AIMS OF BUILDING DRAINAGE

1. To drain away the liquid waste produced as quickly as possible so as to avoid nuisance.
2. To prevent the entry of foul gases from the sewer line.
3. To provide facilities for the quick removal of foul matter such as human excreta from the
water closets.
4. To collect the sewage systematically for its further conveyance, treatment and disposal.
5. To provide healthy and aesthetic environment in the building.

REQUIREMENTS OF GOOD DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN BUILDINGS:

1. The drainage pipes should be strong and durable.

2. The pipes should be of non-absorbent materials.
3. The pipes and joints should be airtight to prevent the leakage of waste water or gases.
4. The network of pipes should have sufficient accessibility for inspection, cleaning and
removing the obstructions.
5. The levels of building, sewer and other points of outlet should be fixed accurately.
6. The system should not give scope for air locks or self or induced syphonage, deposits,
obstructions etc. which interfere with the functioning of drainage.
7. As per as possible drains should not pass under the buildings.
8. The drains should be given proper ventilation to avoid air locks and syphonage.
9. The system should have traps at all necessary points.
10. The foul matter should be quickly removed away from the sanitary fixtures so as to avoid
the putrefaction and production of bad smelling gases.
11. The drainage system should be able to prevent the entry of gases, vermin etc from the
sewer into the building.
12. The branch drains should be as short as possible
13. The drains should not pass near or under the trees to avoid the damage of pipes by the
roots

PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING AND DESIGN OF HOUSE DRAINAGE

For the proper design and construction of house drainage system the following general
principles are adopted.

1. It is advisable to lay sewers by the side of building rather than below the building.
2. The drains should be straight between the inspection chambers or manholes.
3. The entire system should be properly ventilated.
4. The house drain should connect to the public sewer only if the public sewer is deeper
than house drain otherwise reverse flow from public sewer to the house drain.
5. The house drain should contain enough number of traps at suitable points for efficient
functioning of it.
 6. The joints of sewers should be water tight.
7. The lateral sewers should be laid at proper gradient so that they develop self-cleaning
velocity.
8. The layout of house drainage system should permit easy cleaning and removal of
obstructions.
9. The material of sewer should not absorb the sewage and should be provided to protect
then from external loads by earth cushioning.
10. The possibilities of formation of air locks, siphonage, undue deposits etc should be
properly studied and adequate remedies should be accommodated in the design to
avoid them.
11. The rain water from houses is collected from roofs and conveys it to storm water drain
through catch basins or inlets.
12. The sewage formed should be conveyed as early as possible after its formation.
13. The size of lateral sewers should be such that they will not overflow at the time of
maximum discharge.

GENERAL LAYOUT OF SANITARY FITTINGS TO HOUSE DRAINAGE ARRANGEMENTS

The following should be kept in mind in planning the layout of drainage connections to the
various fittings.

1. The layout should be simple and direct (both horizontal and vertical).
2. Horizontal pipes should lay at designed slope.
3. Concrete pads should be provided to support the pipes laid on earth fill.
4. Long or short sweep quarter bends or two 45° or eight bends for making 90° turn should
be provided.
5. Only sanitary fees and quarter bends are used for a change of pipe from horizontal to
vertical
6. Manholes should be provided at all points of intersections and change of direction of
pipes
7. All soil pipes, waste pipes and ventilating pipes may be graped in shafts or ducts for
easy inspection and maintenance
8. A clear minimum distance of 5cm should be maintained from walls to all surface pipes.
9. The waste pipes should be separated from house drain by means of gully traps to
prevents entry of foul gases, vermin etc into the building.
10. Traps are required for every sanitary fixture and they should be as close to the fixture as
possible.

The typical layout of single storied building drainage system is shown below.
The following technical terms are used in the house drainage

1. Anti-siphonage pipe – The pipe used in the house drainage to preserve the water seal of
traps is known as the antisiphonage.
2. Cowl - The top of vent pipe provided with slits or narrow openings to escape.
3. fresh inlet – The last manhole which connects the house drain with the public sewer is
provided with an inlet of fresh air to dilutes the sewage gases.
4. Soil pipe – The pipe which carries discharges from soil fittings such as urinals, water
closets etc.
5. Ventpipe – The pipe installed for the purpose of ventlation is known as ventpipe through
which foul gases escape into atmosphere.
6. Waste pipe – The pipe which carries discharges from sanitary fittings such as
bathrooms, kitchens, sinks etc.

SANITARY FITTINGS:
The sanitary fittings are required in house drainage for the efficient collection and removal of
waste water from the house to house drain. The following are some of the sanitary fittings.

1. Traps.
2. Water closets.
 3. Flushing cisterns.
4. Urinals.
5. Inspection chambers.
6. Wash basins.
7. Sinks.
8. Bath tubs etc.

TRAPS -
A trap is a depressed or bent sanitary fitting which always remains full of water (water seal). The
function of a trap is to prevent the entry of bad smelling gases into the house. The effectiveness
depends upon the depth of water seal, which varies from 25 to 75mm

Requirements of good trap:

1. It should be capable of being easily cleaned.

2. It should be easily fixed with the drain.
3. It should be of simple construction.
4. It should possess self-cleansing property.
5. It should posses adequate water seal to fulfil the purpose of installation.
6. It should be free from any inside projection which are likely to obstruct the passage of
flow of sewage.
7. The internal and external surfaces should be of smooth finish.

