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thoroughly caulked. In the basement these pipes discharge
their contents in the open air over trapped gulleys, which
convey the water into the main drain without the possibility
of any reflux of air or liquid from the drain into the basement
of the hotel.
7. Soapy water from baths, hand-basins, and sinks is
not allowed to pass into the rain-water pipes nor into the
soil-pipes, but is provided for by a third entirely separate
system of pipes. Soapy water lines its channels with decomposing
soap, which, though not dangerous to health,
becomes offensive. Again the water from baths, and
basins, and sinks sometimes passes down so hot that by
frequent expansion and contraction it breaks up the joints
of a leaden pipe in a few weeks if the pipe be of any considerable
length. For this soapy water, short leaden wastepipes
run from each bath, basin, and sink, and by means
of a brass union are jointed into a three-inch cast-iron wastepipe,
the latter being jointed together with molten lead and
caulked. These three-inch iron soapy-water pipes descend
to the basement, where they also discharge in the open
air over trapped gulleys which pass their discharge through
into the main drain, but so that no reflux of air nor liquid
can occur from the drain. These soapy-water pipes therefore,
like the rain-water pipes, have no traps in them, but
at bottom are open to the air, while at top both sets of
iron pipes are open to the sky. The warmth of the building
through which such pipes pass ensures a constant updraught
of air through them from basement to roof ridge.
Leaden pipes have a large co-efficient of expansion when
used for the carriage of hot water, and their meltingpoint
is so near to the temperature of boiling water that,
after expansion, they do not, on cooling, go back perfectly
to their previous dimensions and shape. The result is a
growing deformity and puckering of the pipe and a tendency
to tear at the rigidly-soldered joints. With the castiron
pipes the co-efficient of expansion is small, and the
fusing-point of the cast-iron is so far removed from any
temperature that hot water can bring, that the pipes on