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Home Maintenance Rawalpindi & Islamabad        We want to cover how the plumbing 

works in a typical home everything we do pretty much relies on plumbing when you think of it for a second whether it's washing your car or brushing your teeth before going to bed you're using your home's plumbing system a home's plumbing system is composed of four things waste drains waste vents potable water and rainwater management so let's go through each process one by one and talk about what they do let's start off with the drains most homes have either ABS PVC or cast iron drain pipes and vents these pipes are connected to all the fixtures in the home such as toilets sinks bathtubs and showers when the fixture is used the waste is carried inside these drain pipes that have a slight slope to them down the main drain up until it reaches the municipal drain under the street I'll also show where this these are what give you access to the inside of the pipes in case there's a blockage most homes in the u.s. also have these outside so it's easier for the plumber to access it as for pipe sizes most toilet drains are 3 inches kitchen and bathroom sinks are inch and a half or 2 inch if it's wet vented and showers and bathtubs are 2 inches by code the main stacks are either 3 inches or 4 inches depending on what the code asks for and your municipality but some homes don't have municipal services so how do they get rid of their wastes simple the main drain pipe that would normally go to the sewers goes into what's called a septic tank this septic tank which is either concrete or polyethylene separates the solids from the liquids and flows into a leach field or drain field which then goes into the ground to get naturally filtered the solids though eventually need to get pumped out by a vacuum truck to make sure it functions properly now on to the venting for these fixtures and drains to function adequately the system needs to be properly vented when a toilet is flushed for example the water pushes the air downstream causing a negative pressure behind it the vents are what equalized this change in pressure to prevent things like gurgling and pee traps being siphoned out which would allow for sewer gases to find their way inside your home these vents get their air through the roof and need to stay clear from bird nests and debris or you're assured of having problems something else this vent serves is to relieve any pressure buildup inside the actual municipal sewer line some cities had their manhole covers blast up 50 feet in the air because rats would chew on electrical wires and would in turn create a spark and ignite the methane gas inside the sewers so the vent minimizes the chance of this happening as for potable water goes it comes from the street like the other services and typically has between 40 to 80 psi of pressure every home with a water supply from this city has to have a shutoff valve outside just like this in case the city needs to close the water this copper line which is normally three-quarters of an inch in size comes into the basement through the concrete slab to another shutoff valve which is only accessible to the homeowner here we see the hot water tank you're a hot water tank which is either electric or gas fed is fed cold water to then heat it up and distribute it throughout the house thanks to the city's pressure some homes still have C PVC or copper lines but new constructions use mostly PEX as it's reliable and quick to install so back to B force question how does one get water if there's no municipal services in rural areas people use wells a well is basically a hole that's drilled approximately 500 feet in the ground to access groundwater of yep pumping this water is pumped back up and goes through a series of apparatuses to make the water drinkable a downside to this is if the electricity cuts out you'll need a generator to get a glass of water and the last aspect is rainwater management in the past rain water and sewage was combined meaning the rainwater went to the same sewer as the waste from your house since then they've been separated to make water management easier so when it rains all of this water has to go somewhere right the rain that falls on the houses roof trickles into the gutters now the gutters job is to divert the water away from the house to prevent water and filtrations so what most people do is install a 5-foot piece onto the downspout so the water has somewhere to go which is perfectly fine other people prefer recovering this water in barrels to use as non potable water to water their plants and flowers and some actually connect them to the weeping tile or French drain the French drain is the corrugated pipe that runs around the houses footing to catch any excess water in the ground the problem when doing this is that the municipal drain could get overloaded very quickly and overflow so it's best invest in a rainwater collection system or to just let the soil absorb the water if possible so where does all of this waste and rainwater go once it's in the municipalities hands both of these services head down the road which eventually need to be lifted at a lifting station which pumps the storm and waste waters back up so they don't go too deep the rainwater dumps itself into a nearby river and the waste continues to the sewage treatment plant where it passes through multiple filters and treatment stages to then be released back into the nearest river and the cycle continues the water from the river is filtered and pumped into the city's main as potable water which is safe to drink and that's basically how your plumbing system works I hope this video clarified some things about how we use our water and I believe it's important we all know how it works as without it we wouldn't have the same life quality as we have don't forget.