DRAINAGE SYSTEMS
Soil stack solution for waste pipe blockages in Belfast
With input from Stephen Knox, Estates officer (Operations) at Belfast City Hospital, Lucas Vogan, Technical Sales manager at Geberit, explains how the company’s electrofusion-welded HDPE drainage pipes will help overcome increasingly frequent blockages in waste pipes and soil stacks at the busy acute healthcare facility.
A university teaching hospital with a capacity of up to 900 beds, Belfast City Hospital is not only a vital healthcare facility, but also a landmark structure on the Belfast skyline. Its distinctive yellow- clad tower block is the fourth tallest multi-storey building in Ireland, built in the 1970s on Belfast’s famous Lisburn Road. Like many structures of its age, the tower block has been facing increasingly frequent maintenance issues. In particular, blockages in waste pipes and soil stacks have been becoming far more frequent in recent years, resulting in a significant maintenance burden, with plumbers often attending multiple blockages each day. The BCH Maintenance team found that a
Pictured left to right in front of the tower block at Belfast City Hospital are: Stephen Knox; Placement student, Jordan Drummond; Trust Estates officer, Vincie McCann, and Lucas Vogan.
thick layer of congealed waste was causing the majority of these issues by reducing the bore of the 4 inch soil stacks to just over an inch in some places. Sewer rods with a variety of cleaning attachments were used to clear blockages, but much of
the congealed layer could not be removed easily. The cast iron pipes, now over 40 years’ old, were heavily corroded in places, leaving a delicate pipe wall. The team knew that excessive mechanical cleaning could damage pipe walls and cause both major flooding and escape of contaminated waste to clinical areas. A long-term solution was thus required.
Ensuring a suitable material choice Engineers at Belfast City Hospital started work to plan and undertake what would be an extremely challenging project within a live hospital building. Recognising the importance of material choice, the Trust’s Engineering team selected Geberit’s electrofusion-welded HDPE pipes as the preferred product – the idea being to specify a system that will enable a long-term, reliable, and robust solution. Corrosion-resistant, and resistant to a wide variety of chemicals, acids, alkalis, and
An opened cleaning eye reveals a thick layer of congealed waste inside.
54 Health Estate Journal March 2023
A wormscrew pictured through an open cleaning eye as staff attempt to clear a blockage.
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