Chapter IV: Preface (4)

We may next take the point of trapping of the main drain and ventilation of the system. It will be seen that, in the case of the drawing of the imperfect arrangements, the drain is shown to be in direct communication with the sewer. The consequence is that any leakage which may exist in the house drain permits gas not only from the drain itself, but from the sewer also, to find its way into the house.

The engineer will now be able to tell much of the state of affairs. He will see of what size the drain is; he will be able to tell of what material the joints are made, taking those exposed as samples; he will, in all probability, find the ground under the pipes soaked with sewage, and be able at once to say that the drain is in a leaky and bad condition; he will find whether it is properly supported on concrete, or has been “tumbled” into the soil; he will be able readily to discover what is the total fall in the drain from back to front. At this stage of the proceedings, the drain itself should not be opened; but, on the contrary, if the taking up of the ground should have exposed any joints which are evidently leaking, these should be made temporarily good with clay. The reason is, that it is desirable, before anything has been disturbed, to test the system for the purpose of discovering what amount of leakage there is into the house.

There are various ways of doing this, but the two commonest, which Burton describes and illustrates, are those known as the “peppermint test,” and the “smoke test.”

The smell of peppermint is well known, possibly to some of us unpleasantly well known, but probably its excessive pungency when in the form of the oil, and when brought into contact with hot water, is not generally understood. It will readily be believed that if such an excessively pungent mixture as this be introduced into the drainage system of a house, even the smallest leakage will become evident. Suppose the least possible defect to exist in any joint of any of the pipes, a strong smell of peppermint will be evident near the defect. The only difficulty is in finding a place to introduce the peppermint. It will be quite evident that it is no use to pour it into any of the appliances in the house, as, were such done, this smell would so rapidly permeate the whole of the premises, by way of the staircase, passages, &c., that time would not be allowed to detect the leakages. Some means must be discovered of getting the peppermint in from the outside. This is not always possible, but generally it is. In the case illustrated, there would be no difficulty. The rain-water pipe at the back admirably suits the purpose. One person gets out on the flat roof, near the top of the pipe, and provides himself with peppermint, and 4 or 5 gallons of water, as nearly boiling as possible. Meantime, all doors and windows are closely shut, and persons are stationed about the house to observe if the smell expected becomes evident, and to locate, as far as possible, the point from which it issues. The man on the roof pours about ½ oz. of the oil down the pipe, and follows it with the hot water. He need then retreat from the place a little, for the peppermint-laden steam which will come from the pipe is blinding in its pungency. As soon as possible, he plugs up the top of the pipe with a towel, or some such thing, to prevent the occurrence of the vacuum which would otherwise be in the pipes, and which would tend to draw air from the house into the pipes instead of from the pipes into the house at any leakage. It would probably not be a minute before the people in the house would perceive the smell at various places. The manipulator of the peppermint must remain perched on the roof until those inside have had time to make their observations, otherwise he will infallibly bring the smell with him.

The test described is an excellent one. It is searching, and is simple in application, but it has one drawback. It is impossible by means of it exactly to localise a leakage. This drawback does not apply to the smoke test. A smoke machine is nothing more nor less than a centrifugal pump attached to a vessel for generating smoke. The pump pumps smoke out by a pipe, which may be inserted in any pipe in direct communication with the drain or in an aperture made for the purpose. The test is, in all respects, similar to the peppermint one, except that the leakage is not smelt but seen.

After the test has been performed the drain may be opened. This may be done by breaking into a pipe in front, by breaking off a collar, or by punching a round hole in the pipe. In any case it will be possible to judge much of the condition of the drain by the manner in which water runs through the pipes. If we have discovered that there is sufficient total fall, we can now see whether or not it is uniform. We shall, as remarked before, find in six cases out of every hundred examined that there is total stoppage, that no sewage whatever leaves the premises, and that consequently it must all be depositing under the basement.

If the drain, after all tests so far applied, and from what can be seen of it, appear to be in good condition, it may be further tested by filling, or attempting to fill it with water. There is probably not an average of one drain in a thousand in London which would remain full of water for an hour. For the rest it is necessary to examine all appliances, to trace the pipes from them, and sometimes to test these pipes.

The engineer has now completed his inspection, and has but to consider how he will make the best of a bad job, and put things to rights. At the beginning of his paper Burton expressed his intention of confining himself to a description of defects, and said he should not describe what he considered a perfect system; he, however, points out one or two of the chief features of the arrangements in the house which he calls well drained.

Most notable, probably, is the small size and sharp fall of the drain pipes. Further than this, it will be seen that the drain is disconnected from the sewer by a trap, and that it is accessible for inspection throughout, simply by lifting certain iron covers (Fig. 22). A close examination would show that every foot of drain pipe and discharge pipe is so ventilated, that there will be a current of air through it; that no appliance discharges into the drain direct, but that there is an atmospheric disconnection in every case; that air from discharge pipes of sinks, &c., is all trapped from the house; that there is separate water supply for closets, and for other purposes; and that no cistern has any connection with the drains. Further will be noticed, the difference in construction of the closets, &c.

