In this article, we will discuss five common problems with sewage and water installation and how to avoid them.
Sewage comes back through a kitchen sink
Most common cause:
Did not install a grease box at the sink drain. It is likely that grease from the dishwasher, and cleaning dishes and pots must have clogged the pipe and the dirty water is coming back! Argh!
It can also be:
Your house may have a grease box, but if you don’t do periodic maintenance of it and clean the grease it accumulates, water can’t move forward through the pipe and returns to where it came from.
Or, worse: if in your house people throw leftover food in the sink, this food sticks to the walls of the drain water pipe because of fat. This, in turn, decreases flow of water or clogs the siphon.
How it can be avoided:
Each kitchen sink needs to have a grease box. All water drain pipes must have adequate diameters and minimum inclinations, so that the water drain has sufficient speed and food particles do not stick to the walls of the pipes.
If you already have a grease box, it needs to be cleaned every six months. Remove accumulated fat and crust, and recycle it as organic waste (no use throwing it in the toilet!)
Never throw food leftovers into the sink! Dispose of the food leftovers to the garbage can or organic waste recycling bin before washing the dishes.
Overflowing sewage in the backyard
Most common cause:
Both sewer and rainwater drains are connected and use the same pipe.
It can also be:
The exit of the last inspection box may be at a lower level than the main drain level and the sewer may not be able to find its way to the main drain system. It can also be the lack of maintenance: everything is clogged!
How it can be avoided:
You should never mix the sewage system with the rainwater drain system. You should have made different connections! Always place the last inspection box above the height (level) of the collecting system.
If it is not possible, you have to pump sewage into the public grid, but this is a more expensive solution! And you should have sized all installations well before doing them. An ideal solution is to put an inspection box on each branch of the pipe and have at least one inspection box every 25 meters.
And finally, it is very important to maintain the sewage network and clean the inspection box every 6 months.
Read also: How to clean clogged sewage? and be your own plumber – in this article. And, How to calculate materials for a renovation project? – in this article.
Wrong sink bowl, so that dishes and pots do not fit
Most common cause:
The water nozzle is too low or the wall nozzle is installed too low in relation to the bowl. This makes it difficult to wash larger pans or dishes.
It can also be:
The bowl is too shallow or narrow.
How it can be avoided:
Before deciding which bowl to buy, you would need to know if the bowl is to be installed on the wall or over the countertop and know how deep the bowl needs to be.
The distance between the water nozzle and the bowl sink top should be about 30 cm. If this distance is much more, it will lead to water splashing from the bowl.
You should also see where the jet of water falls. The jet should go directly into the drain or be about 4 cm behind the drain to avoid splashing.
Wrong sink bowl again – water splashes over or you can’t even wash your hands
Most common cause:
Your choice was not correct, unfortunately. Water jet should point in the direction of the drain and be high enough, so that you can put your hands below it.
If the nozzle from which water comes out is low, your hands will not fit well under the water jet and it will be difficult to use such a setup. If the nozzle is too close to the sides of the sink bowl, water splashes out of the sink, which is not the best solution either.
It can also be:
That you have chosen the faucet and the sink bowl well, but the countertop may have been cut in the wrong place or the water source pipe was too far away, too high or too low.
How it can be avoided:
You should choose a faucet and a sink bowl at the same time, paying attention to whether the tap water jet flow is more central and it falls near the drain, and whether there is enough space in the water jet, so that it will be comfortable to use.
If you chose one of the pieces before, for example a sink bowl, you should have chosen the other one (in this case, a faucet) taking into account that water should fall near the drain. If a faucet is installed on the wall, this distance needs to be carefully considered.
And if it is a faucet installed on the countertop, make sure that the supplier of the countertop (marble shop or other service) makes the cut for the bowl, taking into account the desired position and all distances, so that water falls where it needs to fall – near the drain.
Water is stuck in the corner and doesn’t go through the drain
Most common cause:
The shower floor was installed without any inclination or with a wrong slope to the wrong side. Then water doesn’t go down the drain and gets stuck in one of the corners.
It can also be:
It may also be that the piping under the drain is too narrow to take through all water that needs to come through the drain, or that plumbing does not have sufficient inclination for the water to go down.
How it can be avoided:
There are two issues to take care of:
- The entire floor of the shower room needs to be slightly sloping – between 0.5 and 2 cm, and decline towards the drain.
- Water piping should be well sized to cope with the volume of water that is required to drain through. It also needs to descend for water to go out easily. A qualified plumber will know how to diagnose the problem and fix it.
Read also: Why hire an architect for a renovation project? How much does it cost? – in this article. And, How not to waste time and resources on a renovation project? – in this article.
