the waste pipe, as, for instance, connecting it with the trap in one
of the closets or sinks. This, of course, is only a palliative, it
is not the true remedy. The true remedy is to disconnect this pipe
and make it discharge by itself, no matter where, in the open air.
Sometimes this pipe is made to discharge into the same pipe that the
sink waste-pipe discharges into. It is the practice in London to have
a separate pipe for the various wastes and sinks not discharging
directly into the drain, and usually carried outside the house. It is
also the practice to make the waste pipes of cisterns to discharge
into the same pipe. This is entirely wrong. Because, although
disconnected at the foot, it is to be regarded as a foul-water pipe,
and foul air passes through it up the waste pipe into the cistern. So
this practice is to be condemned.
Now from the cistern, besides the waste pipe, there are pipes which
supply the water to different parts of the house; there are pipes
from the cistern to supply water to the taps, which are called
“draw-off” pipes; and pipes from the cistern to supply water to the
closets; and, as a rule, the same cistern is used for the supply of
water to the closets direct and the taps at the upper part of the
house. This plan may or may not be very dangerous.
There are two ways of supplying the water-closets in the upper part
of the house with water. The one is to have what is called a spindle
valve in the cistern, which fits a hole in the bottom of the cistern,
and which is raised by a ball lever being pulled by a wire, which
arrangement necessitates a contrivance called a valve box, which has
a small air pipe, and with this arrangement there is liability for
foul water to be jerked in the cistern. Moreover, the pipe from this
valve box passes into the pan of the water-closet and becomes full of
air, which air is liable to get into the valve box in the cistern.
This arrangement, therefore, is decidedly bad. But there is another,
in which the valve which supplies the water-closets is under the
seat, and the pipe from the cistern is full of water; and that is now
becoming the more usual plan. With that plan there is nothing like
so much danger as with the other method; in fact, so little, that
many people hesitate to condemn this arrangement.
However, to put it on no other grounds, it is clearly desirable not
to have cisterns supplying drinking-water and the water-closets
direct. It is better to lay down a right principle, and abide by it,
than to see how you can avoid it. The best rule is that water-closets
should not, for the reasons stated, under any circumstances be
supplied direct from the cistern supplying the taps; Prof. Corfield
lays down the rule that _every tap is a drinking-water tap, because
any one may draw water at it_.
_Housemaid’s Sink._--The housemaid’s sink is often placed in a small
closet just under the stairs, without any window or any sort of
ventilation whatever (and we know what kind of things are kept in the
sink!), so that in such a position it has not by any means a very
savoury odour. The housemaid’s sink should under no circumstances
be in such a position. It should be against an outside wall, and
have a window. As a rule, the material used for the sink itself is
lead, wood lined with lead. Now lead is not a good material. Grease,
soap, and so on, have a tendency to adhere to lead, and it is very
difficult to keep such sinks clean, and it would be better to have
the sink of glazed stoneware.
The waste pipe of the housemaid’s sink, as a rule, is connected
directly with the trap of the nearest w.c. There is a grating in
the sink, and there is no trap in or under the sink, but the waste
pipe is connected with the trap of the nearest water-closet. This is
a bad arrangement. A worse arrangement is for the waste pipe to be
connected with the soil pipe of the water-closet, in which case some
kind of trap is generally placed on the waste pipe of the sink. This
trap is frequently what is called a “bell” trap, and is placed in the
sink. The disadvantage of the bell trap is, that when you take the
top of it off you take the bell with it. The bell is the arrangement
which is supposed to form the trap by the edges of it dipping in the
water in the iron box; and you see at once, when the bell is removed,
the trap is removed and the waste pipe, wherever it goes, is left
wide open, and, if connected with the soil pipe of the water-closet,
the foul air comes up into the house. Very frequently also the waste
pipe of the sink has underneath it what is called a D trap. A D
trap is a trap which the water passing through it can never clean;
so it retains foul water; and therefore, even under sinks, such
traps ought not to be allowed on account of the foul matters which
accumulate in them.
