who is responsible for the shower being blocked up

[zoza]

I am renting a condo and the shower keeps getting blocked and at first I paid  the building handyman to clear the drain in the bathroom

it was only ok for a week or so and now the handyman tells me he cannot fix it, so he has called in two more experienced plumbers

who say the blockage is not on my floor but in the drains at ground level. should the condo management  people pay or the owner

as the condo management say it is the condo owners responsibility .   

 

[Kwasaki]

Tricky one, have the condo management informed the local council or the owner.

If your agreement says you are responsible for any occurrences not much you can do.

If possible probably best to get an estimate find out who else is affected by the blockage and share cost.

 

Many other options available to you but you have to decide.

[transam]

If you are paying a yearly maintenance fee the drainage is their problem ..

[Naroge]

To be able to advice one need to understand where the blockage is, but your from post it is not clear. You say that first they manage to clear it inside your unit, but next comment is that they say the blockage is on ground level. Not clear to me what is going on.

 

The general rule is that if it happens withing your unit's walls/ceiling/floor it is your (owner's) responsibility. Otherwise the condo's.

[johng]

As you are the renter and the blockage is not in your condo and must be effecting others I would say its the condo managements responsibility to fix the problem using money from the money they collect from every owner for maintaining the common property..in reality sometimes the management is bad and the effected owners have to share the costs to get the work done themself.....in any case it shouldnt be you the renter paying for the work it should be owner IMHO.

[derekwyoung]

Hi , how about tipping a lt of strong drain cleaner down the offending hole, recommend sulphuric acid SG 1.8 . Dangerous stuff Treat it with great respect , it will eat almost any thing  including concrete if left long enough . but not glassed pipes  but may pass the melting point of plastic ones [gets very hot] so a little at a time , half a cup and 30-45min between doses and keep windows open in the room where you are working.

I do have a high power jet cleaner u can borrow for free but live in the far north of Chiang mai province, to far for most people. derek

[AlQaholic]

If the pipe that goes down to ground level is shared by other condos i.e. a main pipe with branches connecting to that main, it is the condo managements responsibility to fix if it is blocked in that main pipe, however if the blockage is somewhere in the pipe from your condo to the main pipe then it is the condo units responsibility. If each condo has a individual pipe going all the way to ground level (highly unlikely, bad design) then it is the responsibility of the condo unit to fix it.

[Generalchaos]

If you go to your local hardware guys, you can buy a Thai equivalent to a type of "Draino" you pour it down the shower / drain and just leave it, it eats hair, fat, unwanted dead bodies etc. Look for the one with a Crocodile on it - it is potent.

Make sure that your drain is not full of water when you pour it down as it will effervesce at a furious rate and can splash back and probably burn or blind you. Nasty but effective.

[Rimmer]

A profane jpg post has been removed:

 

8) You will not post disruptive or inflammatory messages, vulgarities, obscenities or profanities.

[johng]

Soda fai (aka caustic soda) is cheap and widely available its very good at removing organic matter from drain pipes boiling water helps the process but you must be very careful because it will cause a violent reaction so be extremely careful not to get any water/soda fai splashed on skin and especially in your eyes.

[lungnorm]

Its the fault of all those ladies you have stay there every nite. Their hair clogs the drain. Try short haired bar girls for a few weeks and the problem should go away.

[gemguy]

Geez...do they need Mr. Spock and his use of obvious logic to intervene.

If the problem is NOT in your room / condo itself or what is designated as in your Condo or on your property and its boundaries while the problem is down on the ground floor level and therefore outside the boundaries of your individual condo / residence and considered property of the owners of the development then why should you have to pay to fix it .

I'm tellen Yah...some of the Thai condo owners that lease their units or apartment owners or the managers of apartments and condo affairs can really be small minded A-Holes if ever there was about such matters.

As an example, It would be no different if the water to your apartment stopped or was dribbling out insufficiently and they tell you the main line coming into the property is leaking and the pressure is not sufficient to push water up to your apartment.

So, they tell you if you want water to your apartment then you have to pay for the water main coming into the property to be fixed...So,  it is your responsibility at your expense  ...Mr. Farang .....Kow Jai My....

 

 

Edited January 16, 2017 by gemguy

[jacko45k]

Seeing as how you are not on the ground floor I do not see how it is your responsibility.

Surely people on lower floors would see more issues than you.

Do you pay an annual maintenance charge as this sounds like  it should be paid for out of that fund.

 

It is also possible your plumbers assessment is wrong, do you have any drainage problems elsewhere, sink for example because in a small condo I would expect it to be the same pipe?

[steven100]

Shower really quickly for now and let someone else take care of such a headache.

[KittenKong]

18 hours ago, Naroge said:

The general rule is that if it happens withing your unit's walls/ceiling/floor it is your (owner's) responsibility. Otherwise the condo's.

 

This is absolutely correct. If the blockage is not inside your unit then it is up to someone else to foot the bill, with the sole exception of any drain pipes from your bathroom that pass through the ceiling of the condo below yours (this is common in some buildings) before joining the common drainage. There, of course, you are responsible for them and in fact these pipes are the most common source of leaks and blockages and inter-unit water damage in many buildings.

 

I also dont understand how a blockage on a much lower floor cannot affect units between your floor and the blockage, so maybe whoever checked the fault is mistaken about where it is.

 

 

[Khon Kaen Dave]

I dont think the showers are 'trapped' over here,that is that there in no trap to seal the smells from coming back into the appartment.If there is a long horizontal run of pipework before the drop to the tdrain,or the main soil stack,then it could be that the shower waste has not been laid with the correct amount of fall,thereby not creating an SCV(self cleansing velocity)Waste matter(and Thai hair is the worst)will simply lay on the bottom of the pipe and cause a blockage(you do not say how often this occurs)We used to use costic soad(which i believe is available here) Boil a kettle.pout some hot water down the pipe.Sprinkle costic soda into the waste then pour the remainder of the kettle to follow it,Stand well back,because it can jump.If this does not do it,or the problem occurs again then there is a design fault.Then its anyones guess as to who has to correct it.

