The Home Medical Library Volume V Part 18

(3) The pan is often missing, gets out of order, and is liable to be soiled by adhering excreta.

(4) The container is large, excreta adhere to its upper parts, and the iron becomes corroded and coated with filth.

(5) With every pull of the handle and pan, foul air enters rooms.

(6) The junctions between the bowl and container, and the container and trap, are usually not gas-tight.

(7) The pan breaks the force of the water flush, and the trap is usually not completely emptied.

_Valve and Plunger Closets_ are an improvement upon the pan closets, but are not free from several objections enumerated above. As a rule, all water-closets with mechanical parts are objectionable.

_Hopper Closets_ are made of iron or earthenware. Iron hopper closets easily corrode; they are usually enameled on the inside. Earthenware hoppers are preferable to iron ones. Hopper closets are either long or short; when long, they expose a very large surface to be fouled, require a trap below the floor, and are, as a rule, very difficult to clean or to keep clean. Short hopper closets are preferable, as they are easily kept clean and are well flushed. When provided with flushing rim, and with a good water-supply cistern and large supply pipe, the short hopper closet is a good form of water-closet.

The washout and washdown water-closets are an improvement upon the hopper closets. They are manufactured from earthenware or porcelain, and are so shaped that they contain a water seal, obviating the necessity of a separate trap under the closet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 25.

LONG HOPPER WATER-CLOSET. (GERHARD.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.

SHORT HOPPER WATER-CLOSET. (GERHARD.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.

STYLES OF WATER-CLOSETS.]

_Flush Tanks._--Water-closets must not be flushed directly from the water-supply pipes, as there is a possibility of contaminating the water supply. Water-closets should be flushed from flush tanks, either of iron or of wood, metal lined; these cisterns should be placed not less than four feet above the water-closet, and provided with a straight flush pipe of at least one and one-quarter inch diameter.

The cistern is fitted with plug and handle, so that by pulling at the handle the plug is lifted out of the socket of the cistern and the contents permitted to rush through the pipe and flush the water-closet. A separate ball arrangement is made for closing the water supply when the cistern is full. The cistern must have a capacity of at least three to five gallons of water; the flush pipe must have a diameter of not less than one and one-quarter inch, and the pipe must be straight, without bends, and the arrangement within the closets such as to flush all parts of the bowl at the same time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 28.

FLUSHING CISTERN.]

=Yard Closets.=--In many old houses the water-closet accommodations are placed in the yard. There are two forms of these yard closets commonly used--the school sink and the yard hopper.

The _school sink_ is an iron trough from five to twelve or more feet long, and one to two feet wide and one foot deep, set in a trench several feet below the surface with an inclination toward the exit; on one end of the trough there is a socket fitted with a plug, and on the other a flushing apparatus consisting simply of a water service-pipe.

Above the iron trough brick walls are built up, inclosing it; over it are placed wooden seats, and surrounding the whole is a wooden shed with compartments for every seat. The excreta are allowed to fall into the trough, which is partly filled with water, and once a day, or as often as the caretaker chooses, the plug is pulled up and the excreta allowed to flow into the sewer with which the school sink is connected. These school sinks are, as a rule, a nuisance, and are dangerous to health. The objections to them are the following:

(1) The excreta lies exposed in the iron trough, and may decompose even in one day; and it is always offensive.

(2) The iron trough is easily corroded.

(3) The iron trough, being large, presents a large surface for adherence of excreta.

(4) The brickwork above the trough is not flushed when the school sink is emptied, and excreta, which usually adheres to it, decomposes, creating offensive odors.

(5) The junction of the iron trough with the brickwork, and the brickwork itself, is usually defective, or becomes defective, and allows foul water and sewage to pa.s.s into the yard, or into the wall adjacent to the school sink. By the Tenement House Law of New York, the use of school sinks is prohibited even in old buildings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 29.

SCHOOL SINK AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS' USE.

(J. SULLIVAN.)]

