Any Plumbers among you?

[lsemmens]

I've got to replace the outside drain in my home but cannot find anything remotely connected to this. My problem is that the line to my septic is all clay and the clay/concrete outside sink leaks badly and must be replaced. FWIW most houses built in the last 50 odd years and some had an outside sink at ground level under a tap. What is this called? I've been trolling Google for something like it and have not found a thing, I've searched on concrete sink/drain, outside sink/drain, DWV Trap and many other variants and cannot, for the life of me, determine what they are. If I choose to replace the clay (many fittings are cracked, so I guess underground is the same) with DWV, what fittings are needed to provide a replacement sink.

[fandtm666]

I have read your post a few times and still cant make heads or tails of what
you are talking about.

Post a few pictures and this will let me work out what your talking about]and what you need to do

[lsemmens]

We have a concrete sink on the ground just outside our laundry door, with a tap above it connected to the base of it is a 100mm S trap and a 100mm pipe with 80mm side entry for waste from the laundry. It is the sink that I am trying to source.
Sorry about he confusion, I was being distracted when I wrote the first one. If I choose the replace the whole lot, is there a modern equivalent?

[mtv]

They were commonly called a trough or a gully trap.

[lsemmens]

Tried all those, a trough, was/is generally used in a laundry or in the paddock water the animals. A gully trap was my first thought but google did not return anything close when I searched on that. A gully trap is really only an S bend or P bend in a pipe.

[hoe]

its a gully trap, i used to have clean ours out when i was a kid.....

[mtv]

..... A gully trap was my first thought but google did not return anything close when I searched on that. A gully trap is really only an S bend or P bend in a pipe.

Yes it is, but there's a lot of variations.

I recall having one at an old place I lived in some years ago, that sounds just like what you're describing.

It was a tap over a concrete 'bowl' shaped drain about 150mm high and approx 40cm diameter with a metal grate over the drain.

Can't find a pic of one the same, but the principle is the same with different shaped above ground concrete surrounds.

Some only have pipes running into them, some can have a tap above them.

Don't know if this document helps any.



BTW, I'm not a plumber.

[lsemmens]

Thank you both, I'm glad I'm not going mad, your description, MTV, of the one at your old place sounds correct. Does anyone know where I might find a suitable replacement? As you've probably already discovered, Google does not return anything remotely like what I am after. Bunnings online don't show anything and my nearest one is about 80Ks away.

[fandtm666]

the drain outside is called an overflow relief gully

The concrete tub above it some single tub some double tub is called
just that a concrete laundry tub.

If its the tub that is leaking badly then you can just replace with another stainless
laundry tub there or fix and old kitchen sink there.


Does the tub look like on in the link below ?? if so they are not made any more
well not for the last 20 yrs or so.

[lsemmens]

This is a sketchup image of what I need, thanks for your effort diavalo. An overflow relief gully is just a vent that is placed just above ground level so that storm water cannot access it, am I not correct?

[beer4life]

I've got to replace the outside drain in my home but cannot find anything remotely connected to this. My problem is that the line to my septic is all clay and the clay/concrete outside sink leaks badly and must be replaced. FWIW most houses built in the last 50 odd years and some had an outside sink at ground level under a tap. What is this called? I've been trolling Google for something like it and have not found a thing, I've searched on concrete sink/drain, outside sink/drain, DWV Trap and many other variants and cannot, for the life of me, determine what they are. If I choose to replace the clay (many fittings are cracked, so I guess underground is the same) with DWV, what fittings are needed to provide a replacement sink.

Simply put, a grease trap is a receptacle that kitchen wastewater flows through before entering the sanitary sewer lines. This receptacle captures, or "traps" grease. How? Grease, the industry term for animal fats and vegetable oils, (FOG's) is 10 to 15% less dense, or lighter than water. Grease is also immiscible with water, which is to say it does not mix with water. Thus, grease and oils float on water. When kitchen wastewater flows through a grease trap, the grease and oils rise to the surface and are trapped inside the receptacle using a system of baffles. The captured grease and oils fill the trap from the top down, displacing "clean" water out of the bottom of the trap and into the sanitary sewer line. This is why you see a grease "mat" when observing a grease trap. When a significant layer of grease has accumulated, the trap must be cleaned out.

Baffles are arranged alternately high and low to trap grease at the top and heavier sludge on the bottom.

This is but one of the modern versions. Very much larger units mandatory for Restaurant and Commercial areas.
Largely obsolete in domestic homes with the overuse of detergents.

