Never give the refuse "the edge".

Hello flyinghigh,

YES, the bell end is always 'up the slope'. This means any water or waste has a 'funnel' from narrow into wide as the pipe flows from each consecutive length.

If you should ever need to 'rod' the drain or sewer it is much easier to do it 'with the flow of the pipe' rather than trying to get over each half inch (~ 12 mm) thickness of the pipe 'lip'?

If the pipe was the other way round there is a danger of pushing a 'rod-screw' through the joint when pushing hard.

Take care.

Haven't done cast iron for 35-40 years but just take a look at a C.I. sanitary tee or tee-Y and you'll find the answer obvious!

Sleepy,

I just wished that the builder of our last house had bothered to ask somebody!

Yes he built the pipe upside down!

Curiously there was little smell until I took a carpet up to replace it and then it became obvious! The floor in that house was wood and that room's floor neded a complete replacement. I could not believe that this builder had commited such an error and I had to look and look again to be sure that my eyes were not deceiving me.

I cleaned up as best as I could, got someone in quickly to fix the pipe and I fixed the floor and it's foundations ( wooden beams) myself with lots and lots of wood preservative and rot killer sprinkled all around the concrete underpinnings( I have a horror about wet and dry rot). I then boxed in the new pipe before closing off - and leaving myself an inspection hatch to check later!

Not a job I had anticipated having to do!

Cheers

Sleepy

Hi Sleepy,

Wow, I have never of that sewer pipe put in backwards before.

The bottom edge of the toilet fits into the bell end of the pipe and so on down the line. So how was the toilet attached? Very odd for sure! I have not heard of 3" (~75 mm) sewer pipe before either. It is usually 4" (~100 mm) or 6" (~150 mm).

Take care.

A toilet has on average 2 1/2"

and 3 inch is common in sewer lines

4" is the standard

in a bell and spigot

depending on the age of the house or

the time the plumbing was put in and by who

I have seen all sorts of stupid pluming tricks

or nightmares

running it back wards leaves the

burden of a seal on the oakum

>>the difference between a genius and a moron

>> is the genius has boundaries

oops

correction

a toilet has an average of a 2 1/2 in opening

Yes

if you are refering to bell and spigot system

like Cast iron or clay pipe

The bell is always on the higher side

Hi JF,

I do not think I have 'spoken' to you yet?

Just want to wish you an enjoyable time on the site.

There are many very clever Members here and they are always there once they see your a regular.

Take care

The Bell and Spigot Pipes are used always with Bell downstream in other words:

Going with the flow the "spigot end" goes first followed by the Bell End", regardles of downslope or upslope. This will assure that even in the case of soil failure the joint or tie-in will keep its mechanical integrity. The opposite will risk that mechanical integrity.

Rafael L. Lama