_Yard Hopper Closets._--Where the water-closet accommodations cannot, for some reason, be put within the house, yard hopper closets are commonly employed. These closets are simply long, iron-enameled hoppers, trapped, and connected with a drain pipe discharging into the house drain. These closets are flushed from cisterns, but, in such case, the cisterns must be protected from freezing; this is accomplished in some houses by putting the yard hopper near the house and placing the cistern within the house; however, this can hardly be done where several hoppers must be employed. In most cases, yard hoppers are flushed by automatic rod valves, so constructed as to flush the bowl of the hopper whenever the seat is pressed upon. These valves, as a rule, frequently get out of order and leak, and care must be taken to construct the vault under the hopper so that it be perfectly water-tight. An improved form of yard hopper has been suggested by Inspector J. Sullivan, of the New York Health Department, and used in a number of places with complete satisfaction. The improvement consists in the doors and walls of the privy apartment being of double thickness, lined with builders' lining on the inside, and the water service-pipes and cistern being protected by felt or mineral wool packing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 30.

J. SULLIVAN'S IMPROVED YARD HOPPER CLOSET.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 31.

A MODERN WATER-CLOSET.

(J. L. Mott Iron Works.)]

=Yard and Area Drains.=--The draining of the surface of the yard or other areas is done by tile or iron pipes connecting with the sewer or house drain in the cellar. The "bell" or the "lip" traps are to be condemned and should not be used for yard drains. The gully and trap should be made of one piece; the trap should be of the siphon type and should be deep enough in the ground to prevent the freezing of seal in winter.

FOOTNOTES:

[18] Waterproof paint or tiling should be used for this purpose.--EDITOR.

[19] Tiling, linoleum, concrete, etc., as opposed to wood or carpets.--EDITOR.

CHAPTER IX

=Defects in Plumbing=

The materials used in house plumbing are many and various, the parts are very numerous, the joints and connections are frequent, the position and location of pipes, etc., are often inaccessible and hidden, and the whole system quite complicated. Moreover, no part of the house construction is subjected to so many strains and uses, as well as abuses, as the plumbing of the house. Hence, in no part of house construction can there be as much bad work and "scamping" done as in the plumbing; and no part of the house is liable to have so many defects in construction, maintenance, and condition as the plumbing.

At the same time, the plumbing of a house is of very great importance and influence on the health of the tenants, for defective materials, bad workmanship, and improper condition of the plumbing of a house may endanger the lives of its inhabitants by causing various diseases.

=Defects in Plumbing.=--The defects usually found in plumbing are so many that they cannot all be enumerated here. Among the princ.i.p.al and most common defects, however, are the following:

_Materials._--Light-weight iron pipes; these crack easily and cannot stand the strain of calking. Sand-holes made during casting; these cannot always be detected, especially when the pipes are tar-coated.

Thin lead pipe; not heavy enough to withstand the bending and drawing it is subjected to.

_Location and Position._--Pipes may be located within the walls and built in, in which case they are inaccessible, and may be defective without anyone being able to discover the defects. Pipes may be laid with a wrong or an insufficient fall, thus leaving them unflushed, or r.e.t.a.r.ding the proper velocity of the flow in the pipes. Pipes may be put underground and have no support underneath, when some parts or lengths may sink, get out of joint, and the sewage run into the ground instead of through the pipes. The pipes may be so located as to require sharp bends and curves, which will r.e.t.a.r.d the flow in them.

_Joints._--Joints in pipes may be defective, leaking, and not gas-tight because of imperfect calking, insufficient lead having been used; or, no oak.u.m having been used and the lead running into the lumen of the pipe; or, not sufficient care and time being taken for the work. Joints may be defective because of iron ferrules being used instead of bra.s.s ferrules; through improperly wiped joints; through bad workmanship, bad material, or ignorance of the plumber. Plumbers often use T branches instead of Y branches; sharp bends instead of bends of forty-five degrees or more; slip joints instead of lead-calked ones; also, they often connect a pipe of larger diameter with a pipe of small diameter, etc.

_Traps._--The traps may be bad in principle and in construction; they may be badly situated or connected, or they may be easily unsealed, frequently obstructed, inaccessible, foul, etc.