By the way,i loved the comment about 'more experienced plumbers' There are no such persons over here.

[daveAustin]

The condo. Band together with others who it is affecting and approach management. If they don't sort it, suggest submitting notice and look for another place. Can't believe you paid maintenance to unblock a drain!

[zoza]

Thanks for all the opinions and helpful comments, I have been down the electric meter not working

correctly  so you pay near double to the deposit being denied to the internet being switched off until you drop someone a few baht to "fix" it and now I am on the blocked shower game.....it appears the single pipe running away from the condo needed cutting the acid did not work....the owner says he has to pay..3k ..and I asked the condo management and they say only the main drains are covered by them.

 

 

[transam]

What floor level are you on....?

[impulse]

17 hours ago, johng said:

Soda fai (aka caustic soda) is cheap and widely available its very good at removing organic matter from drain pipes boiling water helps the process but you must be very careful because it will cause a violent reaction so be extremely careful not to get any water/soda fai splashed on skin and especially in your eyes.

 

Tempting as it may be to try the DIY route, keep in mind there are dozens of places that stuff may end up that could hurt other people or their property, including the guys who may eventually have to open everything up to get to the root of the problem.  

 

I'd hate to be responsible (even partially) for a guy getting his eyes burnt because he cuts into a pipe without goggles because he didn't know I had flushed caustic soda down that pipe.  Or electrocuting someone because my caustic soda leaked behind the walls and corroded a bunch of wires.  Never mind the monetary liability- just sleeping at night thinking about that blind guy or fried kid would haunt me.

[johng]

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

Tempting as it may be to try the DIY route, keep in mind there are dozens of places that stuff may end up that could hurt other people or their property, including the guys who may eventually have to open everything up to get to the root of the problem.  

 

Yes I think you make a very good point   I hadn't considered the  risk to  the maintenance man... though he would probably try the Soda fai trick himself before the  moving on to  more drastic  options... Plunger, squiggly wire contraption, soda fai.......dig up/out the pipework !

[dddave]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

 

Tempting as it may be to try the DIY route, keep in mind there are dozens of places that stuff may end up that could hurt other people or their property, including the guys who may eventually have to open everything up to get to the root of the problem.

+1

You should never use either caustic soda, bleach or acid on shared drain lines.

For instance,  if a tenant on the 6th floor put in bleach then another on the 4th floor used acid,  chlorine gas could result and that can be deadly. Since there are often no drain traps in Thai buildings, the gas could easily back into other apartments and cause serious harm.

In my old building, drains are so direct that voices carry through them.

Edited January 17, 2017 by dddave

[impulse]

2 hours ago, johng said:

Yes I think you make a very good point   I hadn't considered the  risk to  the maintenance man... though he would probably try the Soda fai trick himself before the  moving on to  more drastic  options... Plunger, squiggly wire contraption, soda fai.......dig up/out the pipework !

 

I'd be embarrassed to tell you how I learned that lesson.  Nobody was hurt, but it wasn't pretty...  And 100% my bad.

[thaihome]

7 hours ago, zoza said:

Thanks for all the opinions and helpful comments, I have been down the electric meter not working

correctly  so you pay near double to the deposit being denied to the internet being switched off until you drop someone a few baht to "fix" it and now I am on the blocked shower game.....it appears the single pipe running away from the condo needed cutting the acid did not work....the owner says he has to pay..3k ..and I asked the condo management and they say only the main drains are covered by them.

 

 

Jesus Christ. How do you people get into these situations?

 

I've lived here over 15 years, know lots of people over that time and not once have I ever met anyone in person that has had one of your problems or the problems I read about daily here happen to them. ?

TH 

[zoza]

14 hours ago, thaihome said:

Jesus Christ. How do you people get into these situations?

 

I've lived here over 15 years, know lots of people over that time and not once have I ever met anyone in person that has had one of your problems or the problems I read about daily here happen to them. ?

TH 

obviously you and all the people you know are special as you never in 15 years have had any problems settling in Thailand, I  have also had after a 5am checkout due to an early flight

the security deducting 3k baht for my electric from my deposit when it has been less than 1500 per month for the last year, and a few other things that I have learn't from over the last 18 years and many of my friends and even other TV members have experienced similar problems unlike your story , and that is why I post on here as I do not think I know everything and 90% of the time I get

useful information...and not messages from the special one. 

[transam]

14 hours ago, thaihome said:

Jesus Christ. How do you people get into these situations?

 

I've lived here over 15 years, know lots of people over that time and not once have I ever met anyone in person that has had one of your problems or the problems I read about daily here happen to them. ?

TH 

My beautiful tiled kitchen floor has been dug up three times, two water leaks and one blocked drain pipe.... .....I did the drain myself about 5 years ago..

 

[NancyL]

23 hours ago, dddave said:

+1

You should never use either caustic soda, bleach or acid on shared drain lines.

For instance,  if a tenant on the 6th floor put in bleach then another on the 4th floor used acid,  chlorine gas could result and that can be deadly. Since there are often no drain traps in Thai buildings, the gas could easily back into other apartments and cause serious harm.

In my old building, drains are so direct that voices carry through them.

 

Right about that, but in our older building the first thing the building maintenance guy does when called in to deal with a blocked drain problem is to ask you to start boiling water as a chaser for his upcoming application of of soda fai to the drain.  Plumber's snake, naw, never heard of 'em.