The foregoing abstract of Burton’s paper is replete with valuable information. One obvious inference to be drawn from it is that where the occupant of a dwelling has serious doubts as to its sanitary conditions and cannot rely on his own observation for ascertaining the facts, he should forthwith engage the services of a specialist like the author of the paper to aid him in coming to a decision.

One of the most instructive lectures on house sanitation was that delivered by Prof. Corfield at the Parkes Museum in 1883. He considers that the best plan in the examination of a house is to begin at the top of it, proceeding downwards, and noting the different mistakes that are likely to be made in the sanitary arrangements in various parts of the house. Following out this idea, we will deal with each item in descending order.

_Rain-water._--The first thing which we must consider is that we have to get rid of the water that falls on the roof. The water from the gutter in front of the house may be disposed of in one of several ways. It may be conducted by a pipe outside of the house down the front into the area; or it may be conducted by a gutter through the roof, or, perhaps, through one of the rooms in the upper story into a gutter, over the middle of the house, between two parts of the roof, and down the middle of the house by a pipe into the drain; or it may be conducted direct from the gutter by a pipe, not outside the house, but inside the house, passing down through one or two stories, inside the rooms, perhaps through the best bedroom in front of the house, through the drawing-room, carefully hidden by some casing made to look like an ornament, through the dining-room and kitchen into the drain in the basement. Smells having been perceived in different parts of the rooms, especially in the bedrooms, various sanitary arrangements may be improved, and even made as perfect as they can be, by a kind of amateur tinkering prevalent nowadays in sanitary matters; and yet this defect which is so exceedingly serious, which is known to give rise to serious disease, is entirely overlooked--perhaps for years. The same is the case when the rain-water is carried in a gutter through the roof into a gutter between the two roofs in the middle of the house, and down by a rain-water pipe inside the house. In such cases similar disasters may occur.

But there is an additional danger from the fact that these inside gutters are in themselves most pernicious things. Soot and rotten leaves collect in them, and air blows through them into the house; and especially when these gutters are under the floors of bedrooms, this foul air is often the cause of illnesses which occur in these rooms. Even gutters which are not themselves directly connected with the drains, and which are open at both ends, but in which decayed leaves and soot accumulate and give off foul air into the rooms, may be the cause of sore throats.

Another plan to dispose of the rain-water is to carry it in a gutter right through the house to the back (the gutter may pass through the roof or the garrets), and the same remark applies to this method of construction as to those just described, except that it does not imply necessarily a defective pipe running down to the drain.

Well, then, the rain-water from the roof should be conducted by pipes placed outside the house; and there is no reason why this should not be always the case. If these pipes are not disconnected from the drains below, but are connected with them either directly, or even indirectly (with a bend in the pipe to hold water), in either instance cases of disease will arise in the rooms, the windows of which are near the rain-water pipes.

It is exceedingly difficult to persuade people upon this point; but such is the case. When the rain-water pipes starting from the top of the house below the bedroom windows, and frequently behind parapets, so that any air that comes out at the top comes out exactly close to the bedroom windows, and when these pipes come down straight into the drains and so ventilate the drains, foul air from the drains gets into the house, and disease is the result. But it is more difficult to make people understand that even when these rain-water pipes are trapped at the foot they are almost as dangerous as the untrapped ones, because foul air from the drains will pass gradually through the water in the traps into the pipes, so that these pipes are always filled with foul air and contain gases that have come from the drains.

As soon as it rains, water passes down, and the air of these pipes is displaced, comes out at the top, and so if these tops are near the windows of rooms, cases of disease will happen in those rooms.

The rain-water pipes ought to discharge on to the surface of the areas, where there ought to be siphon gullies connected with the drains.

_Ventilating Pipes._--While on the roof we can look around and observe the ventilating pipes: 1st, whether there are any or not; 2nd, of what size; 3rd, whether they have cowls or not; and 4th, in what positions they are. If we observe that they end at the top, near to chimneys, we shall see that there is liability, on account of the down draught, of the foul air from these ventilating pipes passing down the chimneys.

Chimneys often have down draughts, and if ventilating pipes are placed near them, the foul air may pass down into the rooms. If, on the other hand, although not ending near the tops of the chimneys, they are placed close to the chimneys or to walls so that their tops are sheltered, they will not act properly, and they ought to _be carried above the ridge_ of the roof, and end away from walls or chimneys. The same rule applies to chimney tops, they should not be sheltered by higher buildings.

_Cistern._--The first thing we come to inside or just below the roof (or perhaps on the roof), is the cistern.