The waste pipe of the housemaid’s sink should not be connected with
the water-closet or soil pipe; neither with any pipe that goes
directly into the drain. Its own pipe should not go directly to
the drain, which is very frequently the case, but through the wall
of the house into an open head or a gully outside. Very frequently
the housemaid’s sink is supplied with water, not from the cistern
on the roof, but from the cistern not only supplying the nearest
water-closet, _but actually inside the nearest water-closet_, in
which case, no matter what valves you have, you are supplying your
sink with water which is kept in a cistern inside the water-closet,
and that is far worse than supplying a sink with water from a cistern
which also supplies the water-closet, with a reasonably protecting
valve.
Close to the housemaid’s sink, and very frequently over it, is the
feed cistern to the hot-water apparatus, which has also an overflow
pipe, and the same remarks refer to this overflow pipe, except that
it is a thing much more liable to be overlooked, as to the overflow
pipe of the drinking-water cistern.
_Water-closets._--In the great majority of instances, the apparatus
of this closet is what is known as the “pan” closet, that is, a
closet apparatus which has a conical basin with a tinned copper bowl,
called the “pan,” from which the closet gets its name. In order that
this “pan” which holds water, may be moved, there is a contrivance
underneath called a “container,” which is generally made of iron, and
allows room for the pan to be moved. On pulling the handle the water
is discharged into the pipe below. The container being generally
made of iron it is liable to rust. Now the disadvantage of this
apparatus consists in this large iron box, which is under the seat of
the closet, being generally full of foul air. The contents of the pan
are splashed into it, and it becomes coated with foul matters which
decompose and continually give off foul air. Every time the handle of
the closet is pulled some foul air is forced up into the house. That
foul air is kept in this box between the trap which is below it and
the pan which contains the water above it. In order to allow of the
escape of this foul air it is not uncommon to have a hole bored in
the top of the container. You would suppose that hole was intended to
fix a ventilating pipe to, but nothing of the kind; the hole has been
made merely to allow the escape of foul air into the house. Sometimes
a ventilating pipe is attached to this hole and taken out through the
wall, but that is the exception. This form of closet is the worst
form of closet apparatus yet devised, and is very generally in use.
An attempt has been made to improve it by having a stoneware
container, with a place for ventilation at the side, only it is
an attempt to improve a radically bad arrangement, and not worth
further consideration. Underneath this closet apparatus you will, as
a rule, find, if you take the woodwork down, a tray of lead, called
the “safe” tray. But there is no other word in the language that
would not be a better description of it than this word! This tray is
intended to catch any water that may escape from leaky pipes, or any
slops that may be thrown over; and so it is necessary that this tray
should have a waste pipe. The waste pipe in nine out of ten cases,
probably in much greater proportion, goes into the trap immediately
underneath the closet, and so it forms a communication for foul air
from this trap to get into the house.
In some instances it goes directly into the soil pipe, and forms a
means of ventilation of the soil pipe into the house. Sometimes a
trap is put on this waste pipe, and it is then connected with the
soil pipe, which goes on well so long as there is any water in the
trap; but as soon as the water becomes evaporated, foul air gets into
the house again.
Sometimes (to show the ingenuity which people often expend upon bad
things) this waste pipe has a trap, and a little pipe from the water
supply fixed to feed the trap; but all these ingenious plans have
been devised in order to improve upon a principle radically wrong.
The pipe should be carried through the wall and end outside the house
as a warning pipe.
Scarcely any water ever comes out at all; if any does come out, it
shows there is something wrong, so that this pipe should pass through
the wall, and be made to discharge outside the house.
In order to prevent wind blowing up the pipe, it is usual to put a
small brass flapper on the end. Its weight keeps it shut, and the
pressure of water opens it.
Underneath the safe-tray you will find as a rule a trap of some kind,
and generally the trap that is found is a D trap, a trap whose name
indicates its shape, and which cannot be washed out by the water
that passes through it. The pipe from the closet passes so far in it
that it dips below the level of the out-going pipe, and thus forms a
sort of dip-trap. The pipe which is the inlet from the closet is not
placed close to the edge, but a little way in, to form a receptacle
for all kinds of filth!
