Installing the Inspection Chamber From Hell!

[Bushbaby]

Hi Guys & Gals

New here so please be gentle. To be honest i really don't know who else to ask.

I have had a new toilet fitted into an en suite i just had put in and have therefore had a new soil stack as well. It has come to my draining man fitting the inspection chamber (removing the old terracotta one and replacing with a black plastic one that has a series of collars about two inches each in depth that take it back up to ground level). The Building Inspector has been round and has failed the chamber saying it has failed the pressure test (fill it up to the top check it doesn't leak). Initially my drainage man fitted it without rubber seals and therefore it failed as water just leaked out from everywhere.

Now he has re fitted it with the seals (3 i think) and siliconed the joints. He says all the pipes he has installed are water tight and it must be my main drain that runs under the house that is leaking. If this is the case i imagine it will be very very costly!

When the man hole cover is now filled to the top i cannot see any water leaving the seals at the sides but it empties from the top to the bottom quite quickly and then sits there at the middle leaking very very slowly.

How can i definitely find out where the leak is from?

Cheapest solutions first please and thanks to anyone in advance who replies!

Cheers

BB

 

[ColJack]

has he forgot to plug a hole in it?

 

[geraint]

it is not the chamber that is leaking... it is the soil pipe.. never come across a pressure test on a chamber..

if building control are involved. can only assume the fault is from the chamber upstream....

and anyone that seals any drainage with silicone, has not got a clue..

speak to the building inspector... he will be able to advise... very rarely do they fail... only through incompetence...

 

[marshman]

You put 110 mm bungs in the pipes and test the chamber, then leave a pipe unbunged at the chamber but put the bund in at the next chamber to test the run.

 

[marshman]

it is not the chamber that is leaking... very rarely do they fail... ...

Wait till you've tried Bret Martian chambers.

 

[r896neo]

i have to agree with marshman in regard to the terrible state of some chambers. Although if brett really is a martian i would imagine he has never seen a drain.

The extension rings that are put on to lift them are pretty fool-proof as long as they are the o-ring type but i had one recently that had an inch thick foam seal that was pretty crap. A lot of the chambers are the same size and so replace your dodgy rings with ones from another. You can buy them separate from the chambers.

Of course ignore the above if its not the rings that are your problem.

 

[alittlerespect]

Hi

Question: Have you got the right type of drainage installed? The reason I ask is that all below ground soil drainage should be in a 'terracotta' coloured finish, as seals will be for foul water drainage systems rather than rainwater.

Similar to marshman's comments _ you should bung the soil pipe where it comes into the new chamber from the wc and then fill the wc to the brim by repeat flushing and then monitor to see if the water goes down, an old trick is to put a matchstick in the water and if the matchstick goes to the side of the wc pan it is usually an indication that the sytem is water tight (this may not be acceptable to BC but it is a good indicator.) If the water goes down then you have a problem connection between the new wc and the new manhole!

Next you need to test the new manhole downstream- to do this you go downstream to the next (assume an original manhole), bung up the upstream side, release the previous bung which should provide sufficient water to test the manhole (if not simply top up), again monitor the situation and if the water goes down you have a problem with your soil pipe connections between the new and the old! If you only have one bung you will have to sacrifice some water. The only problem with the second test is that it could easily identify an existing problem which will then have to be rectified.

Regards

 

[Bushbaby]

Many many thanks to all of you for replying! Wow!

In answer to the above question, no the inspection chamber (water holding part below the man hole cover) is all black. Is this incorrect then??? Where do I find definitive guidance on this as my “drains man” is back tomorrow. And what make and whereabouts am I good to tell him to go and get it from?

Again, thanks for the replies, this is all very very helpful

Cheers

BB

 

[marshman]

Black or brown makes no difference.