The first point to observe is the material of which it is made. Lead cisterns (and so, too, galvanised iron cisterns) are affected by certain kinds of water; and it is important, in certain places, that cisterns should be used which are not capable of being affected by the water. Galvanised iron cisterns cause certain forms of poisoning with some waters. However, as a matter of fact, both lead and galvanised iron cisterns are used enormously, without any serious results following from their use.

A cistern is provided with an overflow and waste pipe. If the cistern is on the roof you would think it the natural thing that the overflow pipe should discharge on to the roof or leads, or into an open head; but, as a matter of fact, it is generally not the case. (By an “overflow” pipe is meant a pipe from the top, and by a “waste” pipe a pipe starting above the level of the water and passing through the bottom of the cistern.)

Overflow pipes were not in fashion at all until recently. The fashion was to have a waste pipe, and the most convenient place to take that into was some pipe passing down the house, which might be a rain-water pipe, but more frequently it was the pipe into which the water-closets discharged, which is called the “soil” pipe.

When this is the case the waste pipe of the drinking-water cistern becomes the ventilator of the pipe into which the water-closets discharge; and so in nine cases out of ten the ventilator of the house drain and of the sewer under the street, and, indeed, one of the ventilators of the main sewer. So foul air passes continually by means of this ventilator into the drinking-water cistern at the top of the house. Now foul air in sewers and drains contains matters in suspension, and often the poisons of certain diseases, such as typhoid fever; it gains access to the water in the cistern and contaminates it, and the main cause of typhoid fever in London and many other large towns is the connection of the drinking-water cisterns with the drains by means of the waste pipes.

Of course the remedy for this--the first remedy--is to put a trap on the waste pipe, as, for instance, connecting it with the trap in one of the closets or sinks. This, of course, is only a palliative, it is not the true remedy. The true remedy is to disconnect this pipe and make it discharge by itself, no matter where, in the open air. Sometimes this pipe is made to discharge into the same pipe that the sink waste-pipe discharges into. It is the practice in London to have a separate pipe for the various wastes and sinks not discharging directly into the drain, and usually carried outside the house. It is also the practice to make the waste pipes of cisterns to discharge into the same pipe. This is entirely wrong. Because, although disconnected at the foot, it is to be regarded as a foul-water pipe, and foul air passes through it up the waste pipe into the cistern. So this practice is to be condemned.

Now from the cistern, besides the waste pipe, there are pipes which supply the water to different parts of the house; there are pipes from the cistern to supply water to the taps, which are called “draw-off” pipes; and pipes from the cistern to supply water to the closets; and, as a rule, the same cistern is used for the supply of water to the closets direct and the taps at the upper part of the house. This plan may or may not be very dangerous.

There are two ways of supplying the water-closets in the upper part of the house with water. The one is to have what is called a spindle valve in the cistern, which fits a hole in the bottom of the cistern, and which is raised by a ball lever being pulled by a wire, which arrangement necessitates a contrivance called a valve box, which has a small air pipe, and with this arrangement there is liability for foul water to be jerked in the cistern. Moreover, the pipe from this valve box passes into the pan of the water-closet and becomes full of air, which air is liable to get into the valve box in the cistern. This arrangement, therefore, is decidedly bad. But there is another, in which the valve which supplies the water-closets is under the seat, and the pipe from the cistern is full of water; and that is now becoming the more usual plan. With that plan there is nothing like so much danger as with the other method; in fact, so little, that many people hesitate to condemn this arrangement.

However, to put it on no other grounds, it is clearly desirable not to have cisterns supplying drinking-water and the water-closets direct. It is better to lay down a right principle, and abide by it, than to see how you can avoid it. The best rule is that water-closets should not, for the reasons stated, under any circumstances be supplied direct from the cistern supplying the taps; Prof. Corfield lays down the rule that _every tap is a drinking-water tap, because any one may draw water at it_.

_Housemaid’s Sink._--The housemaid’s sink is often placed in a small closet just under the stairs, without any window or any sort of ventilation whatever (and we know what kind of things are kept in the sink!), so that in such a position it has not by any means a very savoury odour. The housemaid’s sink should under no circumstances be in such a position. It should be against an outside wall, and have a window. As a rule, the material used for the sink itself is lead, wood lined with lead. Now lead is not a good material. Grease, soap, and so on, have a tendency to adhere to lead, and it is very difficult to keep such sinks clean, and it would be better to have the sink of glazed stoneware.

