DIY'ER just called...

[mutley racers]

he did all his own plumbing when building his house, now he is trying to sell his house and building control came round to check soil pipe is tight. It is not, has a leak. He asked if I could go and find the leak. are there any common places for these to leak? Like in the pump hose. i had this before and i did not check it for hrs. Went mad i did

 

[Barry98]

Get some dye

 

[clarky101]

Smoke pellet in drain after plugging top

 

[mutley racers]

i heard you're not supposed to put smoke pellets in. What die, any? I heard some trick about flushing the toilet while testing or something. Think i read it on here

 

[Barry98]

i get ours from drain centre

 

[mutley racers]

and do you put it into a toilet cistern or something?

 

[Barry98]

Not unless it can be helped find a rodding eye

 

[clarky101]

You could always water test it.bung the drain and fill soil up..

 

[hammers4spanner]

Bung drain and vent flush toilet see if it drops , could be half a dozen micro leaks so could end up tsking stack apart and wiping joints then reinstalling.also make sure all traps etc are tight and check any dry traps

 

[mutley racers]

How do you mean, drops? Water wouldn't drop as no air to help it? Clever

 

[mutley racers]

Smoke pellet in drain after plugging top

Oh I think I get what you mean, plug vent and open man hole where stack connects and throw smoke bomb in there yes?

 

[hammers4spanner]

Well if you have no leak then the level in toilet wont drop when its flushed

 

[hammers4spanner]

Bung drain and vent flush toilet see if it drops , could be half a dozen micro leaks so could end up tsking stack apart and wiping joints then reinstalling.also make sure all traps etc are tight and check any dry traps

 

[mutley racers]

Oh yes, I would be worried it would leak and force bottom bung into sewer. Then I will have another problem

 

[clarky101]

Oh yes, I would be worried it would leak and force bottom bung into sewer. Then I will have another problem

This would only happen if you haven't tighten the bung in correctly as you would need to bung where soil enters the manhole but always tie a piece of wood to the bung so you dont lose it down the drain,and also the vent to test the soil pipe, tie another bit of wood so it doesnt disapear down the stack, then do the either the u garage hose gag with smoke ( only if you smoke), flushing the wc and taps left on to fill the s&v pipe checkin for leaks...or bang a smoke bomb in the drain and see where it comes out, after bunging the s&v ...

 

[mutley racers]

then do the either the u garage hose gag with smoke ( only if you smoke), flushing the wc and taps left on to fill the s&v pipe checkin for leaks...


U garage gag???

 

[clarky101]

Typo, should be u gauge hose gag...sorry...

 

[PeteWalker]

Mutley, use whatever method to find the leak, that Building Control did!

It depends how the pipe is .... if there's a vent , where is it? Or is there an air admittance valve, or what?

If you use a proper bung down inthe inspection chamber/manhole, you could put a smoke pellet upstream of it, but smoke would go out of a vent rather than any leak where water seeps out.
If you flush a loo the pipe will fill up and not show much. You'll have 6 or 9 litres above the bung, that's all.
Soil pipe isn't designed to take several metres head of water so I wouldn't really want to fill the whole thing. Frop memory the air pressure test is only a few millibars.

If you try to pressure test it, you'll have to bung the vent. I doubt smoke would get out of a weep even if you did bung the vent.
So - back to whatever the BC man did!

 

[mutley racers]

It is looking that way isn't it. It has an air admittance valve on it but we take that off and bung there. So, i guess there is no easy way to trace the leak. Hopefully the guy has just got a dodgy hose on his pump

 

[Koogatubac]

Done this alot on testing AGD, best method is Smoke Bomb from inspection chamber. Wherever its leaking the smoke will fill up a area its escaping from

- No obvious signs of water stains?
- Check pan connectors
- Check basin, bath, shower traps (make sure they have their seal as well, pour some water in first)

Might be something really really simple, hope it is! Lol hate cutting in existing soils and putting slip joints or replacing 4" fittings for obv reasons that you get your hands covered with...

 

[buckley plumb]

he did all his own plumbing when building his house, now he is trying to sell his house and building control came round to check soil pipe is tight. It is not, has a leak. He asked if I could go and find the leak. are there any common places for these to leak? Like in the pump hose. i had this before and i did not check it for hrs. Went mad i did

surprised they checked the soil

 

[mutley racers]

So bung the vent and in the inspection chamber throw a smoke bomb? The same thing you use for a flu flow test? Or is there something especially for this

 

[Howsie]

Mutley, if it's close I'll come and do it with you as we do these on site all the time.

 

[mutley racers]

really appreciate the offer howsie. Wish it was close but it is over white city

 

[mutley racers]

do you mean you smoke bomb them all the time or you just test stacks all the time?

 

[Howsie]

Test stacks/traps etc with BC. Rarely smoke bomb them unless there is a known problem.

 

[mutley racers]

I have done it once, and it had a tiny drop and they passed it. But guy is saying it is dropping fast so hopefully easy to find

 

[PeteWalker]

Ah it's got a AAV - Durgo ? Seen some makes of those pass enough to show a drop.

 

[mutley racers]

but that's where we test it. take that off and wack bung with pump. so it is not part of the test

 

[clarky101]

Put a smoke test on it mate or you could always pass the job on if you don't feel you wanna do it...

 

[mutley racers]

i don't mind doing the job. I love a challenge. Just like learning the best way to go about it. This smoke bomb, is it the same thing you use for a flue flow test

 

[clarky101]

Anything that'll make smoke, use wwhatever you like,, jewsons, Parkers etc sell smoke testers for drains,,,, or indeed use a the ones for chimneys....

 

[mutley racers]

thanks feller

 

[Ryan LPS]

Pressurise the stack water and washing up liquid spray over the joints.... Look for the bubbles. Bung toilets sinks basin and baths if drop was that server then I personally remove toilets and traps bung them all see if its a poor installed waste or toilet

 

[mutley racers]

Weng there today, massive drop. Nightmare it was, internal stack boxed and tiled. All toilets wall hung and stuck on with massive amounts of silicone. Mission to remove. So moved all 4 toilets, drop not so severe. So break down into sections, a few traps leaking. So in the end I left it with a tiny drop. Have seen BC turn up and just make sure it doesn't drop instantly and be satisfied. So praying for that. If not, its ripping out tiles and boxing.