plumbing : when a shower or toilet is not used for a long time

dada44

hi there,

i was wondering if it is bad for plumbing, if you have in your house a bathroom or even two, that has not been used for many months, or years even.

a plumber i talked to said it wasn't a good idea, but didn't really say specifics. other than something about air in the system, or things stop working.

surely, not using something in a while, would be ok, regarding plumbing ?

tlh858

Problems include:
- water evaporating from the traps, causing sewer gases to enter the room
- taps and other valves seizing shut
- water in the pipes becoming stale or worse

If you have bathrooms in your house which are never used, it's time to sell up and move to a smaller property.

Alan2020

Not a good idea, taps seize, water dries up and can let smells in, drains can leak when the rubbers dry out. I have 3 bathroom/toilets in my house and try to use all of them, like say the occasional flush or open and close a tap.

dada44

thankyou all

i have seen ppl redo their house, and try and put an ensuite in all their bedrooms, or 60%, even if they only have a 4 or 5 bedroom house, when only 2 or 3 bedrooms are going to be used. do you think this is ill advised ?

LandyAndy

dada44 wrote: »

thankyou all

i have seen ppl redo their house, and try and put an ensuite in all their bedrooms, or 60%, even if they only have a 4 or 5 bedroom house, when only 2 or 3 bedrooms are going to be used. do you think this is ill advised ?

Generally yes. And a waste of money. One, max two, en suites is sufficient.

googler

Every basin, bath, shower etc has a 'trap' which retains water and prevents sewer gas coming up into the house. Like the U -bend in the WC, but less obvious.

Over time, the water will evaporate and the bathroom will tend to smell. All you need do is go round all basins etc and run the water for a short while to top them up. This will also get around any issue of taps seizing etc.