Spons' Household Manual / A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management

by Unknown

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.

22. Disconnecting Chamber.

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.