Problem With Plumbing

[kirkinpattaya]

i have 3 western style toilets in my home, the issue seems to be they wont flush properly even with nothing in them . when i try to flush one the others will make a bubbling sound. seems it might be some sort of back pressure problem im not sure? sometimes they will work for a few hours thruout the day and then back to the same problem again. has anyone experienced anything like this? if so what was the issue and remedy. i want to try to fix it myself before i have to call on somchai the plumber

[LennyW]

I have noticed that Thai plumbers tend always to make the toilets a completely enclosed system - no air intake, this can lead to air-locking within the pipework and reduced flush effectiveness.

In the UK they would have a T off your outlet pipework with a flap valve on it so that when you flush air is entrained and once the flush is finished the flap valve shuts to keep the stink in.

Probably a bit of a headache to do now as more than likely your pipework will be concreted in to the walls/floor?

[loong]

You may have a partial blockage downstream of where the soil pipes from the WCs join together or if they run seperateley to a cesspit or manhole, maybe a blockage on the outlet from the cesspit or manhole.

Lift your cesspit/manhole cover and get someone to flush and check that it all flows into it freely. If it does, you may need to rod the outlet. If it is nearly full of solids, you will need to get it pumped out

[BWPattaya]

Do all the toilets have their own septic tank or is there just one for all three? If there is only one perhaps it is full. Is it a new problem? Have they all been working correctly untilnow? If the problem is new then it is something related to them all.

[kirkinpattaya]

this problem just started a few weeks ago, my neighbor behind me just emptied his pool into the sewer and since then this problem has occured . i have just 1 septic tank and will take a look to see what condition things are in or if its full. thanks for all the answers i appreciate it

[PattayaParent]

You haven't been putting paper down the WC have you?

[kirkinpattaya]

toilet tissue only

[neilf]

this problem just started a few weeks ago, my neighbor behind me just emptied his pool into the sewer and since then this problem has occured . i have just 1 septic tank and will take a look to see what condition things are in or if its full. thanks for all the answers i appreciate it

ok

if your pipework was troublefree before he emptied his pool and the problemsw started just after then you can forget about internal house pipework probs and think about how the3 pool was emptied etc. ------------its a sherlock holmes job------------poss the exrea flow dislodged soil in the sewer pipe --------------i would start from there and make sure you ask your neighbour if he has any probs

[kirkinpattaya]

this problem just started a few weeks ago, my neighbor behind me just emptied his pool into the sewer and since then this problem has occured . i have just 1 septic tank and will take a look to see what condition things are in or if its full. thanks for all the answers i appreciate it

ok

if your pipework was troublefree before he emptied his pool and the problemsw started just after then you can forget about internal house pipework probs and think about how the3 pool was emptied etc. ------------its a sherlock holmes job------------poss the exrea flow dislodged soil in the sewer pipe --------------i would start from there and make sure you ask your neighbour if he has any probs

yes im waiting for them to arrive back to thailand. they only live here 2 months a year.thai workers did a remodeling job on the pool while they have been gone

[neilf]

this problem just started a few weeks ago, my neighbor behind me just emptied his pool into the sewer and since then this problem has occured . i have just 1 septic tank and will take a look to see what condition things are in or if its full. thanks for all the answers i appreciate it

ok

if your pipework was troublefree before he emptied his pool and the problemsw started just after then you can forget about internal house pipework probs and think about how the3 pool was emptied etc. ------------its a sherlock holmes job------------poss the exrea flow dislodged soil in the sewer pipe --------------i would start from there and make sure you ask your neighbour if he has any probs

yes im waiting for them to arrive back to thailand. they only live here 2 months a year.thai workers did a remodeling job on the pool while they have been gone

ok cause of problem found-----------cement / rubbish from pool work chucked into sewer pipe-----------easy

now you have to check this and sort and pay for it-------------not so easy

[BWPattaya]

Did the water go into drainage pipes or into the soil? It may simply be that the soil around you soakaway is saturated so further water won't drain away. By the way, don't even put toilet tissue down.

I doubt that it is a sewer pipe problem as you have one septic tank so don't connect to an extermal swer system.

[lopburi3]

By the way, don't even put toilet tissue down

.

It is where we put it. It is designed to be flushed.

And the normal house septic tank in urban areas drains into the gray water line here so if that system is blocked the tank output will be blocked.

[Pib]

If your gray water line runs around your properly/house like mine does here in Bangkok, you should see some concrete box covers (if they have not been covered up by landscaping). On a small lot, the line usually runs around the perimeter walls/fence. Lift the covers off some of the boxes. The boxes are usually about two feet deep, 1.5 feet long, and 1 foot wide. Expect some aroma and cock roaches when lifting off the covers. In some of the boxes you'll probably see PVC pipes coming through the sides and drain into the box. In some boxes there won't be any PVC pipes entering. In my case, the PVC pipes are 2 inch pipes. These PVC pipes are drains from your waste water like your sinks, showers, bathroom floor drains, washing machince, etc. A couple will probably be a drain from the top of your septic tank(s). Don't be surprised if some of the PVC pipes enter the boxes near the very bottom of the box. I know one of my septic tank water drains enters at the very bottom of one of the boxes. As sand/dirt/etc flows through the gray water lines/boxes this material accumulates at the bottom of the box and eventually can rise high enough to partially block the PVC drainage outlets into the boxes, which in-turn blocks drainage flow from your house/top of septic tank(s).

About once a year, I go around the house, look in all the boxes, and clean the accumulation at the bottom--especially the boxes with PVC draining into them...there is usually at least an inch or so accumlated per year in my particular case. And in one box, a little over 1 inch accumpulation is high enough to touch the bottom of one of the 2 inch PVC pipes coming from the top of a septic tank....2 inches of accumlation would end up blocking half of the pipe outlet....and 3 inches would completely block the pipe outlet. The material removed just looks like black sand...I spread the this material around plants lining the street....good fertilizer I figure. This periodic maintenance should help keep your primarily gray water (and rain water) drainage system around the house flowing/unclogged. But of course, if a main street gray water line is particaually blocked which your home gray water line feeds into, then it's time to call whoever is suppose to maintain those lines.

[Pib]

Just remembered I use to have a smelly downstairs bathroom "only when it rained", unless I remembered to spray a little water into the corner bathroom floor drain. As you may know underneath the drain cover is a circular trough which holds an ounce or two of water. When the drain cover is replaced a circular extension/wall on the bottom of the cover goes into that water effectively creating a small, circular U-trap to block smells. Well, that ounce or two of water evaporates pretty fast...if you don't remember to spray a little water down the drain every day or two the water can completely evaporate.

The drain went down about a foot and then went over about 6 feet from the house and entered the side of one of the gray water boxes I mentioned. The box the drain pipe entered was only about 8 ft downstream of where a septic tank drain pipe entered into another box. When it rained and plenty of rain water was flowing in the gray water pipe going around my house, I expect it churned up a lot of stuff/smells and the smell could easily find it way up the pipe to my downstairs bathroom...and if there was not water in the drain's mini/circular U-trap, the gray water drain aroma just came into the bathroom.

I solved this problem by attaching a full size U-trap on the end of the 2 inch PVC pipe that drained in into the box. Actually I just made my own U-trap from some PVC pipe right angles sections stuck together, as a ready-made 2 inch U-trap can cost you around 200 baht at HomePro. This U-trap holds more than enough water to not evaporate before some more water goes into the downstairs bathroom floor drain from washing/spraying down the floor occassionally or just remembering every month or so to spray some water for 15 seconds or so down the drain to completely refill the U-trap.