The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours - that it also flowed uphill in the north (just kidding), with the
result that the shower drain is higher than the surrounding floor, with
the inevitable consequences.

As wheelchair access is needed, nothing permanent can be added to
prevent this, so I made a sand filled bicycle innertube *sausage* to
try to overcome the problem but, as the floor is a dimpled, non slip
surface, it didn't do the job adequately.

Anyone got any suggestions for improvement? The impervious rubber outer
of the tube is, I suspect, key, but I can think of nothing, non rotting
and non smelling, that will cover the tube, expand, and fill those
gaps.

Tony.

wrote:
The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours - that it also flowed uphill in the north (just kidding), with the
result that the shower drain is higher than the surrounding floor, with
the inevitable consequences.

As wheelchair access is needed, nothing permanent can be added to
prevent this, so I made a sand filled bicycle innertube *sausage* to
try to overcome the problem but, as the floor is a dimpled, non slip
surface, it didn't do the job adequately.

Anyone got any suggestions for improvement? The impervious rubber outer
of the tube is, I suspect, key, but I can think of nothing, non rotting
and non smelling, that will cover the tube, expand, and fill those
gaps.

Tony.

Would it work to fit an accessible threshold like you'd put under an
outside door, for instance
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=44370&ts=44644

A

wrote:

The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours - that it also flowed uphill in the north (just kidding), with the
result that the shower drain is higher than the surrounding floor, with
the inevitable consequences.

As wheelchair access is needed, nothing permanent can be added to
prevent this, so I made a sand filled bicycle innertube *sausage* to
try to overcome the problem but, as the floor is a dimpled, non slip
surface, it didn't do the job adequately.

Anyone got any suggestions for improvement? The impervious rubber outer
of the tube is, I suspect, key, but I can think of nothing, non rotting
and non smelling, that will cover the tube, expand, and fill those
gaps.

Tony.

Is this a wetroom? Whats the floor made of? If its a cement screed, and
the slope is only slight, levelling compound would make it level, which
sounds like it would be a real improvement. That way only a flim of
water would be left on the floor, which hopefully is easy to sweep most
of down the drain leaving just droplets. The plus of levelling compound
is its very easy to apply, and I got the impression thats what you'd
like. Youre not really giving enough info to work on though.


NT

wrote:
The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours - that it also flowed uphill in the north (just kidding), with the
result that the shower drain is higher than the surrounding floor, with
the inevitable consequences.

Is this a property you own?
Was it bought like this?

wrote:
The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours...

Sadly, this is a scientific myth. The Coriolis effect is too small when
acting on a body of water that small to have any effect.

On 22 Oct 2006 11:24:38 -0700, wrote:

The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room...
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours - that it also flowed uphill in the north (just kidding), with the
result that the shower drain is higher than the surrounding floor, with
the inevitable consequences.

Don't pay him, get him back to corect the problem at his own expense.
He'll winge but he shouldn't have fupped up in the first place.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

Pyriform wrote:

Sadly, this is a scientific myth. The Coriolis effect is too small when
acting on a body of water that small to have any effect.

You're wrong there mate. The experiment was conducted at Melbourne and
Cambridge universities some years ago; mind you, it involved vast
underground tanks where the water was allowed to settle for days before
pulling the plug but was originally inspired by numerous observations
in less controlled environments where people noticed that it seemed to
go one way more often than the other and followed up by making
enquiries over here. Interesting, but I wish they had found something
more useful to spend my money on (:-).

On the original subject of the post, none of the options are
practicable for various reasons, but thanks to all for the suggestions.

Tony.

wrote:
Pyriform wrote:

Sadly, this is a scientific myth. The Coriolis effect is too small
when acting on a body of water that small to have any effect.

You're wrong there mate. The experiment was conducted at Melbourne and
Cambridge universities some years ago; mind you, it involved vast
underground tanks where the water was allowed to settle for days
before pulling the plug

Hardly surprising that it worked then! I never claimed that the coriolis
force did not exist, only that it would not be a factor in determining the
direction of water rotation down a domestic plughole.

but was originally inspired by numerous
observations in less controlled environments where people noticed
that it seemed to go one way more often than the other and followed
up by making enquiries over here.

I'm fairly sure that this is where the myth part begins. It's very easy to
persuade water to rotate in either direction. And whilst it is true that
there is a tiny hemisphere-dependent preference for one direction over the
other, in practice this effect is dwarfed by any initial rotation of the
body of water (such as that imparted by a tap when filling the basin). It
would only show up in large scale statistical studies of the phenomenom (of
the kind that no sane researcher would undertake), and would certainly not
be noticed by the man in the bath.

On the original subject of the post, none of the options are
practicable for various reasons, but thanks to all for the
suggestions.

Obviously you know your requirements better than us, but I'm puzzled by why
a wheelchair-traversable permanent barrier could not be installed. I
immediately thought of the strips used for protecting cables run across
floors, and would have mentioned them in my earlier reply, if someone had
not beaten me to it!

wrote:

On the original subject of the post, none of the options are
practicable for various reasons, but thanks to all for the suggestions.

Tony.

If you dont tell us why, I doubt we could help any further.

NT

wrote:
The Australian plumber who installed the shower in my wet room
presumably believed that, because water flows down a plughole in an
anticlockwise direction in the southern hemisphere - the opposite to
ours - that it also flowed uphill in the north (just kidding), with
the result that the shower drain is higher than the surrounding
floor, with the inevitable consequences.

As wheelchair access is needed, nothing permanent can be added to
prevent this, so I made a sand filled bicycle innertube *sausage* to
try to overcome the problem but, as the floor is a dimpled, non slip
surface, it didn't do the job adequately.

Anyone got any suggestions for improvement? The impervious rubber
outer of the tube is, I suspect, key, but I can think of nothing, non
rotting and non smelling, that will cover the tube, expand, and fill
those gaps.

Tony.

Tile the floor again, leave the old tiles down, this will give you another
15mm of floor height....I assume you've attempted to lower the drain
already?