I need more drop on this soil pipe...

[R D S]

The recently added upstairs loo at work is attached to a run of soil pipe approx 7 foot long and almost horizontal.

My thick son has blocked it numerous times now, it's getting past a joke but partly in his defence there's little suction (siphon?) when it's flushed.

So several questions...

I affected a repair a while ago to sort a blockage which i've been meaning to improve upon, so could relatively easily pull the lot apart and reconfigure it? Shall I just try to get more run on it or put a bit of vertical in where it emerges from the wall?

Is it OK to ration bog roll to people going to the loo?

When/if he has kids of his own might there be some hope that he'll use a rational amount of roll?

[spuorgelgoog]

Rotate the bend 90 deg so it exits vertically, swept bend then 1" in 1metre fall (1 in 40)

Also look at where the blockage is occuring as if there's any roughness it will snag paper.

Also if your son has to clear it out each time he blocks it, it might have an educational effect.

Owain

[R D S]

Sadly it's something I keep discovering when he's ####ed off and I want to use it.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Have you looked at a soil pipe 'T'? Those give a clue as to the common fall used.

[GB]

Why did you install it like that? Was there a reason not to put a drop on it?

[R D S]

Haha, let's gloss over that! I was toying with photoshopping that out.

In seriousness though, that's due a tidying up/lagging and it was going to be a real bollock of a job running it indoors.

Plus, I've had soooo many leaks and catastrophes of late i'm committed to having as many pipes as possible on the outside of the building.

[R D S]

That pipe is probably older than me.

[Peter Johnson]

A recently built house extension near me has one like that. I speculate on the likelihood of it being blocked every time I pass it.

[R D S]

It will depend who's using it, there's only one gibbon who blocks ours.

[Jim GM4 DHJ ...]

I wouldn't blame bog roll.....don't see any reason why that should block I mean who ever did it took the other downpipes around the soil which is good .....and it's plastic painted black with a nice wet dash speckle effect...very nice

[Chris Green]

When you pass what? (I tried to resist temptation, but ....)

[JohnP]

Peter Johnson [e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I also see one - it goes around an extension - hardly any fall and about

30 feet of it.

[Clive Arthur]

You don't need much drop - raise the bog up on a platform, a couple of inches minimum.

[Dave Liquorice]

Modern low water volume flush? Dual flush and he uses the even lower volume option? Pipe work designed for old several of gallons flush?

Doesn't look to be much clearance where the downpipe goes around the soil pipe. If you are going to faff about with that you may as well just drop the end where it enters the stack and inch or two. The less bends there are the less chance of it blocking.

As some one else has said where is it blocking and is there anything for stuff to get stuck on at that point? Though TBH proper loo paper falls apart very quickly in water. Other large and hard solid waste might get caught in a bend but if its got round the trap in a bog not likely.

Doesn't a well aimed and fast poured bucket of water clear it anyway?

[John Rumm]

Its hard to tell from the photo how much fall it has. You don't actually need much. You could probably get some by trimming an inch or two off the section of grey downpipe (I am assuming the bit that goes out of the top of the frame is just a vent and so it dropping an inch or two will have no real effect. The nearer downpipe that wraps round the horizontal section will limit how far it can move - but that is quite close to the exit so a small amount there will translate to a larger amount at the end with the tee. (and you could also cope with a small amount of bend in the horizontal pipe)

No, you will just encourage them to use something else to hand that may be even more likely to block.

[R D S]

I've got it filling up 6 litres.

Interesting, i'll ask.

It is 4 inch.

It's blocking in the U bend, hence my thoughts. Several flushes usually sorts it but it persisted today so the plunger came out.

The WC does look to have a small/narrow exit area (is there a word for that), It's been bugging me in that it often needs a clean after use. It's quite low too, I thought that might be just down to the cheap flimsy seat. Are there different sizes of these things? More attention plainly needed when buying, though it's not often, is it?

I think we have an unfortunate combination of factors here but I can easily get a little more drop at the right of the horizontal section, i'll give that a go first.

[Chris J Dixon]

Indeed. AIUI you don't need too much slope before you get the other problem where there is insufficient water to keep the solids on the move.

Chris

[GB]

It was installed for a toilet, so why didn't it block before?

[John Rumm]

IIRC the building regs say a max fall of 90mm per m for a soil branch connection.

[Andrew]

Replace it with a Saniflo and poke the 'liquidized output' pipe far enough inside the existing soil pipe to reach the vertical. :-)