Soil drain with potential for leaking...

Jan 24, 2020 Last reply: 6 years ago 16 Replies

Bog room was stinking at work, turns out there was a blockage but as the pan itself wasn't backing up there's plainly scope for leakage somewhere along the pipework under the floor.



I've unblocked it, it's all running freely, the smell has gone. I can't decide if I can be arsed exploring, there's space issues and much boxing in.



Just wondering what others would do?


You need a motorised endoscope with a very bendy cable! Brian

Depends if you are willing to spend a little. What about getting someone in who has CCTV? That could be pushed along the pipes to see if there is anything obvious which could have led to the blockage, and might do again.

'at work'. Says it all - not your problem, shirley. If it's flushing away OK, and no longer smelling, doubly not your problem.

It is if he is the employer, joyce.

If it's flushing

I don't know where you are but my neighbour runs a speciality drain clearing service in East and North Yorkshire called 1-2-Clear. They are geared up to investigate and sort out such problems. He's recently dealt with a cracked underground drain that caused a house to continuously suffer a low level stink of sewage.

Sadly (well, not really I suppose) I own the gaff. While there's no evident problem currently I can't help but be concerned what's going on beneath.

Someone mentioned cameras, I wonder whether to get one next time they are in Aldi/Lidl. and shove it up from the manhole end.

Was there water in the bottom of the pan when the stink was detected? Some temporary blockages with toilet paper allow the water in the pan and around the trap to be syphoned out leaving an air passage to the sewer, and hence the stink. Clearing the blockage and re-filling the pan/trap with water is the complete cure.

I once worked in a building where one of the toilet blocks was no longer being used and the water turned off and the door locked. Within a relatively short period there was a faint unpleasant smell throughout the building which got worse as the weeks passed. After much investigation the cause was found to be a absence of water in the bog traps in this disused toilet.

Boxing:-) My daughter once had a flat in Shepherds Bush which suffered from just such pongs. As the elderly leaseholder was reluctant to bring in professionals, I used expanding foam (fireproof) to close off the boxing before it entered the flat.

Vent pipes can *suck* pans dry in very strong winds.

>

Such cameras are not as easy to use as you might think. It could be that you have a very obvious leak, it might be less obvious. A lot depends on the geometry and materials of construction. Is this a plastic drain or a ceramic one. If plastic, is it running underneath your lowest suspended floor? Hence perhaps leaking on to earth? Or is the building age and construction such that it would be leaking on to a concrete slab. How far is it from the loo to the manhole? Is the manhole within or outside the building? The devil is in the detail.

did you just make that up ? ....

sorry smells...that was that FMF .....

Why would he? It?s happened in my house.

Tim

My toilet has not been sucked dry, but in strong wind the level of the water does drop. I had wondered how every time I saw it. Ta

Something less than 1% pressure difference between your bathroom and the air passing over your roof can lift 75mm of water. Evaporation can be in the region of 2.5mm/week.

Clearly the regulations would be changed if this were a regular occurrence.

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