London Apartment Outdoor Waste-Line?

D107

Surprised to see this given London's winter cold climate.

ratio

They do all kinds of crazy stuff over there. You should see their electric system!

JUGHNE

That is very typical there. It is just DWV and should not hold any water. The alternative would be cutting up a lot of masonry structure.

In Jackson MS, I saw a lot of H & C on the outside of the building.
Might freeze every 5 years and get replaced in the same manner.

A brother that lives near there cut his water line by just digging down 15". They can put water heaters in the unheated attics.

mattmia2

I believe London also runs many of their mains at very low pressure and you need a water tank and pump in your house as well.

ratio

I imagine running pipes concealed in a 600 year old 2' thick stone wall might run towards the spendy side of affordable.

Jamie Hall

It's not just London. Any city or town -- even most of the great palaces. As @ratio noted, you simply don't run water or waste -- or electric or 'phone or cable or anything else through those structure unless you absolutely have to.

My daughter's flat, when she lived in Edinburgh for a while, was relatively recent -- I seem to recall 1830 or so -- and everything ran up outside (her first flat was older -- 1540).

And yes, water mains pressure is usually relatively low by our standards, and one has a cistern at some high elevation in the flat or house filled at low pressure through a float valve (just like a US water closet). It's not, however, just for relatively low pressure -- it completely flattens the variations in water pressure, as the demand over a day is quite constant. It does, however, mean that all your valves and fixtures are designed to operate on low pressure -- perhaps 15 psi -- and really don't work well on our higher pressures in North America.

Never mind the electrics -- 220 volts 50 hertz over there vs. 120 volts 60 hertz here.

Steamhead

We see this in Baltimore, mostly on rowhouses that are older than indoor plumbing.

JUGHNE

I have wondered about the WC in these situations.
It seems a wall hung would be in order.
Or elevated WC with piping on floor covered maybe by box.

D107

Found another online; perhaps easier to maintain? Probably less prevalent in the residences of the wealthy due to aesthetics?

TAG

I own two places in Philadelphia with old style CI outside. One is a trinity the other a typical row -- they both have the second floor bathrooms that exit through the wall to the outside --- 3" pipe down --- turns back into basement and same up to roof for vent.
Sealed with lead

Jamie Hall

I might note that both of the photos are brick... thick brick, but brick. Try it in two foot plus thick solid stone! Some very ingenious plumbing...

JUGHNE

How else would a cat burglar get to the 2nd and 3rd floor windows?

They make for good movie scenes also.

Could double as fire escapes.

D107

@JUGHNE "Could double as fire escapes." Just last week in the news they showed somewhere in the US two teens fleeing a fire through the apartment window using an outside pipe.