You will see it is impossible for the water that passes through
it to clear the contents out, so that the trap is simply a small
cesspool, nothing more nor less. Into that trap various waste pipes
are frequently connected.
There is another form of D trap in which there are two waste pipes
going into the water near the bottom of the trap (probably the waste
pipe of the safe and the waste pipe of the cistern).
The D trap, then, is a bad form of trap, because it is not
self-cleansing. The water cannot possibly keep it clear of sediment.
So that some trap should be used which is self-cleansing, and the
water which passes through it is capable of keeping it clean. Now
that trap is a mere ∾-shaped bend in the pipe, to which we give the
name of siphon, not because we want it to act as a siphon--for if it
acts as a siphon it is of no use!
A curious thing about siphon traps and pan closets is, that the
form of trap which was used first in connection with water-closets
was the siphon trap, which we now praise; and the form of trap
which supplanted it was the D trap, which we are now condemning
and taking out wherever we can. A still more curious thing is that
the form of water-closet which we now condemn (the pan closet) was
the form of closet which supplanted the closet we are now using
(the valve closet). The valve closet was invented long before the
pan closet. Bramah valve closets fixed forty years ago often act
tolerably well now, and at the present day they are only taken out
because they are really actually worn out.
The valve closet, which we often find upstairs in old houses instead
of the pan closet, has no large iron container under the seat,
but it has a water-tight valve under the basin, and so requires a
small valve-box; so that there is no great collection of foul air
immediately under the basin of the closet. The valve closet, however,
has a disadvantage in that it requires an overflow pipe; because the
valve is water-tight, and if servants throw slops into it, or the
supply pipe to it leaks, the water goes on running and the basin
fills, and, if there were no overflow pipe, it would overflow on to
the floor; so that probably the pan closet ousted the valve closet
because it was found that people could go on throwing in any amount
of slops and using it in the roughest manner without getting their
ceilings damaged. However, the valve closets, as they were originally
made, generally had overflow pipes which went into part of the
apparatus below. Occasionally these overflow pipes are connected with
soil pipes or the trap of the closet below, but these are exceptional
instances.
One of the water-closets in the basement is very frequently in an
exceedingly improper position--either in the scullery or actually in
the kitchen. These w.c.’s ought all to be outside the house.
If closets are in the middle of the house they ought to be done
away with, and should be put against an outside wall. This might be
done by sacrificing a bit of some room which can be spared, or by
converting some small bedroom into a bath-room and closet, or still
better, by making a sort of tower outside the house.
The merits and demerits of the various kinds of water-closet were
discussed in a paper by Emptage before the Congress of the Sanitary
Institute at Glasgow. To be rightly considered wholesome and adapted
for general use, a closet should, in Emptage’s opinion, possess the
following qualifications:--
1st. The water seal of its trap should be in sight, should stand up
in the basin, and be quite safe from either momentum or siphonage.
2nd. It should be so thoroughly flushed that at each discharge every
part of the basin and trap would be properly cleansed.
3rd. It should be as well adapted for the discharge of slops as for a
w.c.
A closet possessing these advantages is perfectly safe to use
anywhere, and the only kind which, in his opinion, comes up to this
standard, is that known as the “direct action.” Within the last
few years several inventors have turned their attention to the
manufacture of this kind of closet, and there are now several in the
market to choose from, each of which has some advantage peculiar to
itself.
Emptage has found:
1st. That these closets, when properly trapped, flushed, and
ventilated, are perfectly safe and wholesome, and are free from the
evils and annoyances attendant upon most other forms.
2nd. That to ensure a thorough flush out, the water must fall with
an avalanche-like action direct upon the surface of the water in the
basin.
3rd. That those basins which show an O G section are more readily
flushed than those which have sides in the form of inclined planes.
4th. That with a suitably shaped basin 2 gal. of water, delivered in
5 seconds, will thoroughly cleanse the closet.
5th. That the ordinary round P or half S trap should never be used
beneath these closets, because no reliance can be placed upon the
safety of its seal.
