Waste pipe plumbing

[John Hearns]

The waste plumbing under the kitchen sink in my flat was done using the ordinary white PVC push-fit piping.

The sink, waste disposal, washing machine and dishwasher are all plumbed into the one drain. This used what I'll term a 'christmas tree' ie. a section of pipe with several screw-fit terminals on it which slopes down slightly. What is the technical term? The 'christmas tree' hangs loose, supported by the pipes. On two occasions I have had flooding due to blockage of the U-bend or pipes, which then can cause the joints to come apart.

My question is - does something like a 'christmas tree' exist which clamps to the wall? The waste pipes from sink and waste disposal could connect via flexible bellows piping?

[Set Square]

It's usually called a manifold.

I have a similar setup in my kitchen - with the sink and the waste disposal unit both discharging into the manifold which - in turn - discharges into a U bend before going out through the wall to the outside drain. The manifold has connections for about 6 inputs (only 2 of which are used) and has various baffles inside. Whenever mine has blocked, it has invariably been due to solid matter (potato peelings etc.) from the waste disposal unit getting stuck between the baffles. I have greatly improved the situation by re-plumbing it - so that the route from the waste disposal unit to the drain is straight through the manifold - i.e. input and output directly opposite each other.

I've not seen a wall mounted manifold - but it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to make some brackets, if that would be useful. You could use pieces of 3"x1" wood, with manifold-sized holes drilled in them, and then cut into

2 across the hole (like a big-end bearing in a car engine). The larger piece - cut off to a suitable length - could be screwed to the wall, and the smaller piece clamped round the manifold and screwed to the larger piece.

You could also reduce the risk of it all falling apart when blocked by replacing any push-fit fittings with their compression-fit equivalents.

[gustov]

Have you thought of moving the existing waste assembly to the rear o side of the sink unit and fixing it with 1 1/2" waste pipe clips, whil extending the pipe from the sink and waste disposal in 1 1/2" pipe alternatively a suitably sized munson ring and piece of threaded ba and backplate will support the assembly from any adjacent surface

-- gustov

[Pete C]

Hi,

Try wrapping white packing tape round the joints and making a bracket for the manifold out of some slotted strip.

cheers, Pete.