One way flap to prevent rats entering toilet

[noobiediyer]

A flexi pipe on the waste pipe of a ground floor toilet seems to have been chewed through by a rat. Turns out this should have been installed with a one way flap to prevent it from getting to the flexi pipe. Something like this: https://www.pestcontroldirect.co.uk...at-prevention-fitment-for-drains-and-toilets/

Does anyone know if this is required for toilets that are not on the ground floor which also have flexi pipes? Can rats climb up the inside of a vertical waste pipe?

Definitely going to get the flap added for the ground floor but wondering if I should get it added to the other non-ground toilets as well?

 

[terryplumb]

Yes ,rats can climb vertically up soil pipes ,particularly old cast iron ones.

 

[noobiediyer]

Yes ,rats can climb vertically up soil pipes ,particularly old cast iron ones.

I've got the modern hard plastic pipes. So question is, should I get those flaps fitted for non-ground toilets or is that being overly paranoid?

 

[terryplumb]

Entirely upto you ,if it gives you peace of mind fit one. I personally have only came across the problem with cast iron stacks ,but that's only my experience ,others may have seen it with plastic.
I have seen it on ground floor plastic waste though.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

Probably being overly paranoid. Rats will look for daylight, flexi pan connectors are notoriously translucent, and very easy for Rodents to chew through, so any ground floor WC on a flexi is at risk. Unlikely they'll see the light on the first floor, so wont attempt the climb unless desperate.

To be perfectly honest, you'd probably be better swapping out the Flexi for a rigid pan connector, those Non Return Valves are not a brilliant idea, will soon wedge open, and may even get lost down the drain.

 

[noobiediyer]

Probably being overly paranoid. Rats will look for daylight, flexi pan connectors are notoriously translucent, and very easy for Rodents to chew through, so any ground floor WC on a flexi is at risk. Unlikely they'll see the light on the first floor, so wont attempt the climb unless desperate.

To be perfectly honest, you'd probably be better swapping out the Flexi for a rigid pan connector, those Non Return Valves are not a brilliant idea, will soon wedge open, and may even get lost down the drain.

Sounds like I could skip the ones not on the ground floor especially as the flexi pipes are boxed in so they won't appear translucent for the rat.

I'm not sure I can avoid the flexi pipe for the ground floor toilet though, the toilet is a wall hung toilet that is fixed to a mounting frame (Grohe Rapid SLX mount) that is boxed. The waste pipe needs to make a sharp 90 degree turn within the depth space of the mount so that it can connect to the soil stack. Not sure if a hard plastic 90 degree turn pipe is available, even if it is, it might not fit in the small space within the boxed in mounting frame.

I definitely don't want to have issues with another rat so if a hard plastic pipe is possible then I guess no harm having that as well as a one way flap.

 

[tell80]

I was told that back in the day rat flaps caused far more trouble than the rat problem they were intended to solve.
The old guys said that the flaps were as much trouble as house traps - they were liable to jam and/or cause blockages.