The waste pipe of the housemaid’s sink, as a rule, is connected directly with the trap of the nearest w.c. There is a grating in the sink, and there is no trap in or under the sink, but the waste pipe is connected with the trap of the nearest water-closet. This is a bad arrangement. A worse arrangement is for the waste pipe to be connected with the soil pipe of the water-closet, in which case some kind of trap is generally placed on the waste pipe of the sink. This trap is frequently what is called a “bell” trap, and is placed in the sink. The disadvantage of the bell trap is, that when you take the top of it off you take the bell with it. The bell is the arrangement which is supposed to form the trap by the edges of it dipping in the water in the iron box; and you see at once, when the bell is removed, the trap is removed and the waste pipe, wherever it goes, is left wide open, and, if connected with the soil pipe of the water-closet, the foul air comes up into the house. Very frequently also the waste pipe of the sink has underneath it what is called a D trap. A D trap is a trap which the water passing through it can never clean; so it retains foul water; and therefore, even under sinks, such traps ought not to be allowed on account of the foul matters which accumulate in them.

The waste pipe of the housemaid’s sink should not be connected with the water-closet or soil pipe; neither with any pipe that goes directly into the drain. Its own pipe should not go directly to the drain, which is very frequently the case, but through the wall of the house into an open head or a gully outside. Very frequently the housemaid’s sink is supplied with water, not from the cistern on the roof, but from the cistern not only supplying the nearest water-closet, _but actually inside the nearest water-closet_, in which case, no matter what valves you have, you are supplying your sink with water which is kept in a cistern inside the water-closet, and that is far worse than supplying a sink with water from a cistern which also supplies the water-closet, with a reasonably protecting valve.

Close to the housemaid’s sink, and very frequently over it, is the feed cistern to the hot-water apparatus, which has also an overflow pipe, and the same remarks refer to this overflow pipe, except that it is a thing much more liable to be overlooked, as to the overflow pipe of the drinking-water cistern.

_Water-closets._--In the great majority of instances, the apparatus of this closet is what is known as the “pan” closet, that is, a closet apparatus which has a conical basin with a tinned copper bowl, called the “pan,” from which the closet gets its name. In order that this “pan” which holds water, may be moved, there is a contrivance underneath called a “container,” which is generally made of iron, and allows room for the pan to be moved. On pulling the handle the water is discharged into the pipe below. The container being generally made of iron it is liable to rust. Now the disadvantage of this apparatus consists in this large iron box, which is under the seat of the closet, being generally full of foul air. The contents of the pan are splashed into it, and it becomes coated with foul matters which decompose and continually give off foul air. Every time the handle of the closet is pulled some foul air is forced up into the house. That foul air is kept in this box between the trap which is below it and the pan which contains the water above it. In order to allow of the escape of this foul air it is not uncommon to have a hole bored in the top of the container. You would suppose that hole was intended to fix a ventilating pipe to, but nothing of the kind; the hole has been made merely to allow the escape of foul air into the house. Sometimes a ventilating pipe is attached to this hole and taken out through the wall, but that is the exception. This form of closet is the worst form of closet apparatus yet devised, and is very generally in use.

An attempt has been made to improve it by having a stoneware container, with a place for ventilation at the side, only it is an attempt to improve a radically bad arrangement, and not worth further consideration. Underneath this closet apparatus you will, as a rule, find, if you take the woodwork down, a tray of lead, called the “safe” tray. But there is no other word in the language that would not be a better description of it than this word! This tray is intended to catch any water that may escape from leaky pipes, or any slops that may be thrown over; and so it is necessary that this tray should have a waste pipe. The waste pipe in nine out of ten cases, probably in much greater proportion, goes into the trap immediately underneath the closet, and so it forms a communication for foul air from this trap to get into the house.

In some instances it goes directly into the soil pipe, and forms a means of ventilation of the soil pipe into the house. Sometimes a trap is put on this waste pipe, and it is then connected with the soil pipe, which goes on well so long as there is any water in the trap; but as soon as the water becomes evaporated, foul air gets into the house again.

Sometimes (to show the ingenuity which people often expend upon bad things) this waste pipe has a trap, and a little pipe from the water supply fixed to feed the trap; but all these ingenious plans have been devised in order to improve upon a principle radically wrong. The pipe should be carried through the wall and end outside the house as a warning pipe.

Scarcely any water ever comes out at all; if any does come out, it shows there is something wrong, so that this pipe should pass through the wall, and be made to discharge outside the house.

In order to prevent wind blowing up the pipe, it is usual to put a small brass flapper on the end. Its weight keeps it shut, and the pressure of water opens it.

Underneath the safe-tray you will find as a rule a trap of some kind, and generally the trap that is found is a D trap, a trap whose name indicates its shape, and which cannot be washed out by the water that passes through it. The pipe from the closet passes so far in it that it dips below the level of the out-going pipe, and thus forms a sort of dip-trap. The pipe which is the inlet from the closet is not placed close to the edge, but a little way in, to form a receptacle for all kinds of filth!

You will see it is impossible for the water that passes through it to clear the contents out, so that the trap is simply a small cesspool, nothing more nor less. Into that trap various waste pipes are frequently connected.

