July, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



47 



House Hygiene 



V. — House Drainage 



By Ralph Ernest Blake 



HE object of house drainage is to provide 

 means of promptly and safely removing all 

 sewage and waste from the house. It is a 

 subject of prime importance in the sanita- 

 tion of the dwelling and has been made the 

 subject of much study and investigation by 

 sanitary experts. In cities it is regulated by law, down to 

 the smallest particulars; such regulations represent, on the 

 whole, the best modern practice, and cannot, of course, be de- 

 parted from within the region governed by them. 



The subject of house drainage is concerned with three 

 important things: (1) the pipes; (2) their position, fixing, 

 adjustment and position; and (3) the traps by which their 

 openings and connections with the house are safeguarded. 

 Any system of house drainage presupposes a system of wa- 

 ter supply within the house and connection with some outlet 

 or waste receptacle. In the city the latter will be a sewer, 

 built and maintained by the municipality. In suburban 

 regions connections may also frequently be made with a 

 sewer; in the country the discharges from the drain pipes 

 will be received in a cesspool or distributed through a sewage 

 disposal plant. 



Glazed stoneware pipes, which were long used for drain- 

 age purposes, and are still frequently so employed in rural 

 regions, are no longer regarded as the best for this purpose. 

 In many cities, in New York, for example, they are pro- 

 hibited within the house. A good drainage pipe must be 

 sound and perfect in every respect. It must be made of a 

 permanent material, that is, one that will not wear or col- 

 lapse with time. It must be absolutely sound and perfect, 

 without flaws or holes. It must be strong and durable, able 

 to resist weight and pressure, capable of sustaining sudden 

 changes of atmosphere and of resisting sudden shocks and 

 blows. It must be thoroughly water-proof and gas-proof. 

 It is obvious that all these requirements are not possessed by 

 stoneware pipes, especially strength and gas-proof. Pipes 

 of cast iron have, therefore, come into general use within 

 the house. Wrought iron pipes are exceedingly strong, and 

 a plumbing system constructed of them has every quality of 

 permanence and effectiveness; but it is very expensive and 

 the pipes canot be readily repaired. 



Cast iron pipes are made in two weights for plumbing 

 purposes, but while the lighter weight is frequently used it 

 is prohibited by most municipalities as not being strong 

 enough and difficult to use in making a gas-tight joint. Its 

 weight and thickness vary according to its diameter. It is 

 sometimes dipped in hot tar, a process not permitted by the 

 New York law, as it conceals sand holes and other flaws. 

 The regular length of cast iron pipe is five feet, but short 

 pipes of convenient shapes and dimensions are made for con- 

 necting purposes. The jointing is made by lead-calked 

 joints, a work that requires both experience and skill to be 

 well done. 



Lead pipe is used for branch waste pipes and short lengths 

 of water pipes. It is easily bent and shaped and is particu- 

 larly convenient for traps and connections. It is, of course, 

 soft and is readily broken into by nails and gnawed through 

 by rats. Lead pipes are connected with lead pipes, and with 

 brass and copper pipes — both of the latter being sometimes 

 used in expensive plumbing — by "wiped" solder joints. 



Lead pipes and iron pipes are connected with brass ferrules. 



House drainage requires receptacles for collecting the 

 wastes and waters: they must admit of ready cleansing; ver- 

 tical pipes for sewage, waste water and rain water; they must 

 be upright, non-corrosive, gas and water tight, thoroughly 

 flushed and ventilated; short branch pipes to connect the 

 receptacles with the vertical pipes; traps to disconnect the 

 house sewer from the house drain and traps at all fixtures; 

 and, finally, the ventilation of the whole system by means of 

 fresh air inlets, vent pipes and the extension of the vertical 

 pipes. 



The house drain receives all the wastes of the house and 

 conveys them to the sewer or place of disposal without the 

 house. It is a most important element in the sanitation of 

 the dwelling. Its size is proportionate to the work required 

 of it; but it must not be too large, or it will not be self-cleans- 

 ing, which is one of its essential requirements. Four-inch 

 pipes are required in most cities but three-inch pipes are often 

 sufficient for a small sized house. It must be laid with a 

 sufficient inclination towards the sewer so as to be self-flush- 

 ing and self-cleansing. Experiments have demonstrated 

 that a four-inch pipe should have an inclination of one foot 

 in 40; a five-inch pipe of one in 50 feet, and so on. In the 

 cellar it is placed in a horizontal position, and, whenever 

 possible, should be exposed to view. If there are fixtures in 

 the cellar it cannot be hung from the ceiling or against the 

 wall, which are the best positions; but it must always be 

 placed so it can be examined throughout its entire length. 

 An arched or otherwise protected opening should be made 

 in the cellar wall for its passage beyond the house. Curved 

 elbow fittings of large radius "Y" branches and 45 degree 

 bends must be used for connection with the soil waste and 

 rain leader pipes. 



Put rather literally traps are bends in pipes arranged to 

 hold a quantity of water, called a water seal, which prevents 

 the entrance of air and gases from the sewer into the house. 

 Its value depends on the depth, strength and permanency of 

 the water seal, on the diameter and uniformity of the trap, 

 on the simplicity of its form, on its accessibility and on its 

 self-cleaning properties. The shape, nature, purpose and 

 names of traps in common use are of the greatest variety. 

 Seals are sometimes lost or broken through natural agencies. 

 The water may evaporate, as when a house remains long in 

 disuse; in such cases if filled with oil or glycerine the seals 

 will remain efficient. A sudden flow of water may entirely 

 empty a trap; the utmost care in the construction and placing 

 of the trap will remedy this; traps may be emptied by capil- 

 lary attraction from paper or rags which may remain in 

 them; they must be of uniform diameter without corners 

 and well flushed to overcome this difficulty; they may also 

 be emptied by siphonage; several methods are employed to 

 overcome this trouble. One is the vent system, by which 

 vacuums are created by extending the vertical pipes over the 

 roofs and connecting the traps with open vent pipes. 



Notwithstanding that the house drain is disconnected with 

 the sewer by a special trap called the main trap, and there are 

 traps applied to each fixture, further protection against 

 odors and injurious gases is secured by the ventilation of the 

 various pipes within the house, by the extension of the verti- 

 cal pipes above the roof and by a fresh air inlet on the drain. 



