Bad Drains; and How to Test Them: With notes on the ventilation of sewers, drains, and sanitary fittings, and the origin and transmission of zymotic disease — John Shaqi
Bad Drains; and How to Test Them: With notes on the ventilation of sewers, drains, and sanitary fittings, and the origin and transmission of zymotic diseaseReeves, R. Harris
Science
Bad Drains; and How to Test Them: With notes on the ventilation of sewers, drains, and sanitary fittings, and the origin and transmission of zymotic disease
Reeves, R. Harris
Sewerage
The cleaning out of 60 cubic yards of sewage and the removal of the old
drains did not in the slightest degree diminish the nuisance inside the
building, consequently the 15-inch drain on the opposite side of the
building was stopped off at G and H, and in testing the detector was
placed at G. This length of drain being 140 feet contained 175–1098/1728
cubic feet of gas, and 4 gals. 4 pts. 8 ozs. of water thrown into the
trap H should have lifted the liquid to the usual height in the
detector. This and a similar quantity of water did not indicate any
compression, but the discoloration of the reagent in the detector was
much quicker than on the drain which was first tested.
The drain was then opened at I, dividing it into two sections, that from
G to I containing 93 cubic feet. Testing this by 2 gals. 3 pts. 6 ozs.
of water gave the exact rise in the detector, consequently the leaks and
bad gas must be in the section from I to H. This was tested by a fresh
reagent in the detector, when the speedy discoloration of the liquid
indicated that the source of the poison was very near.
By a few piercings of the ground at K, by the iron rod or searcher, the
drain was found, and by following the old drain the two cesspits and
additional drains shown in Plate 3 were discovered, and about 150 loads
of old putrid sewage had to be excavated and cleared away. The leaks
which prevented the rise of the liquid in the detector were in the crown
of the old sewage tank M, and the hot-water pipes of the heating
apparatus running in an air-shaft just over it, the heat extracted the
poisons from the sewage and distributed them into the ward.
The connections at K and N having been stopped up, the drain from I H
was again tested, when it gave 36 cubic feet more gas space than there
should have been in the drain. A few piercings of the soil at O led to
the excavating of those old drains which are shown attached, and these
being excavated and cleared away, and the connections to drains K, N,
and O being stopped, the drain was again tested from I to H, when
compression in the detector took place in comparison to the exact
quantity of gas that should be by measurement in the drain.
In describing the method of testing drains as shown on Plates 1, 2, and
3, nothing has been mentioned as to the level to which branch drains to
houses should be laid, or the method of testing them to ascertain their
fall.
The fall given to branch drains should not be less than 1 in 100, but 1
in 80 is far preferable, and if the drains are laid to this level, water
will flow easily through them, but should any part be laid out of a
level the water would lay in them and thus give a less quantity of gas.
Then when tested by compression to the capacity of the drain the lesser
quantity would denote the nature of the dip.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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