Kitchen fitter plumbing problems pictures attached.

[Ben Slade]

Hi all, I am a plumber in training and went to view my mates new kitchen so naturally i wanted to see the pipe work job. The work done was by a kitchen fitter, i spotted what i think are mistakes and just wanted to confirm with you more experienced lads if they are genuine issues and what the repercussions will be if left and how to fix if possible.

The waste pipes for the dual sink the dishwasher and washing machine all discharge into the rain water gulley outside and the waste pipe looks too small a diameter for this many appliances. The house was built 2005 and has a separate waste water systems it should discharge into the soil stack however he messed up the kitchen dimensions and left no room to run any waste pipes properly so it comes straight out of the house into the rainwater waste.

The fall on the waste pipe does not look correct the blue hose is washing machine waste the grey one on the right is dishwasher.

The picture with the wheel barrow was taken because the foul waste and rainwater waste pipes run from the corner of the house underneath the barrow to the circular stones that's where the man hole covers live. Would there be a possibility of tapping into the foul waste and discharging the grey water this way.

He is having his house valued for remortgage in two weeks I'm wondering if this will effect the valuation.

Cheers lads!

 

[Riley]

Firstly I would be staggered if remortgaging people would even see past the glossy new kitchen so I wouldn’t lose any sleep there.
* external waste should go to foul water. It could be they have combined sewers but it’s still not right.
* I’d have at least two clips on the run too ( but that just me)
* should be minimum 1.5” waste pipe
* you could conceivably do a new feed to the sewer under the stones but it’s going to need the correct underground pipework
*under the sink; pipework running uphill, trap supported by little block of wood(?), at least WM & DW are pointing down.
It’s a typical kitchen fitter install to be fair. If the boilers/gas meter is in the kitchen too it’s probably been boxed in and made inaccessible from a safety perspective.

 

[Rob876]

Yes that left down pipe under sink could be cut a little shorter to increase the angle of flow.
Are the majority of waste systems built these days separate foul and rainwater?

 

[Riley]

Depends where in the country you are I think mate

 

[ShaunCorbs]

The big hole in the wall would be more of an issue than the plumbing

 

[Aire]

Why run white waste pipe when you have black down pipes, looks an eyesore . If your sure it has a separate waste water system then it needs sorting. Bleach and other chemicals go down the kitchen sink so so for obvious reasons you don't want that going to a soakaway. Horizontal pipe before the trap looks to be falling away from the trap which will block up fairly quick and the pipe coming from the trap also looks to be going uphill. Pipe outside isn't adequately supported and there should be a double check valves feeding the washing machine and dishwasher.

 

[Ben Slade]

Thanks all, is there a proper way to route the waste flexi hoses from the appliances or does it not matter?

 

[Riley]

They’re as good as they can be really.

 

[Scott_D]

Looks pretty good for a kitchen fitters plumbing
Not used 200 speed fit fittings or folded the tap flexis in half

 

[Riley]

Go on get a pic in the boiler cupboard

 

[Steve weightman]

I'm surprised there is'ant an internal 4" waste with adaptor as the sink looks like it's always been there and not one outside

 

[Riley]

I think it’s in the boxing by the boiler but he messed up and didn’t leave room for the pipes

 

[Chuck]

under the sink; pipework running uphill, trap supported by little block of wood(?), at least WM & DW are pointing down.

But they're discharging into untrapped pipework, one into a section that looks horizontal. After a couple of months that's going to be a right little hydrogen sulphide factory...

I see hoses and electrical cables tied together with what appears to be a lot of insulating tape. IMO, insulating tape should only be used as a temporary measure during work and it all needs to be replaced by something more durable by completion.

I wonder what the story behind the outside wall and that strange missing square of bricks? Did it used to be a doorway and the brickie thought they'd still want the cat flap? I'm pretty sure that a surveyor will coment on that and want it fixing.

 

[Riley]

I think it remains though. It’s a typical kitchen fitter plumbing job. I’m in no way saying its acceptable but what can they do?i suspect they’ll do nothing because they like how the kitchen looks. My suspicions would’ve been first aroused oncethe fitter didn’t leave enough space for the waste pipes. Does beg the question, is there an open ended boss behind one of the new units where the old sink used to be ??? Let’s hope not

 

[Ben Slade]

No he has capped it off apparently. I wonder how hard it would be to go from the sink waste outside the property and back in to reconnect to the soil stack.
It was a cat flap and it is getting bricked up I was a little concerned about the electrics.
Again thank you all for chipping in.

 

[Ben Slade]

Chuck can you explain about the hydrogen sulphide factory with the horizontal pipe please mate. And you say untrapped should there be another trap their? To be honest it’s going straight to the rain water gulley so it shouldn’t need any!
My mate has told the fitter and he is coming to look at the problems but I have told him to get a proper plumber in for connecting to the soil stack underground.

 

[Pickwickpick]

Funny how one of the flexi pipes is connected properly to a male iron, yet the other one is straight onto the iso valve. Is it just luck/broken clock effect that he's got one of them right, or does he know how it should be a cut corners on one of them due to being short of a male iron?

 

[Jim Goodenough]

Is tbe left hand, presumably hot, flexi connected to a flat face service valve? If just a standard c x c with nut and olive removed it needs replacing IMO.
Cheers Jim

 

[ChippyCal]

Just my opinion, surely he could have the sockets under your plinth? Sockets in the same unit as water is dangerous. Especially, dishwashers / washers waste.

 

[Chuck]

Chuck can you explain about the hydrogen sulphide factory with the horizontal pipe please mate.

I meant that section, particularly if fed from a washing machine outlet is a good place for a 'bio-film' to build up. Bio-films are slimey masses of bacteria, fungae, etc. that, amongst other unpleasant things, evolve H2S. Since there is no trap between this section and your kitchen there's a significant risk it's going to start ponging unpleasantly after a while.

The problem might be mitigated if the 'blue' outlet hose is from the dish-washer and the plain-grey outlet is from the washing-machine. If this is not the case and it's possible to swap them I'd do so. (This is based on my personal experience, which is that DW tablets are a lot less friendly to bio-films than low temperature WM detergents.)