Time to admit that I'm a bit of a retard. For the two years we've lived here, I have assumed that the big wide downpipe is cast iron. All the other big wide pipes at the back of the house are. Where the paint is chipped there is bright orange, especially at the bottom of the pipe, which I assumed was rust. And the one or two occasions I reached over to touch it, it felt cold (which was about a year ago, the last time I could reach it without getting a face full of Phoenix canariensis (an experience I don't recommend).
But bugger me if it isn't plastic after all! I was leaning over "enjoying" a close encounter with the CIDP, and gripped on to the downpipe for support, and it was warm. So I tapped it, and it didn't feel metal. In fact, it sounded and felt plastic. And I was able to scratch a bit with my penknife.
Yet, because nothing is ever easy, now I have another dilemma. The biggest rain trap I can find to connect the downpipe to a water butt is for a 10cm diameter pipe. I measured the circumference of the drainpipe - 51.5cm. Dividing that by π gives 16.4cm or thereabouts. Bit bigger.
So, does anyone have any good suggestions? Just how does a rain trap work anyway? How furious would my landlord be if I sawed off the last 1.5m or so of the pipe and shoved a water butt underneath???
But bugger me if it isn't plastic after all! I was leaning over "enjoying" a close encounter with the CIDP, and gripped on to the downpipe for support, and it was warm. So I tapped it, and it didn't feel metal. In fact, it sounded and felt plastic. And I was able to scratch a bit with my penknife.
Yet, because nothing is ever easy, now I have another dilemma. The biggest rain trap I can find to connect the downpipe to a water butt is for a 10cm diameter pipe. I measured the circumference of the drainpipe - 51.5cm. Dividing that by π gives 16.4cm or thereabouts. Bit bigger.
So, does anyone have any good suggestions? Just how does a rain trap work anyway? How furious would my landlord be if I sawed off the last 1.5m or so of the pipe and shoved a water butt underneath???
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