Drains

[nomad97]

Just another day in the Land of Smiles or, maybe, what do retirees get up to in retirement.

I had a lovely couple of days (not) trying to unblock the drain from the bathroom. The shower and the hand basin both use the same outlet pipe which passes under the wall/foundations of the house to the main drain outside. They had become blocked again, and not for the first time, on Thursday evening. I discovered the blockage at 22.00, just before going to bed for a few hours shut eye before the Liverpool - Dortmund game. When I found out that SWMBO knew about the blockage a couple of hours earlier my usual laid back demeanour suffered from a loss of humour failure. "WTF didn't you tell me earlier?" was the spoken outburst from my lips. Two hours later and the drain was still blocked, and now there was only time for only a couple of hours shut eye before the big game. And what a game that was.

Next morning, I tried a few more tricks of the trade to unblock the outlet pipe, all to no avail. "Sorry darling," I said, "we need some muscle from the village to dig down to the drains outside the house." "No chance," was the reply from SWMBO, "its still Songkram." So 'Joe Muggins' got the job of breaking through the concrete and digging an exploratory trench to find out what and where were the drainage pipes. Actually I struck lucky and my first hole proved to be right over the outlet pipe coming under the foundations. What I found is similar to the drawing below.

 

[nomad97]

Part 2.

The purple arrows show the direction of the 5 meter 'worm assembly' passing up and down the pipes. Coming from the outside manhole the worm went straight past the connecting pipe from the bathroom. Coming from the bathroom outlet the worm went straight past the connecting pipe and finsihed up in the wash basin. No way to attack the blockage. By this time I had just about resigned myself to the task of ripping up the bathroom floor to re do the plumbing. Time to call in the experts. There is, for your information, a father and son team based in Buriram who cover the Buriram/Surin area. They charge 1,200 Baht for a call out and guarantee to unblock your drain or there is no fee. They were called 16.00 Sunday afternoon and were around to the house before 18.00. Two hours later they too had exhausted all their tricks of the trade and the blockage was still there - absolutely water tight. Then they went to my new pit outside the bathroom, expanded my hole just a little and had a Eureka moment by declaring I had indeed dug in the right spot. They exposed the connecting pipe from the bathroom and cut into the pipe to make an inspection hatch. When they pulled back the cover the pipe was absolutely jammed packed solid with soap. It transpires that not only was the plumbing totally inaccessable to the worms but it was also 10 cm lower than the outlet into the main drain. A perfect trap to collect all the crud from the shower over the past 3 and a half years.

Once they had exposed the pipe the worm was inserted into the connecting pipe which was very quickly unclogged. Water flows nicely and the bathroom is back in use again. I really enjoyed the banter with the father and son, and a couple of beers after they finished their work. They left at 21.00 with a few extra bottles of beer Leo to consume when they got home. Seriously, if you have a problem with your drains these guys will sort it for 1,200 Baht or there is no fee. My next job is to do some further work on the drains and make a new manhole/inspection pit over and around the connecting pipe. Then future blockages will be much easier to unblock. So much fun being a retiree with nothing to do all day long.

 

[nomad97]

I have just spent another 24 hours enlarging the original test hole to expose the bones of the hidden Dinosaur below. Like being on an archeological dig as I have to scape away the sub-soil small garden trowel by garden trowel to avoid damage to the pipe work below. I quickly discovered that the sub-soil was very damp, as in something, somewhere is leaking water into the soil and obviously has been for a very long time. In some respect it has made digging easier becaue I would not have relished trying to dig the rock hard clay that the house usually sits on. I finished my mornings efforts and took a shower and used the WC. I returned to 'The Pit' and took the photo below. Ah, ah! Water was now visible in one area of the exposed pipes - I'm pretty sure that its coming from somewhere near the 'T' junction joining the main WC outlet with the secondary WC outlet from the back bathroom. More digging required to fix that problem too. Isn't it fun being retired? Unfortunately, I do not trust too many of the local hire around here, reword that, I don't trust any of the local hire around here, to do the job so I will have to continue the work myself. Unfortunately, I am limited to a couple of hours a day due to the exceptionally high ambient temperatures and the difficult working position (for me anyway). Progress to date:

 

[Rice]

I wouldn't bother with my brother in law across the road either NM for that matter.

 

[nomad97]

I wouldn't bother with my brother in law across the road either NM for that matter.

Yes, unfortunately I have found that out myself. I wanted him for a small job last year and, despite my wife contacting him several times, he failed to show. Did the job myself. That was before we knew he was your brother in law. I have found that very few of the locals find it worth their while to do small jobs - the father and son plumbing team from Buriram was an exception to the rule, as is my air con engineer.

