Toilet waste pipe - undoing a bodge job

[hoverjumper]

Hi all, my first post on here. I've read a few other posts on the subject of toilet waste pipes but would welcome any opinions on my problem.

This toilet was installed by previous owner and has never been a good flusher often requiring several flushes to clear the bowl.

I've finally got around to taking off the front of the cabinet and have revealed this bodge job!



Grey soil pipe

• hoverjumper
• 17 Nov 2010
• 1

The solid grey pipe appears to run horizontally from here about 6 ft to the outside wall where...

Flexi connector

• hoverjumper
• 17 Nov 2010
• 1

Waste pipe can be seen to "climb" slightly onto the bottom of the cabinet.

I reckon the poor flushing is due to to the ribbed flexi connector and the slight upward incline due to the pipe routing over the bottom of the cabinet.

Additionally, the grey pipe passes through the wall into the void behind, bends right 45 deg and runs horizontally about 6 ft to the outside wall where it finds the vertical soil pipe.

What I've gleaned from other posts is that the flexi connectors are problematic, so I'm thinking of using an offset connector to rise up into the cabinet and then some kind of smooth, rigid pipe and an angle connector to connect to the existing grey pipe. Any thoughts? Should the long horizontal run to the outside wall be a concern?

Many thanks for any comments,

 

[TicklyT]

I hate flexible pan connectors!

Water doesn't flow up hill, so that bit isn't going to work very well. An offset connector running upwards would effectively increase the depth of the pan trap, leading to poor flushing.

It would be better to modify the cabinet so the base doesn't foul the bottom of the soil pipe, and you can achieve a constant fall from the pan spigot to the soil stack.

A variety of different bends for soil pipe are available from about 7° to 90°, so you should find one that suits.

The 'horizontal' run should ideally have a fall of about 2½° or 40mm per Metre (that's why bends etc are often specified as 87½°), but this can sometimes be reduced to about 20mm per Metre and still work.

The multitude of ribs around flexible pan connectors make them prone to blockages.

6 feet of 'horizontal' pipe isn't excessive, providing it has an appropriate fall.

Consider adding a rodding eye if you can't achieve a good fall.

Too much fall is bad too - the liquids can run away and leave the solids behind

Did I say I hate flexis?

 

[hoverjumper]

Many thanks TicklyT. You have confirmed my first thoughts which are to cut away a channel in the bottom of the cabinet for the waste pipe.

Very useful info on the recommended fall of the waste pipe, I'll have to crawl behind the wall and make some measurements there.

Lots of good advice,
Cheers!