There is another form of D trap in which there are two waste pipes going into the water near the bottom of the trap (probably the waste pipe of the safe and the waste pipe of the cistern).

The D trap, then, is a bad form of trap, because it is not self-cleansing. The water cannot possibly keep it clear of sediment. So that some trap should be used which is self-cleansing, and the water which passes through it is capable of keeping it clean. Now that trap is a mere ∾-shaped bend in the pipe, to which we give the name of siphon, not because we want it to act as a siphon--for if it acts as a siphon it is of no use!

A curious thing about siphon traps and pan closets is, that the form of trap which was used first in connection with water-closets was the siphon trap, which we now praise; and the form of trap which supplanted it was the D trap, which we are now condemning and taking out wherever we can. A still more curious thing is that the form of water-closet which we now condemn (the pan closet) was the form of closet which supplanted the closet we are now using (the valve closet). The valve closet was invented long before the pan closet. Bramah valve closets fixed forty years ago often act tolerably well now, and at the present day they are only taken out because they are really actually worn out.

The valve closet, which we often find upstairs in old houses instead of the pan closet, has no large iron container under the seat, but it has a water-tight valve under the basin, and so requires a small valve-box; so that there is no great collection of foul air immediately under the basin of the closet. The valve closet, however, has a disadvantage in that it requires an overflow pipe; because the valve is water-tight, and if servants throw slops into it, or the supply pipe to it leaks, the water goes on running and the basin fills, and, if there were no overflow pipe, it would overflow on to the floor; so that probably the pan closet ousted the valve closet because it was found that people could go on throwing in any amount of slops and using it in the roughest manner without getting their ceilings damaged. However, the valve closets, as they were originally made, generally had overflow pipes which went into part of the apparatus below. Occasionally these overflow pipes are connected with soil pipes or the trap of the closet below, but these are exceptional instances.

One of the water-closets in the basement is very frequently in an exceedingly improper position--either in the scullery or actually in the kitchen. These w.c.’s ought all to be outside the house.

If closets are in the middle of the house they ought to be done away with, and should be put against an outside wall. This might be done by sacrificing a bit of some room which can be spared, or by converting some small bedroom into a bath-room and closet, or still better, by making a sort of tower outside the house.

The merits and demerits of the various kinds of water-closet were discussed in a paper by Emptage before the Congress of the Sanitary Institute at Glasgow. To be rightly considered wholesome and adapted for general use, a closet should, in Emptage’s opinion, possess the following qualifications:--

1st. The water seal of its trap should be in sight, should stand up in the basin, and be quite safe from either momentum or siphonage.

2nd. It should be so thoroughly flushed that at each discharge every part of the basin and trap would be properly cleansed.

3rd. It should be as well adapted for the discharge of slops as for a w.c.

A closet possessing these advantages is perfectly safe to use anywhere, and the only kind which, in his opinion, comes up to this standard, is that known as the “direct action.” Within the last few years several inventors have turned their attention to the manufacture of this kind of closet, and there are now several in the market to choose from, each of which has some advantage peculiar to itself.

Emptage has found:

1st. That these closets, when properly trapped, flushed, and ventilated, are perfectly safe and wholesome, and are free from the evils and annoyances attendant upon most other forms.

2nd. That to ensure a thorough flush out, the water must fall with an avalanche-like action direct upon the surface of the water in the basin.

3rd. That those basins which show an O G section are more readily flushed than those which have sides in the form of inclined planes.

4th. That with a suitably shaped basin 2 gal. of water, delivered in 5 seconds, will thoroughly cleanse the closet.

5th. That the ordinary round P or half S trap should never be used beneath these closets, because no reliance can be placed upon the safety of its seal.

6th. Care is required in fixing these closets to ensure adequate ventilation to the trap, because, owing to the exposed position of its seal, it is liable, unless so guarded, to be destroyed at any moment by the discharge of a pail of slops: but if properly protected, it is quite safe from this action.

Where the position is such that this necessary protection cannot be given, on no account should a “direct-action” closet be used. It is better, under such circumstances, of the two evils to choose the lesser, and fix a good “Bramah” pattern valve closet and D trap.

One word with respect to closet seats. It is the prevailing fashion to have them fit as closely as possible, and to keep the lid shut. Emptage thinks this is a mistake. If there are any gases to escape, they should be allowed to do so at once, rather than be kept boxed in, ready to belch forth into the face of the next visitor. For this reason, he would discard lids altogether, and, provided a suitably finished apparatus could be introduced, the riser also, and allow the floorcloth to run right under the seat, leaving no space in the room where bad air could be detained.