Separator function based on EN 1825

(1) Inlet, (2) Ventilation pipe, (3) Refill equipment, (4) Separation chamber (5) Inspection window, (6) Outlet, (7) Sampling chamber
The KESSEL Euro separator based on Euro-Norm EN 1825 (as seen in the illustration above) consists of a grease separation chamber with an integrated sludge trap located at the bottom. Following the separator is a sampling chamber.
Wastewater containing oils and grease is guided into the separator by a pacifying pipe which allows the wastewater to be slowly and evenly distributed into the separator preventing fast flowing wastewater from disturbing the separation process inside the chamber. The separation of the light material (grease and fats) and the heavier material (sludge) from the wastewater is all accomplished by the force of gravity. Heavily emulsified greases and oils may not be completely separable with the gravity method.
What can enter the separator ?
Only wastewater containing organic greases and oils, which are required to be separated from the water, should be allowed into the separator. Under no circumstances should sewage, rainwater or wastewater containing mineral oils (hydrocarbon based) be allowed to enter the separator.
Examples of what should be connected to a separator: floor drains with odor traps, drainage channels, sinks, dishwashing machines and cooking vats.
Sludge separation chamber
The sludge separator serves to collect sludge / sediment which sinks to the bottom of the chamber due to its density being greater than that of the density of water.
Grease separation chamber
In the grease separation chamber, organic greases and oils (being less dense than water) separate from the wastewater and rise to the surface of the chamber. As more wastewater enters the chamber, the layer of separated greases and oils builds from the top down until the grease separation chamber is full and the entire chamber is emptied.

[weirdo]

This is a sketchup image of what I need, thanks for your effort diavalo. An overflow relief gully is just a vent that is placed just above ground level so that storm water cannot access it, am I not correct?

Yes but more as the name suggests, if somehow the pipe is blocked it will allow to overflow through the org rather than come up through your internal floor wastes.
This is why org's are installed lower than your floor wastes but higher than the surrounding slab/ground

[fandtm666]

HMMMM ok so what i can make out from that picture is that you are actually after the
top surround for the overflow gully ??? if that is the case you will not find an earthenware one.

but a simple fix and what we always did was make a box up around the gully and place a piece of
pipe in the gully itself and then make a concrete surround for it.Then once the concrete is cured
pull the pipe out .

You can actually buy them already done and they have 300mm of plastic pipe with the gully top
and grate on and concreted then just slip it into the existing gully and trim the pipe to a length to suit
the depth of the original gully

[gordon_s1942]

If you haven't already, I would make discrete inquiries regarding what you can and cant do with your plumbing as it could be an expensive experience if the local council finds you have done something you shouldn't.
Today with all these EPA and Clean Water acts in place and the fines and penalties involved for breaching them, just be careful.

In a recent Council newsletter, a comment was made of running all 'Grey' (shower/bath/washing machine/kitchen sink) water through a Septic tank which surprised me as I though only 'Black' (toilet) went into to the septic, the other still goes into the absorption trench.

[toyboy11]

From the sounds of it your existing piping would be the old earthenware type and these days that doesn't exist but you can do away with the old Gully Trap and replace the parts with 100mm PVC piping(P Trap etc) and you can get PVC adapters to fit the old with the new.

Seriously you would be far better of getting a Licenced Plumber to do the job for you, that way you will be safe with the Laws and also get the job done by a professional. Anyway have a look at these.

[toyboy11]

In a recent Council newsletter, a comment was made of running all 'Grey' (shower/bath/washing machine/kitchen sink) water through a Septic tank which surprised me as I though only 'Black' (toilet) went into to the septic, the other still goes into the absorption trench.

All waste runs into the septic tank and as for the solids the septic tank is a sealed concrete liner with a cement base and is fitted with baffles that hold back the bad boys and lets the water flow over into a T piece outlet at a lower level then onto either Soak Wells or a Leach Drain.

[mtv]

This is a sketchup image of what I need....

That's exactly what the one at my old place looked like.

[jaap]

been out of the game for 15 years,but they were called a gully basin.
have not seen these made for the last 30 years,these days they usually install a popup grate,
if you still want a gully basin you will have to manufacture something yourself eg concrete.
jaap

[gordon_s1942]

All waste runs into the septic tank and as for the solids the septic tank is a sealed concrete liner with a cement base and is fitted with baffles that hold back the bad boys and lets the water flow over into a T piece outlet at a lower level then onto either Soak Wells or a Leach Drain.

Locally here the tanks is made of plastic with a domed lid, no concrete now with a partition to hold the solids back and allow liquid to flow to an absorbence trench unless its one of the later 'Enviro' tanks which you have to have inspected (at your cost) at least every 3 months but I have seen one house with a double trench, one was the liquid from the 2 toilets via the single septic tank, the other trench took the Grey water direct from the Bath/shower/sinks.
The reason I was surprised by the report was because it was my understanding that septic tanks don't like excess water and certainly not any chemicals (bleaches/Ammonias/chlorines) that may be detrimental to the bacteria that breaks down the solids in the main tank.
Council was very displeased with a local plumber who connected the roof gutter downpipes to the Town sewer system as he thought that due to a long extremely gradual slope of the sewer line, the rain water would assist the flow but Council said that was a Big NO-NO.

[WhiteOx]

a simple fix and what we always did was make a box up around the gully and place a piece of
pipe in the gully itself and then make a concrete surround for it.Then once the concrete is cured
pull the pipe out .

Something like this...



It's called a 'gully trap' or 'disconnector trap'.