drain testing

[lutontown1966]

Does anyone know,how long you need to test on drain(when manhole bunged,and full of water up to traps and top of wc with no drop)5 mins,10 mins,20 mins?Cant find anywhere in building regs!Cheers

 

[shorticus]

Page 12 doc H specifies a 38mm air test for three minutes.
I've got to ask though, why are you filling the pipework up with water?

 

[lutontown1966]

stacks are on blocks of apartments and cant get to soil vents,some dergo'ed,majority are not,any mention on times of water test in document?

 

[shorticus]

sorry lutontown i've done a ton of stack testing on apartments, hotels, very tall office blocks as well as the domestic sector and I've NEVER heard of filling with water, not unless you count when some dumbass painter could'nt read the 'do not use sign' on the wc the floor above lol

Seriously though, where are you getting this method from, who is asking you to do it?

Also, Dergo's are not reliable enough for testing, you have to remove them and replace with a bung/bag, the DS/inspector will be happy with this.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

there is another thread on here concerning water testing of main stack with water and the consequences when the water comes out and through the ceiling. should only be tested with air at any time

 

[shorticus]

thanks steve, thought I was going mad there for a moment!

 

[lutontown1966]

shorticus your not as experienced as you think are you then!!how do you air test when all suites are in, tiled and pipework unaccessible?

 

[Tong]

as Shorticus states soil stacks usually tested with air pressure at 38mm water gauge and must hold for 3 mins ... if you have 50mm trap seals as per regs then traps should not blow.. if you fill up the stack with water you are liable to do some damage which may or may not be visible at the time. You can acces at the top of the stack presumably .. take of the AAV and put your bung there and connct the air pump/manometer.

 

[justlead1]

Water testing of drains is a method, but takes a fair time to do as the joints absorb the water, as such time has to be allowed for this before the test takes place. Once ready to test it has to stand for 1/2 hour with out dropping. Also make sure you attach a bit of string on the drain plug at lowest manhole, as its not unusual for them to push out and down the drain. As for access to soil and vent, this can be a major problem if the system is not air tested at the right stages. And can result in many days of exposing pipes and coating with soapy water to identify leaks. Calling a mans experiance in question is not the right way to getting help in my opinion. Good Luck

 

[shorticus]

@lutontown1966, not quite sure how I've managed to offend you but I can't apologise enough if I have, I've simply never come across this procedure before.

All the commercial/high-rise residential stack testing I've been involved with thus far has been on ensign or timesaver, the lower hieght domestic stuff has always been osma or terrain and non of the aforementioned is designed to take much over 3bar, of course PAM integral and Titan are capable of pressures in excess of 500Kpa as is the ensign HP range, how high are you going?