6th. Care is required in fixing these closets to ensure adequate
ventilation to the trap, because, owing to the exposed position
of its seal, it is liable, unless so guarded, to be destroyed at
any moment by the discharge of a pail of slops: but if properly
protected, it is quite safe from this action.
Where the position is such that this necessary protection cannot be
given, on no account should a “direct-action” closet be used. It is
better, under such circumstances, of the two evils to choose the
lesser, and fix a good “Bramah” pattern valve closet and D trap.
One word with respect to closet seats. It is the prevailing fashion
to have them fit as closely as possible, and to keep the lid shut.
Emptage thinks this is a mistake. If there are any gases to escape,
they should be allowed to do so at once, rather than be kept boxed
in, ready to belch forth into the face of the next visitor. For this
reason, he would discard lids altogether, and, provided a suitably
finished apparatus could be introduced, the riser also, and allow the
floorcloth to run right under the seat, leaving no space in the room
where bad air could be detained.
Eassie recommends one of the various kinds of “wash-out” closet, and
specifies Jennings’s as being good in every respect, especially for
nurseries. For general household use he favours the valve closet on
the Bramah pattern. In other details he directly opposes Emptage,
warning the householder above all “not to fix a D trap under the
apparatus, but only a P trap or S trap of cast lead.” Care should
also be taken to make sure that the waste pipe from the leaden tray,
or “safe”--which is usually placed under a closet in order to avoid
any damage to the ceiling below should the basin overflow--is not
led into the trap underneath the closet, but taken direct through
the outer wall, and with a small copper flap at the end of the 1
in. pipe, in order to keep out the cold air. A sufficient supply of
flushing water is indispensable, and many houses can be much improved
in this respect by simply enlarging the service pipe which conveys
water to the basin. See also p. 991.
In country dwellings, where earth-closets can be used, the following
system works well. The refuse to be disposed of embraces rain and
surface water, wash-waters, ashes, and excreta. The water is partly
stored and partly run into the nearest brook. The ashes and excreta
(no closet being fitted inside the dwelling) are carried to the
garden. The wash-waters are emptied into a sink, which communicates
directly with either a small trap, through a grating (the pipe being
disconnected with the trap), or, if there be a sufficient fall, to a
garden, by an open gutter, or open tile drain. The ashes and excreta
are mixed together, and removed by the agency of one or other form of
“earth-closet,” taking that term generally for an apparatus which is
not a cesspool, which has to be frequently emptied of its contents in
a more or less dry state, and which is wholly above ground.
The contents of the water-closet are discharged, as a rule, into a
separate pipe, called the soil pipe; but sometimes into a rain-water
pipe with an open head near the windows, or even _inside_ the house.
The soil pipe is usually inside the house--probably because it ought
to be outside! Even where water-closets are against an external
wall, the pipe is often carried down inside the house. The closets
themselves, like sinks, ought not to be placed in the middle of the
house. They are very frequently under the stairs, close to bedrooms,
or in the middle of the house, sometimes ventilating into a shaft.
It is of course inevitable in these cases that the pipe must either
be carried inside throughout the whole length of the house, or must
run nearly horizontally under the floors of bedrooms, &c. Under
such circumstances it is often not properly ventilated; and if not
ventilated at all, the foul air makes its way out through holes,
which it is capable of perforating in lead pipes.
The soil pipes are then frequently inside the house, and they are as
a rule made of lead. They are very frequently not ventilated at the
top, and the pieces are jointed together by merely being slipped into
one another, with perhaps a little putty or red-lead. Of course these
joints are not sound joints. The soil pipe goes down into the drain,
and so the foul air gets into the house. The soil pipe, whether
inside or outside the house, ought to have sound joints. If a lead
pipe, soldered joints; if an iron pipe, the joints ought to be made
secure in a proper way.
If any part of the soil pipe must pass inside the house, it should be
of lead, and it can be made sound so long as it will last (and is not
damaged by driving nails into it).
Iron pipes should not be allowed to be inside the house. It is so
very likely that the joints will not be made perfectly tight, so that
it is more undesirable to have iron pipes inside the house than it is
to have lead pipes.
