Shop Floor Drains

ddickey said:
@7milesup Okay minisplit drain will go outside. Yes I want my floor flat also. A bathroom and sink would be nice. I was just going to drain the sink into a 5 gallon pal. Not sure how I would do the bathroom. It is quite a long run to the septic tank. I guess it would be smart to get it plumbed in at least then decide later.
@Dhal22 I don't about freeze protection, that's what I need to find out. The excavator mentioned a french drain? Maybe I should go with an electric boiler and not have to concern myself with the drain. Will probably have 100-150 amp service so didn't want to use electric but probably would be okay.
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I would certainly plumb the bathroom in. This is my second shop that I built for myself and the first with running water and bathroom. It is just great to have and did not realize how much I would use it.
If the in floor heat is your primary source of warmth, I would not use an electric boiler. If you have natural gas, use that. The difference from NG to electric will pay for that drain in just a couple of years. Insulation and heating sources done properly are more expensive up front but if you plan on being there a while the ROI will be shorter than you think. Also, the convenience and comfort is worth investment.
The boiler drain could also be run to a condensate pump. The tank fills up until the float is activated then the pump runs until the tank is empty. This allows you to run the condensate to a drain that would not normally be accessible by gravity feed. ---> Condensate Pump <----

A french drain is basically what a super mini mound system would look like. Some sand and rocks placed around a pipe that is slightly buried allows the waste to "percolate" away. Not sure how that would work in our climate though. Usually they are used for rain gutter downspouts and such.
 
Thats easy to say until someone from the county stops by and red tags all work. Then they really start to nit-picking.

Joe
 
Liljoebrshooter said:
Thats easy to say until someone from the county stops by and red tags all work. Then they really start to nit-picking
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True, but depends on where you are. I didn't even need a permit for my shop when I built it last year.
 
ddickey said:
Excavation starts Saturday for the new shop and I'd like to get some opinions on how to do floor drains.
I plan to have a condensate drain for my boiler and minisplit AC.
Any suggestions on how to do this without having the boiler drain freeze in winter?
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Mine goes underground to a tub filled with 3/4" rock. Interesting are the codes depending on your location. Here you can't have floor drains in a garage without them going to a sealed catch basin that has to be pumped out for oil and other contaminates so they don't get to the ground water. Guy here got fined 50 grand for not following the code.
 
I was just thinking the same about oils.
A shop floor is likely to have oils on the floor. The fact that you are considering a drain says you plan to have fluids on the floor, at least occasionally.
I worked at a shop that an inspector came thru and made them permanently seal all of the floor drains so that no oils could get washed down the drain. All the traps had to be filled with concrete or epoxy.
 
Flyinfool said:
I was just thinking the same about oils.
A shop floor is likely to have oils on the floor. The fact that you are considering a drain says you plan to have fluids on the floor, at least occasionally.
I worked at a shop that an inspector came thru and made them permanently seal all of the floor drains so that no oils could get washed down the drain. All the traps had to be filled with concrete or epoxy.
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Correct and all building departments assume garage drains mean oil, anti-freeze, and other contaminates. And I forgot about city codes, you cannot run drains into the city system. I am assuming you are not on a city system but to be safe you should check with your local building department before spending a lot of money on drains and possibly being fined. This type of system also comes up when trying to sell your property if not to code.
 
Could go with an 80% efficient boiler, no condensate then. Will call the township tomorrow if my search of their website tonight is not successful.
 
We just installed a gas furnace and AC at a family cottage that isn't always used year round. I some of the colder months the heat is turned off. The furnace and AC condensate gravity drains by a soft plastic tube into a condensate pump. When the level in the reservoir gets full enough it raises the float and pumps the liquid through a second soft plastic tube to a drain in the sink.

When the furnace and AC aren't being used for long periods the tubes can be disconnected and drained. The pump can be picked up and emptied.

Here's a link to the style condensate pump we use.


The only downsides are that the pump needs 120 volts and a place to drain the water. As I said we plumb it into a sink drain and that drain gets filled with RV antifreeze when we shut the place down. You may be able to just drain it on the ground if you don't have some type of drain in the shop. I'm
sure the pump will work equally well on a boiler. If your AC and boiler are too far apart you may need a pump for each.
 
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Flyinfool said:
I was just thinking the same about oils.
A shop floor is likely to have oils on the floor. The fact that you are considering a drain says you plan to have fluids on the floor, at least occasionally.
I worked at a shop that an inspector came thru and made them permanently seal all of the floor drains so that no oils could get washed down the drain. All the traps had to be filled with concrete or epoxy.
Click to expand...


An oil separator is not rocket science.
 
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