TYPES OF TRAPS:

1. Classification according to shape as shown in figure below.

a. P-trap.
b. Q-trap.
c. S-trap.

2. Classification according to use.

  Floor trap – made of cast iron and placed in bathrooms, kitchens, sinks etc.
 Gully trap - made of stone wave and C.I. grating is provided. It is placed near the
external face of wall and kept slightly higher level than ground level.
 Intercepting trap – This trap has water seal of about 100mm and provided in the last
manhole of house drainage system. It thus conveys sewage from house to the public
sewer.

WATER CLOSETS:
The water closet is a sanitary fitting which is designed to receive human excreta directly from
the person using it. The room in which it is installed is also sometimes referred by the term
watercloset.
The water closets are of following two types
 1. Indian type water closet
2. European type water closet

INDIAN TYPE WATER CLOSET –

This is fixed in squatting or sitting position. The overall length of this varies from 450 to 675mm.
The width near the one end is 150mm and it is increased to 225 to 280mm near the other end.
The overall height is including the trap is about 400 to 500mm. It requires atleast 10 litres of
water for flushing. Hence its flushing rim is connected to a flushing cistern fixed above the water
closet. Two foot rests are fixed on either side of the closet. The Indian type is usually made of
porcelain. The details are as shown in figure.

EUROPEAN TYPE WATER CLOSET:

The below figure shows the details of a typical European type water closet. It is made of
porcelain and fixed above floor level. The pan has flushing rim, which is connected to the
flushing cistern. A cover is provided at its top. Overall lengths varies from 500 to 600mm and
height 350 to 400mm.
FLUSHING CISTERNS:
In order to flush the water closets and urinals the arrangement made is called flushing cistern.
These are made of cast-iron or porcelain with a capacity of 5 to 15 litres. It consists of a bell
connected to flushing chain through a lever. When the chain is pulled, the bell is lifted up and
the water in the tank rushes through the flushing pipe by syphonic action. The float valve now
allows the water from the inlet into the cistern and thus the cistern is ready for next flushing. The
details are as
shown in the figure.
URINALS
The arrangements provided to receive the urine. They are mainly two types.

1. Bowl type.
2. Stall or Slab type.

BOWL TYPE –
The bowl type has a lipped basin with a flushing rim fixed at a convenient height about 0.6m. It
is flushed through hand operated symphonic type flushing cistern
STALL OR SLAB TYPE – It comprises of a flat wall with slab with partitions on sides. It has a
floor channel to drain off the discharge through trapped outlet. The stall type urinal range may
be flushed by automatic flushing cistern with a capacity of 10 to 15 litres. The details are as
shown in figure below.
 Stall type Urinal with 3 units
INSPECTION CHAMBERS:
Inspection chamber is a masonry chamber similar to manhole to provide access for the
cleaning, inspection and repair of the drain. This chamber is provided with C.I. cover. The size
of this chamber depends on the depth and number of branch connections. The size may be
about 60 x 75cm and 90cm deep. They should be constructed at all junctions, bends and at
about 10m interval on straight runs of the drains.
ANTI-SYPHONAGE PIPE:
These pipes are provided to prevent syphonage action and consequent sucking of water seals.
Particularly if several lavatory blocks are situated on different storeys discharging in the same
soil pipe or waste pipe, the anti syphonage pipe has to be necessarily provided. Because, the
flushing in upper floors creates partial vaccum in the pipe at lower region, inducing syphonic
action and thus the water seals are sucked in the lower floors. Hence antisphonage pipe or vent
pipe is connected to all
traps, so that when the partial vaccum occurs due to flushing, it may be immediately broken by
suction if air from the vent pipe and seals of traps remain infact.
PLUMBING SYSTEMS:
There are three system of plumbing as shown in the below figure.
 Plumbing Systems of House Drainage
1. SINGLE STACK:
In this system, the waste water from bathroom, kitchen, wash basin, urinals etc and human
excreta from water closet is discharged through a single soil pipe and also this pipe acts as
ventilating pipe. The traps should have water seals at all times at least to a depth of 75mm.
ADVANTAGES:

1. Simplicity of layout, design and plumbing.

2. More economical.
3. Improved external appearance because of single pipe.
4. Compact plumbing.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. Water seals may be evaporated during dry weather.

2. Possibility of self or induced syphonage leads sucking of water seals.
3. Due to blockage or bad design, the waste water from drainage pipes may be forced up
through traps by back pressure.

2. ONE PIPE SYSTEM:

This is same as single stack system but in addition to this there is a separate vent pipe
connected to the fittings and the water seals are protected. This is costlier than single stack
system.

3. TWO PIPE SYSTEM: In this system, the soil pipe is connected to all water closets and
urinals and the other waste pipe is connected to bath, kitchen and wash basins etc. Both soil
pipe and vent pipes are separately ventilated by vent pipes. This system provides very effective
and trouble free drainage. But this is costly system.