outside toilet and sink (rainwater fed)

JamesB · outside toilet and sink (rainwater fed)

was very pleased on saturday to finally commission the outside toilet and sink we had got from freecyle sveral years ago. It was lying in our field for years and is now installed in the side room of our carport.

Most of the other stuff needed was free as well eg left over aquapanel, timber and plumbing fittings. The only thing we bought was the storage tank and downpipe connector (as used on to connect a water butt).

Surprisingly, the sink tap and cistern all worked fine even after lying in a field for years.

However, the only problem is that the toilet itself doesn't empty properly. The water level remains quite high (even when left for hours), we've tried a bucket and no different so its not the cistern. The only way to get the level down is to use a hose (it then empties as one would expect).

The only thing I can think of is that that there must be a blockage in the toilet (probably grass from lying in the field) but this doesn't explain why the level doesn't drop over time.

Anyone got any ideas?

James

wildgarlic

how is it connected to the waste water - is there a vent pipe? I'm guessing that you know far more about this than I do anyway but no harm in a suggestion is there

IainC

Would have thought that t5he water level in your toilet bowl is determined by the outflow part (hence the U bend on the pipe). It will also be determined by the water level beyond that (ie if the pipe is blocked then it will allow it to backup obviously).

The depth of water in the bowl should have little/nothing to do with the cistern (although you could chuck a brick or two in there so you are using less water to flush which might help a little).

Fia

Not that I know owt about plumbing either, but like to be helpful

So I wonder if raising the toilet (make a throne

) would encourage gravity to assist?

Smooth Hound

where does it go, the waste that is

JamesB

the outlet is horizontal on the back of the toilet which is then connected to a vertical 100mm pipe in the ground by a flexible connector (just a right angle). The pipe is then directly connected to a underground manifold which all the pipes from the house connect to.

The manifold is fine, no blockages there.

I dont know much about the toilet since it was freecycled, it could be a fancy double siphon type (possibly if that siphon connector was blocked could it cause this problem?).

There is no vent pipe on this toilet but the entire system has a vent pipe to the roof as per normal practise..

What I find strange is that if a hose is used then the toilet clears as normal and the water level drops to the correct level but a bucket of water doesn't have the same effect. As far as I am concerned all toilets work off gravity from the cistern so why should this make a difference?

thanks for the suggestions so far!

James

Smooth Hound

i would have thought it would need its own breather, not sure though, i was wondering if the new toilet is lower than the one in the house,
im fairly sure that the cistern has no bearing on your problem

JamesB

it is true it is lower than the house toilet etc (but higher than the manifold obviously).

the vent pipe is there to allow gas to escape from the septic tank (rather than bubbling up through the toilet) so Im not sure how that would help in this case

I did wonder about an air admittance valve but I think it does the same as a vent stack.

James

Smooth Hound

not sure about the breather, im just wondering whether if you hadd 2 toilets in a house and they werent sharing the same outlet, lets say one toilet was on one side of the house and the other the other side, would they each have a breather on each one, my guess would be yes, but as i only have one toilet, i cant confirm that