Of course it is practicable to plug the pipe at the bottom and to
fill it with water to ascertain if it is water-tight; but all that is
only a device to retain a thing which ought to be altered.
Soil pipes ought always to be ventilated by a pipe as large as the
soil pipe carried up above the roof.
The soil pipes ought to be outside the house, and connected with the
drain by plain stoneware bends, or, under certain circumstances,
disconnected from the drains themselves by a trap with an open
grating. Such a trap is called a disconnecting trap.
_Bath-room._--The first thing to mention in connection with the
bath-room is that the inlet and outlet openings for the water should
not be the same. Very frequently in a bath the water goes out by
the same apertures as it comes in. This is a bad plan, for some of
the dirty water comes back with the clean. The waste pipe should be
treated in the same way as the waste pipe of a sink.
Frequently on the best bedroom floor there is a water-closet actually
in one of the bedrooms, or opening directly out of it by a door. This
ought not to be countenanced under any circumstances whatever.
On the drawing-room floor there is generally a balcony, the pipes
from which go very frequently straight down to the drain, or they
are connected with rain-water pipes from the top of the house, which
_themselves_ discharge into the drain; so that these pipes from
balconies and lead flats are not at all infrequently connected with
the drains.
_Bell-wire Pipes._--There is sometimes an unaccountable smell in the
drawing-room, and people puzzle themselves in all kinds of ways to
account for it. It is generally noticed when people are sitting in
a particular chair--which particular chair is a chair possibly most
frequently sat in--one near to the fireplace. The smell noticed is
a smell which comes up the tube that the bell-wire goes down. The
bell-wire goes down into the basement. It may go into some part of
the basement which is not very savoury, and foul air may be, and
frequently is, taken up into the drawing-room or best bed-room. Or
the wire may be in the basement passage close to the gas-light, and
the products of combustion of the gas may pass up the wire-tube into
the drawing-room or bedroom.
_Kitchen Waste._--Accumulation of waste animal and vegetable matter
should be strictly forbidden; what cannot be used as food, even for
domestic animals, ought to be burned daily. Where there is a large
garden, refuse may be buried. The objection frequently raised to
burning is the unpleasant smell which is caused by it; this may, with
a little care, always be avoided. Where a close range is used, choose
a time when the fire is bright but low; draw out all the dampers and
put everything into the fire, close the door in front, and a very
large amount of rubbish can be got rid of in a quarter of an hour.
In open fireplaces this is a little more difficult, but may still be
accomplished. Put all vegetable matter under the grate to dry, then
put it on the fire. The oven dampers must be drawn out; the strong
draught up the oven flue will carry off the smell. Fish-bones and
other scraps may thus be burned. The habit prevalent in many country
places of keeping a swill-tub cannot be too strongly condemned. A day
or two of damp summer weather is enough to cause a most offensive
smell to be given off. Dwellings in large towns become dangerous in
warm weather from their close proximity to ashpits, which are made
the receptacle of all kinds of decaying animal and vegetable matter.
Much sickness might be prevented during the summer months if it could
be made compulsory to have ashpits, &c., well sprinkled with chloride
of lime or some similar disinfectant at least twice a week.
_Sinks._--The stoppage of drains by grease may be partially prevented
by the use of soap-powder, which combines with the grease; but at
least twice a week there should be poured down kitchen sinks one
or two bucketfuls of boiling water, in which common soda has been
dissolved. A much better plan is to use potash instead of soda, as
potash makes a _soft_ soap with fats. The application of one or
two doses of potash lye in hot water will almost always effect a
clearance in stopped drains, which at first appear to be irremediably
choked, and at the same time no injury whatever results to the pipes.
[Illustration: 23. Kitchen Sink.]
The proper arrangement and disconnection of a kitchen sink is shown
in Fig. 23; _a_, stoneware trough; _b_, 2 in. stoneware waste pipe;
_c_, stoneware gully or trap; _d_, iron grating; _e_, house wall;
_f_, pipe leading to sewer.