Rain-water pipes are often made the waste pipes of lavatories, baths, sinks, and slop-pails. When properly disconnected at the foot, in the open air, and when the top of the rain-water pipe does not terminate under a window of an inhabited room, this does not much matter; but when the court-yard is limited in area, and there is a window belonging to a living or sleeping room just overhead, where the rain from the roof delivers itself into the upright pipe, an offence will arise from the decomposing fats of soap, which form a slimy mess adhering to the interior of the pipe, that no amount of rainfall will dislodge.
Cisterns.—Cisterns should be in a cistern-room if possible, but, at all events, placed where they can be got at, covered over with suitable fittings, and ventilated to the open air. A drinking-water cistern should never be placed in a water-closet, for no amount of disconnection in such a case will suffice to counteract its evil surroundings. Neither should it be placed in a bath-room, which is liable to a steam-laden atmosphere. Nothing can be said against a site out of doors, on the flats, or below (if away from dustbins and ash-heaps); but in such cases the cistern, with its service pipes, should be well protected from frost. The position of a cistern should be equally carefully chosen no matter whether the supply be constant or intermittent, or whether there be a high or a low pressure cistern. And not only should it be made certain that the “standing waste” pipe of the cistern delivers in the open air, but that any “overflow” pipe of the cistern delivers in like cleanly fashion. It is too common to take these wastes down to the nearest sink. It might prove expedient to thus disconnect a cistern waste when time presses, and when the alternative is costly, but the practice is not to be commended.
Eassie’s strictures with regard to cisterns apply equally to those feed cisterns which supply hot-water circulating cisterns or boilers where water is heated for kitchen, scullery, still-room, or bath-room uses. It is too common to find the feed cistern, which is the small iron cistern that automatically keeps the kitchen or other basement boiler full, placed in the darkest corner of the commonest stowaway cupboard, with its overflow pipe joined to the drain.
The materials of which cisterns are constructed vary much in town and country. In old houses will be frequently found cisterns formed of slabs of stone, just as they have been raised from the quarry, and sometimes of slabs of rough slate, and than these, provided they are regularly cleaned out and the waste pipes disconnected, probably no better basement cistern could be found. The same might perhaps be said of brickwork cemented inside. Cisterns composed of slate possess a drawback in their weight, which sometimes prevents them from being adopted upstairs. It has become a frequent practice now to have them enamelled white inside, so that the slightest discoloration of the water, or sediment at the bottom, can be instantly detected.
Cisterns composed of metal throughout embrace old cisterns of cast lead, dated early in the 18th century; these are quite harmless, on account of their natural silver alloy, and they may be trusted, all other conditions being satisfactory. Cast-iron cisterns, made of plates bolted together, if kept full, and not subject to rust, are unobjectionable. Wrought iron, which has afterwards been “galvanised,” is a very common form of cistern, and appears to be the cheapest. Little can be said in its disfavour, although experiments made in America have proved that some waters attack the inner coating. The commonest form of cistern is composed of wooden framing lined inside with sheet lead. This is not the best for storing drinking-water, and slate would be preferable; but no one would say that all water drawn from leaden cisterns would injuriously affect health. The interior of a lead-lined cistern will be found to acquire a whitish coating, and it is due to this chemical alteration of its surface that the contained water can be drunk with more or less impunity. Nevertheless, there are some waters which very readily attack lead, and care should be exercised in this respect. In cleaning out a lead cistern the surface should never be scraped, but simply washed down with a moderately hard brush. Sometimes houses are provided with zinc-lined wooden cisterns; this metal for several reasons is one of the worst materials for water storage, and should never be used for drinking-water. Neither should wooden butts or barrels be employed for storing water anywhere in a house, as they speedily become lined with a low vegetable growth detrimental to health.
A great mistake consists in storing away a great quantity of water in abnormally large cisterns, in consequence of which the tap is drawing off for a very long period the water first delivered to it, and which is not the cleanest water. This does not so much matter in cisterns which supply closets or baths, but it is reprehensible when the water is for the bedroom decanter and the nursery.
Pipes.—Pipes for conveying water are generally of lead, because it is more easily bent than any other metal; but frequently iron pipes are substituted when the water main has to be brought from a great distance. Eassie remarks that the conveyance of some waters in long lengths of leaden pipe, in which the water must necessarily stand, and the use of leaden suction pipes in wells, is not a thing to be looked upon with great favour. Hence it is that galvanised iron pipes are used by some, and in the case of water conveyance from a long distance, the cast-iron pipes coated inside with Dr. Angus Smith’s solution, or subjected to the Bower-Barff system of protection against rust, are now very largely adopted. Glass-lined pipes of the American pattern have also been introduced into this country, but have not yet made much headway, which is a pity, seeing that glass forms the best of all conduits for water. Much depends upon whether the water is of such a character as to rapidly decompose lead.
Leaden pipes, of sufficient weight per lineal foot, may fitly conduct the flushing water for closets and the cold water to baths and lavatories; but what is called “lead-encased block-tin pipe” should be used in conveying water from the separate drinking-water cistern. The cost is some 50 per cent. more than for leaden pipe, and there is more difficulty in making the joints, but these points are overbalanced by the certainty of non-pollution of the water. Water pipes should be fixed in separate wall chases, easy of access. Service pipes should also be kept separate from each other, and provided with proper stop-cocks in case of accident.
Pumps.—It will not be out of place here to offer a few remarks on the construction, capacity, and working of the 3 kinds of common pump in everyday use—i.e. (1) the lift-pump; for wells not over 30 ft. deep, (2) the lift and force, for wells under 30 ft. deep, but forcing the water to the top of the house, and (3) the lift and force, for wells 30-300 ft. deep.
The working capacity of a pump is governed by the atmospheric pressure, which roughly averages 15 lb. per sq. in. It is also necessary to remember that 1 gal. of water weighs 10 lb. The quantity of water a pump will deliver per hour depends on the size of the working barrel, the number of strokes, and the length of the stroke. Thus, if the barrel is 4 in. diam., with a 10 in. stroke, piston working 30 times a minute, then the rule is—square the diameter of the barrel and multiply it by the length of stroke, the number of strokes per minute, and the number of minutes per hour, and divide by 353, thus:—