan connector has enough shrinkage in the rubber fins to fit inside a plain pipe without the spigot. I know what I mean, but you might have to read this through a couple of times to get the jist'. :-))

[Quddus]

We just managed to get in touch with the builder and he came back to a look and said that it could be RATS too !!!!!!

The thing is if it is connected to the main sewage hole then it would be almost impossible to rid the whole street of them as they would only come back from the next street I assume.

The images i am conjouring up right now are very unpleasasnt indeed!!

The builder has bought some rigid pipes and the fact that this probelm involves a soil pipe + rats means I'm more than happy to let him sort it out.

I have to say he has offred to fix it at no further charge apart from materials which seems very fair and reasonable.

Thanks for all the tips and for your input folks. Another case closed I hope

Quddus