 

[Night Stroker]

Remember the old adage... "If you want something done properly, do it yourself."
Besides after working in the heat you have an excellent excuse to indulge yourself in a couple of coldies.

 

[Coffee]

Excellent OP and continued tale of woe Nomad.
I surmise the bottom line resulting from your "WTF didn't you tell me earlier" response to your SWMBO is that you got to enjoy the football game and slept soundly afterwards on the couch (alone of course).
Speaking your mind firmly definitely has its benefits , eh.

 

[nomad97]

Remember the old adage... "If you want something done properly, do it yourself."
Besides after working in the heat you have an excellent excuse to indulge yourself in a couple of coldies.

I have been off the beer for the past year or so. However, I will confess to having a few 'coldies' in the house since the drainage troubles began. I reckon I owe it to myself to replenish the lost body fluids and relax after a hard day's work down the Pit. I am beginning to understand how coal miners feel after their shift down the mine.

 

[Coffee]

I have been off the beer for the past year or so. However, I will confess to having a few 'coldies' in the house since the drainage troubles began. I reckon I owe it to myself to replenish the lost body fluids and relax after a hard day's work down the Pit. I am beginning to understand how coal miners feel after their shift down the mine.

One really shouldn't write about one's love life on this forum.

 

[Yorky]

.... the father and son plumbing team from Buriram was an exception to the rule, as is my air con engineer.

You may even have the same aircon engineer/electrician as I. Does a good job at a reasonable price.

There were three of them round yesterday for about 2 hours. Serviced the aircon and replaced a motor and fan (including going to get the parts) and also cleaned out the dead animals and leaves from the water pump. Total, all in price = Bht 1,000.00.

 

[nomad97]

You may even have the same aircon engineer/electrician as I. Does a good job at a reasonable price.

There were three of them round yesterday for about 2 hours. Serviced the aircon and replaced a motor and fan (including going to get the parts) and also cleaned out the dead animals and leaves from the water pump. Total, all in price = Bht 1,000.00.

Could be the same guy - ain't too many like him around. Usually 400 Baht/service + and extra gas as required.

 

[Yorky]

He also told us yesterday that to fit a completely new aircon, he charges Bht 2,500.00, which I would imagine will be less if the new one is replacing an old one. I don't know if this is the going rate because the fitting of my original unit was included in the price.

 

[Yorky]

What I found is similar to the drawing below.

As I said on Friday, I was in attendance when my house drains were laid. I attempted to keep everything as simple as possible and prepared a diagrammatic of the final layout. I appreciate that that is no good to you now!

http://freebeerforyorky.com/public_html/displayimage.php?pid=1213&fullsize=1

 

[nomad97]

The house was already built when we moved in a couple of years ago. As the father and son drainage engineers from Buriram said, and I quote, "The drains must have been put in by Cambodian workers. They are quite useless." Whether he was referring to the Cambodian workers or the drains is anyone's guess. Started work down the pit at 0600 this morning.



The first job was a leap of faith and a point of no return - amputate all the drain pipes. Cut out the blocked pipes and prepare for new.



It was tighter than I thought it was going to be. The smaller water pipe restricted the height of where the new pipes could go and the main drainage pipe from the WC set the bottom level (no pun intended.) With the exception of the join onto the bathroom outlet pipe there was no room to bend the other 2 pipe ends to fit one sleeve onto another. I had to improvise and cut the sleeve back so that the joining pipe could sit on top of the sleeve. Then, with the use of some extra strength silicone sticky gung, liberally smeared around and inside the joints, and the cut off piece of the sleeve placed back on top also with silicone gung, I managed to complete the seal with jubilee clips. I'm not particularly proud of the workmanship but, under the difficult circumstances in which I was working, I think it accomplished what was necessary. The pipes are joined together and they do not leak any water. Furthermore, I now have an access point very close to the main problem area that will allow the steel worm to go down the tube towards the outlet pipe to clear blockages. Finally, I can pour drain cleaner through this access point to work at the root of the problem.

 

[nomad97]

Conclusion. Unlike Yorky's well planned drainage system I have inherited a right bugger's muddle. They were installed by highly unqualified Cambodian trades men and women and I know that for a fact. I met them as they were finishing off the concreting around the house just prior to moving in. And that concreting is, I hate to say, a load of rubbish too. I am quite sure there will be problems with the drains in the future and the jury rig that I have made will only buy some time. To solve the problem I really need to put in new drains. That would involve a major dig along the side of the house to rip out the existing pipes and start again from scratch. Unfortunately, I am not feeling up to that at the moment, especially in this heat.