Eassie recommends one of the various kinds of “wash-out” closet, and specifies Jennings’s as being good in every respect, especially for nurseries. For general household use he favours the valve closet on the Bramah pattern. In other details he directly opposes Emptage, warning the householder above all “not to fix a D trap under the apparatus, but only a P trap or S trap of cast lead.” Care should also be taken to make sure that the waste pipe from the leaden tray, or “safe”--which is usually placed under a closet in order to avoid any damage to the ceiling below should the basin overflow--is not led into the trap underneath the closet, but taken direct through the outer wall, and with a small copper flap at the end of the 1 in. pipe, in order to keep out the cold air. A sufficient supply of flushing water is indispensable, and many houses can be much improved in this respect by simply enlarging the service pipe which conveys water to the basin. See also p. 991.

In country dwellings, where earth-closets can be used, the following system works well. The refuse to be disposed of embraces rain and surface water, wash-waters, ashes, and excreta. The water is partly stored and partly run into the nearest brook. The ashes and excreta (no closet being fitted inside the dwelling) are carried to the garden. The wash-waters are emptied into a sink, which communicates directly with either a small trap, through a grating (the pipe being disconnected with the trap), or, if there be a sufficient fall, to a garden, by an open gutter, or open tile drain. The ashes and excreta are mixed together, and removed by the agency of one or other form of “earth-closet,” taking that term generally for an apparatus which is not a cesspool, which has to be frequently emptied of its contents in a more or less dry state, and which is wholly above ground.

The contents of the water-closet are discharged, as a rule, into a separate pipe, called the soil pipe; but sometimes into a rain-water pipe with an open head near the windows, or even _inside_ the house. The soil pipe is usually inside the house--probably because it ought to be outside! Even where water-closets are against an external wall, the pipe is often carried down inside the house. The closets themselves, like sinks, ought not to be placed in the middle of the house. They are very frequently under the stairs, close to bedrooms, or in the middle of the house, sometimes ventilating into a shaft. It is of course inevitable in these cases that the pipe must either be carried inside throughout the whole length of the house, or must run nearly horizontally under the floors of bedrooms, &c. Under such circumstances it is often not properly ventilated; and if not ventilated at all, the foul air makes its way out through holes, which it is capable of perforating in lead pipes.

The soil pipes are then frequently inside the house, and they are as a rule made of lead. They are very frequently not ventilated at the top, and the pieces are jointed together by merely being slipped into one another, with perhaps a little putty or red-lead. Of course these joints are not sound joints. The soil pipe goes down into the drain, and so the foul air gets into the house. The soil pipe, whether inside or outside the house, ought to have sound joints. If a lead pipe, soldered joints; if an iron pipe, the joints ought to be made secure in a proper way.

If any part of the soil pipe must pass inside the house, it should be of lead, and it can be made sound so long as it will last (and is not damaged by driving nails into it).

Iron pipes should not be allowed to be inside the house. It is so very likely that the joints will not be made perfectly tight, so that it is more undesirable to have iron pipes inside the house than it is to have lead pipes.

Of course it is practicable to plug the pipe at the bottom and to fill it with water to ascertain if it is water-tight; but all that is only a device to retain a thing which ought to be altered.

Soil pipes ought always to be ventilated by a pipe as large as the soil pipe carried up above the roof.

The soil pipes ought to be outside the house, and connected with the drain by plain stoneware bends, or, under certain circumstances, disconnected from the drains themselves by a trap with an open grating. Such a trap is called a disconnecting trap.

_Bath-room._--The first thing to mention in connection with the bath-room is that the inlet and outlet openings for the water should not be the same. Very frequently in a bath the water goes out by the same apertures as it comes in. This is a bad plan, for some of the dirty water comes back with the clean. The waste pipe should be treated in the same way as the waste pipe of a sink.

Frequently on the best bedroom floor there is a water-closet actually in one of the bedrooms, or opening directly out of it by a door. This ought not to be countenanced under any circumstances whatever.

On the drawing-room floor there is generally a balcony, the pipes from which go very frequently straight down to the drain, or they are connected with rain-water pipes from the top of the house, which _themselves_ discharge into the drain; so that these pipes from balconies and lead flats are not at all infrequently connected with the drains.

_Bell-wire Pipes._--There is sometimes an unaccountable smell in the drawing-room, and people puzzle themselves in all kinds of ways to account for it. It is generally noticed when people are sitting in a particular chair--which particular chair is a chair possibly most frequently sat in--one near to the fireplace. The smell noticed is a smell which comes up the tube that the bell-wire goes down. The bell-wire goes down into the basement. It may go into some part of the basement which is not very savoury, and foul air may be, and frequently is, taken up into the drawing-room or best bed-room. Or the wire may be in the basement passage close to the gas-light, and the products of combustion of the gas may pass up the wire-tube into the drawing-room or bedroom.

