Hi,
I need some advice regards my plumbing. I have just moved into a brand new 2bed apartment on the first floor and I have been having problems with the plumbing. We are only in the apt for ~3 weeks and the appliances are brand new Zanussi.
Firstly when we installed the washing machine we knocked off the hot water supply (i.e. there was two hot and cold water available for the w-machine, but it only takes cold) and turned it on. That let a lot of water into the apartment and the two downstairs!! Luckily there wasn't too much damage, a de-humidifier and some new paint down stairs solved most of the problems. Anyway since then I have been keeping a really close eye on the plumbing in the kitchen.
So my real problem occurred yesterday, I woke up yesterday to find that the overflow pipes behind the dishwasher and washing machine had overflowed. This had also knocked off the trip switch as the overflow pipe is directly above a plug-socket (is this normal?). The dishwasher and washing machine were not on at the same time, even though I would have thought that proper plumbing could handle this, at the same time I could understand that this might overload the plumbing.
I called the builders/developers and they sent out their gofor and a plumber. When they came out they found that the sink was not draining properly (sink, dishwasher, w-machine all join together just to the right of the sink behind the dishwasher). I didn't know whether that was cause/effect of my leak, but proceeded to get grilled/lectured over not putting stuff down the sink. I am fully aware of this, I take at least the usual precautions, i.e. scrape food into the bin, and when I do have to clean the grill tray (not often) I heat it and use paper towel to scrape into the bin etc etc.
So after an hour and a half of pouring boiling water down the sink, banging the pipes and trying to get a kind of spring thingy through the pipes - the water was draining perfectly even when the taps were on at full blast. So they were convinced that I had put something down the sinks, fair enough, I thought it wasn't outside the realms of possibility.
When they were gone I ran the washing machine on its own, still pulled out a little from the wall, and about 3/4 of the way through the cycle the waste pipe overflowed again (behind both machines). So I got the builder and plumber back.
This time the sink was draining perfect, again they didn't find any problems, but when the w-machine ran again it apparently was fine (I had to leave for a few mins). So now I am at a standoff with the builder. They say we can find nothing wrong, hence, we have fulfilled our responsibility. I say they have not found the problem, hence, the problem is not solved.
So what I would like people's opinions on is whether I am correct in the following:
I agreed with the builders that I would monitor the situation carefully and inform them of any problems. I also told him I would be getting a second-opinion on the plumbing. What should I get my plumber to check, is there any tests people could recomend?
Furthermore I was intending contacting my solicitor to see where I stood, is there something I should instruct the solicitor to do?
As always brevity is not my gift.
Please help!!!!
I need some advice regards my plumbing. I have just moved into a brand new 2bed apartment on the first floor and I have been having problems with the plumbing. We are only in the apt for ~3 weeks and the appliances are brand new Zanussi.
Firstly when we installed the washing machine we knocked off the hot water supply (i.e. there was two hot and cold water available for the w-machine, but it only takes cold) and turned it on. That let a lot of water into the apartment and the two downstairs!! Luckily there wasn't too much damage, a de-humidifier and some new paint down stairs solved most of the problems. Anyway since then I have been keeping a really close eye on the plumbing in the kitchen.
So my real problem occurred yesterday, I woke up yesterday to find that the overflow pipes behind the dishwasher and washing machine had overflowed. This had also knocked off the trip switch as the overflow pipe is directly above a plug-socket (is this normal?). The dishwasher and washing machine were not on at the same time, even though I would have thought that proper plumbing could handle this, at the same time I could understand that this might overload the plumbing.
I called the builders/developers and they sent out their gofor and a plumber. When they came out they found that the sink was not draining properly (sink, dishwasher, w-machine all join together just to the right of the sink behind the dishwasher). I didn't know whether that was cause/effect of my leak, but proceeded to get grilled/lectured over not putting stuff down the sink. I am fully aware of this, I take at least the usual precautions, i.e. scrape food into the bin, and when I do have to clean the grill tray (not often) I heat it and use paper towel to scrape into the bin etc etc.
So after an hour and a half of pouring boiling water down the sink, banging the pipes and trying to get a kind of spring thingy through the pipes - the water was draining perfectly even when the taps were on at full blast. So they were convinced that I had put something down the sinks, fair enough, I thought it wasn't outside the realms of possibility.
When they were gone I ran the washing machine on its own, still pulled out a little from the wall, and about 3/4 of the way through the cycle the waste pipe overflowed again (behind both machines). So I got the builder and plumber back.
This time the sink was draining perfect, again they didn't find any problems, but when the w-machine ran again it apparently was fine (I had to leave for a few mins). So now I am at a standoff with the builder. They say we can find nothing wrong, hence, we have fulfilled our responsibility. I say they have not found the problem, hence, the problem is not solved.
So what I would like people's opinions on is whether I am correct in the following:
- The problem is not with the dishwasher machine or washing machine, the leak is due to the waste pipe backing up.
- Proper plumbing should not get blocked with a mere three weeks of careful use.
- Proper plumbing should in theory allow the two machines to run at once.
- If I have not blocked the pipes then the plumbing is not up to scratch, or, the builders blocked the pipe. In this case it would be their responsibility to fix the problem.
I agreed with the builders that I would monitor the situation carefully and inform them of any problems. I also told him I would be getting a second-opinion on the plumbing. What should I get my plumber to check, is there any tests people could recomend?
Furthermore I was intending contacting my solicitor to see where I stood, is there something I should instruct the solicitor to do?
As always brevity is not my gift.
Please help!!!!