Hi all,

Got a problem that need some help here.

I did a toilet ponding test (toilet on the 1st floor) for 2 days and the water level dropped quite a lot, almost dried by by the 3rd day. But when I checked the slab above the ground floor toilet (below the 1st floor toilet), I don't see any leakages sign, except a minor dripping from the WC outlet drain pipe bend as per the picture below. Is there a concern about the drop of the water level?




Also about this minor dripping, it's starting to concern me as it has been dripping for almost a week, causing the ceiling board to get wet. But I'm curious where is the water coming from, as the WC above it has already got an S-trap to hold the water seal, and this portion of the pipe is slopped to the main vertical drain pipe. Therefore inside this pipe (bend) should be always empty right? But how come the water is still continuously dripping? I have emptied out the WC flush tank and close the water supply to the WC. And the water level inside the WC bowl seems to maintain.




I have tried to open the cover at the bend area but it's very tight. Do I need a special handle to open it?

Thanks

p/s - I'm now doing the ponding test for the master bedroom toilet, the water level seems to maintain after 1 day. So I guess can rule out the weather effect of drying out the water in my previous test for the other toilet.


This post has been edited by lowyat101: Mar 13 2019, 10:29 AM

I guess you don't see water dripping except very little because the water was absorbed to the wall.

I see, so maybe I'll do another ponding test, by sealing the drain point properly again to ensure the leak is not from there.

BTW any idea on the water dripping from the drain pipe? Seems like it's from the seal at the cover of the bend, but the pipe should be empty inside right?

1. Water color - Blue, red and green
2. 2 buckets.

Pour full bucket of blue into the toilet bowl.
Pour full bucket of red into basin.
Pour 2 buckets of green onto the floor (put some tape on the drain to slow down the water exit)

after 2 hours, you can check again.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will go and get some colouring later

BTW for the water ponding test, is it good enough that I leave the water for 2 days? If there's no leakages after 2 days, I can remove the seal at the floor drain right?

best is open and reseal the dripping part.

maybe your contractor has applied plastic cement (which they are not supposed). if you worried to damage the cover, you can apply sealing epoxy putty sell in most hardware shop (is a short cut which not suppose to practise but is practice widely by local plumber...) because you glue the pipe more and make it harder to sercive.




This post has been edited by chamelion: Mar 13 2019, 11:15 AM

The dripping probably just from cover. Did you check how much water from the dripping?

Most likely the cover is not water tight, not screwed properly or no seal. Need to reopen and close properly. I guess it was just screwed by hand but if tight need to use tool to open like big mouth spanner.

The floor concrete normally mixed with water proofing material nowadays. Last time probably just water proofing an inch layer of cement before tiling. The wall side some would just paint water proofing material several inches from floor. Probably was not done. Normally the leak at corner or joint where wall meets floor concrete.

Normally the basin drainage end up together at the floor drainage ... so color become brown?

Ya noted, will look for something to open up the cover and maybe can change the rubber seal inside if any.

About the water leakage, I noticed that there's a small gap where the tile grout is missing/broken at the corner of the sunken floor (shower area). Can I just buy the tile grout from hardware shop and patch it up before another round of ponding test?

Haha... possible coz there's only 2 drain pipes from above as per my picture.

But I'm still wondering why there's so much water dripping out. I put a small cup below it and has been pouring away the collected water for a few days already, still dripping. I have not use the WC already and close the water supply as well. So not sure where is the water coming from

Need to check the connection between the pipe and the floor slab. Water from there can dribble down to the L bend.

Ya that's what I suspected too but when touched by hand, the portion above the bend was dry.

Maybe I will put a piece of cloth there to wrap around the part above the bend and see if there's any water stain there.

But still I'm not using the toilet yet. So not likely from the water above. Unless it's from the water absorbed in the RC during my previous ponding test

Why not. Simple job. My grout has become yellowish and moldy

If I were to re-grout, I'd go for silicone

You're genius.

Mine one are linked but look at TS photo I cannot be sure so put 2 color is on the safe side.

Ya I don't see the drain piping from the wash basin as well, maybe already hidden inside the slab or wall.

Normally inside the wall and flooring itself. After the trap, no need to expose anywhere else. However, since it also has joint along the way, leak could be there.

Anyway, the water from sink will flow fast through outlet. Can't detect anything unless you can plug before it merge to floor outlet. BTW, your leak now is on flooring

Thanks for the info, but can you explain a bit more about the statement "your leak now is on flooring"?

Do you mean there's a leak at the floor slab?

For the first image - unscrew it using pipe wrench. Remove old plumbing white tape, clean it up, then wrap again using new plumbing white tape. Screw back the cover and try do the flow test.

Can google image for those tool if you not sure.