_Kitchen Waste._--Accumulation of waste animal and vegetable matter should be strictly forbidden; what cannot be used as food, even for domestic animals, ought to be burned daily. Where there is a large garden, refuse may be buried. The objection frequently raised to burning is the unpleasant smell which is caused by it; this may, with a little care, always be avoided. Where a close range is used, choose a time when the fire is bright but low; draw out all the dampers and put everything into the fire, close the door in front, and a very large amount of rubbish can be got rid of in a quarter of an hour. In open fireplaces this is a little more difficult, but may still be accomplished. Put all vegetable matter under the grate to dry, then put it on the fire. The oven dampers must be drawn out; the strong draught up the oven flue will carry off the smell. Fish-bones and other scraps may thus be burned. The habit prevalent in many country places of keeping a swill-tub cannot be too strongly condemned. A day or two of damp summer weather is enough to cause a most offensive smell to be given off. Dwellings in large towns become dangerous in warm weather from their close proximity to ashpits, which are made the receptacle of all kinds of decaying animal and vegetable matter. Much sickness might be prevented during the summer months if it could be made compulsory to have ashpits, &c., well sprinkled with chloride of lime or some similar disinfectant at least twice a week.

_Sinks._--The stoppage of drains by grease may be partially prevented by the use of soap-powder, which combines with the grease; but at least twice a week there should be poured down kitchen sinks one or two bucketfuls of boiling water, in which common soda has been dissolved. A much better plan is to use potash instead of soda, as potash makes a _soft_ soap with fats. The application of one or two doses of potash lye in hot water will almost always effect a clearance in stopped drains, which at first appear to be irremediably choked, and at the same time no injury whatever results to the pipes.

The proper arrangement and disconnection of a kitchen sink is shown in Fig. 23; _a_, stoneware trough; _b_, 2 in. stoneware waste pipe; _c_, stoneware gully or trap; _d_, iron grating; _e_, house wall; _f_, pipe leading to sewer.

The sinks in the basement have their waste pipes very frequently either directly connected with the drains or connected with the drains by bell traps. Of course this is a most dangerous state of things. For when the top of the bell trap is taken off, an opening into the drain is directly made. If the bell trap gets broken, no one is told of it, and the drain is ventilated into the house for months. On the other hand, if the top is left on and the bell trap is in a place where water does not get into it continually, or at all, the trap will get dry, and so become a ventilator of the drains into the house; so that this plan of having ventilating pipes in the sinks, or of having bell traps in the floor of basements, is most dangerous, still more dangerous if the sinks are not used. Some think in this way:--Oh! this sink is not used, there cannot be any harm in it! But there is, and much more harm too. For the water in the trap dries up, and so foul air comes into the house.

The sinks, then, ought not to be directly connected with the drains, but should discharge through trapped gullies in the area; and not only so, but the waste pipes of the sinks, whether upstairs or downstairs, ought to have siphon traps, with traps and screws fixed immediately under the sinks. These waste pipes are foul pipes even when not connected with the drains, and if you do not have siphon traps immediately under the sinks, foul air will come in, especially during the night, and you will have a very serious nuisance caused in the house in this way. The same remarks about cisterns upstairs apply to cisterns in the basement. The water-closets in the basement are simpler forms of closets, and they are very frequently supplied from water cisterns by means of pipes which have merely a tap which you may turn off or on. This is a most mischievous plan, as the cistern may be emptied and foul air enter it. The closets in the basement, therefore, ought to be supplied by means of water-waste preventers, the best kind being the siphon-action water-waste preventers, which discharge two gallons of water as soon as you pull the chain. These “preventers” are not only to prevent the water being wasted by the handle of the closet being fastened up, but also cut off the direct supply of the closet from the drinking-cistern water.

_Grease Traps._--A much-discussed subject is the grease trap. In small houses it is not needed; but in large houses, unless some provision is made for catching the grease sent down the scullery sink, the drains will soon be choked. Eassie gives a caution against having the grease trap too large for its work, and as to the importance of cleaning it out regularly, say once a week.

_Disconnection Traps._--Whether the house drains into a sewer, a stream, a cesspool, or upon a piece of irrigation ground, one thing which must never be omitted is a disconnection trap or chamber between the house drain and the outfall. These traps--which should be placed close to the house--prevent any smell from the outfall passing into the house, and inasmuch as they have an inlet for the taking in of fresh air between the siphon and the house, this fresh air will course along the underground drains, and be discharged at the ventilating continuations of the soil pipes, or at the tops.

Where the house is so large that the air inlet of these siphons would not suffice, the latter are replaced by a chamber as shown in Fig. 24. The sewage flows into the air chamber formed by the half-open pipe _a_, being ventilated through the grating _b_; thence it passes through the siphon _c_ to the sewer in the direction of the arrow. There is a raking entry into the sewer side of the siphon at _d_, closed by a plug, thus preventing any smell from the sewer or drain beyond the siphon entering the air chamber _a_. If the sewers are at a great depth, the walls of the air chamber are made thicker, and a manhole is built the length of the open channel, an arch being turned over when the siphon is fixed, as in Fig. 25. The sewage passes from _a_ through the siphon _b_ to the drain _c_, _d_ being the air inlet. (Eassie.)

One of the best modern traps is that introduced by Houghton (Fig. 26), in which the outlet _a_ at the bottom of the gully can be pointed in any direction, and the inlet _b_ to the basin _c_ of the gully, forming a movable half, can be turned round to accommodate the entering waste pipe _b_; _d_ is the open grating which covers the gully.

_Drains._--Tho drain itself is got at by opening down to it in the front area. It may be found to be an old brick-drain, in which case it ought to be taken out. Brick drains are pervious, they allow the escape of foul air, and with contaminated air rats also get in the house. Wherever rats can get, foul air can go; and rats coming in through these holes may carry with them the poison of disease, such as typhoid fever. Rats generally go to the larder, and carry with them often the poison of such diseases, which are very largely spread by their poisons being taken in this way by rats into the milk and other foods, and also into the water in the cisterns.

Whether a brick drain or a pipe drain, it should be trapped before it is connected with the main sewer or cesspool. This trap, in the case of a brick drain called a “dipstone” trap, is a brick pit with a stone across it from one side to another, and dipped into the water which remains in the pit. The object of this stone is to prevent foul air coming into the house. As a matter of fact, the pit holds a large collection of foul matter and becomes a small cesspool, indeed, there is no difference between them.

A drain may be made of glazed stoneware pipes, which may be joined together in one of several ways. They may be laid “dry,” i.e. without any jointing material between the ends, in which case they are, of course, not water-tight; or they may have clay in the joints, in which case you cannot fill them with water--that is to say, they will not hold water under pressure. (If you fill them with water, by plugging at the lower end, the water will come out at the joints.) Or they may be laid with the pipes the wrong way. When the joints are made with clay they will very soon become leaky; and when that happens, the water oozes through the joints, filth collects in the trap, and it gradually plugs up the whole drain from one end to the other. This may go on for years without being found out, and so cause the ground under the house to gradually become a large cesspool. This is an extreme case. Or they may be jointed with cement, and there are some other ways. They may be perfectly well jointed with cement, so as to be water-tight. The drains, then, should answer to this test, i.e. you should be able to plug them at the lower end, and fill them with water. They should not be under the house, if possible. In London we cannot help it as a rule. If under the house, the straighter the course of the drain the better. Do not let it wind about in order to get away from different rooms. The best thing is to have a straight course through and to see that it is water-tight. It should hold water like a teacup. The drain must not be directly connected with the main sewer or merely separated by a siphon trap; but there should be an air inlet into the drain between the siphon trap and the house. This opening may be of different kinds. The best kind is that of a manhole for access to the drain and trap (so that the trap can be examined and cleared out at any time); the air inlet should be a grating either over the manhole or in the nearest wall opening into a pipe leading into the manhole.

People who are afraid of foul air coming out of these inlets put on a valve with mica flaps, so that the air can blow in, but foul air cannot go out. But, if there are no D traps under the water-closets and sinks, if the pipes are straight and sufficiently large ventilators are used, if the ventilating pipes go up above the roof and are not protected from the action of the wind, you will never find foul air coming out at the air inlet though you will find that fresh air is drawn in. There can be no accumulation of foul air, and the air that may be occasionally forced out is the last fresh air that has entered. Should you, however, find foul air coming out you will know that there is something wrong with the drain, that the drain or siphon is plugged, so that this air inlet becomes most valuable in pointing out when anything is going wrong.

Brick drains, says Eassie, are variously shaped. The worst sections are those upon which two upright sides of brick have been built upon flat stones, so as to form a bottom, and then covered over with other flat stones, because the bricks can never joint tightly with the stone, and there is always a leakage going on into the surrounding subsoil. One great objection to brick drains is due to the fact that they cannot be constructed sufficiently small to meet the requirements of a house, and consequently are seldom found less than 9 inches in diameter, which is far too large a sectional area to properly drain a house.

However compactly and well-burnt the clay has been made into bricks, a brick drain has only a certain life, so to speak, before its decadence begins with the usual attendant danger. Its lifetime is longer or shorter according to the subsoil in which it is placed, the material used as mortar, the gradient at which it is laid, the sewage which it removes, and the quantity of water, and especially of heated water, which passes through it, but the consensus of opinion in their disfavour for use in the interior of a house is overwhelming, and a universal preference is accorded to drains formed of earthenware pipes. A second objection to brick drains, however well they may have been built, is their want of smoothness, especially at the bottom, whereby the effete matters are not carried easily away; and this want of smoothness is aggravated by the roughness due to the unequal perishing of the bricks.