Shop Floor Drains

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ddickey

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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?
 
While your excavator is there have him do a 20' trench 4' deep in an area that won't be plowed and bring your floor drain discharge out there. Use a foot of gravel with perf-pipe or infiltrators. Not sure what you have to go through for inspections, but you may want to wait to do it until after your first inspection before your pour. If you have clay that would probably be a no go. I have three trap style floor drains in three bays, and a 16' trench drain in the larger part of the shop. I made it out of a piece of 8" pvc that I ripped in half, and cut an 8" cap in half for the ends with a 2" pipe coming out of the center to the 3" main drain. The other three drains also tie to the main drain. Pretty exciting stuff getting started on a new shop. Cheers, Mike

IMG_20200930_182059468.jpgIMG_20200930_182111553.jpg
 
I didn't put any drains in my new shop. Wanted my floor to be flat, and it is. The concrete guys were awesome. BUT, I don't plan on working on anything in my shop that would require a drain. I do have an attached garage to my house with a heated floor and if I need to work on a vehicle I do it over there, not in my shop.
If you are putting a bathroom in your new shop, which I highly recommend BTW, the boiler condensate can be plumbed over to the sink drain. My mini-split drain goes outside, since you should not be producing any moisture when it is below freezing so that should not be an issue.
Speaking of bathrooms, I am thankful every day that I put one in my new shop. Not having to walk over to the house to use the restroom is really nice along with being able to clean up my hands before going to the house is super cool.
 
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?
Click to expand...


35 year plumber, master class ll for 25+years, currently 23 years into owning my own company, I'll have some ideas.
 
How is any boiler drain protected from freezing up there? Heat maintenance cable?
 
7milesup said:
I didn't put any drains in my new shop. Wanted my floor to be flat, and it is. The concrete guys were awesome. BUT, I don't plan on working on anything in my shop that would require a drain. I do have an attached garage to my house with a heated floor and if I need to work on a vehicle I do it over there, not in my shop.
If you are putting a bathroom in your new shop, which I highly recommend BTW, the boiler condensate can be plumbed over to the sink drain. My mini-split drain goes outside, since you should not be producing any moisture when it is below freezing so that should not be an issue.
Speaking of bathrooms, I am thankful every day that I put one in my new shop. Not having to walk over to the house to use the restroom is really nice along with being able to clean up my hands before going to the house is super cool.
Click to expand...


Most warehouses that have trench drains have flat floors just no slope to send the spills in the right direction.

Home depot/ Lowes sells basic composite trench drains. If you want to drive a forklift over them a commercial trench drain like Zurn would work.

Z886 Standard.jpg
 
If you form it correctly PVC will work just fine, and cost a whole lot less. I run my 22k lb backhoe over it with no issues. Its the concrete & rebar that carries the load, not the pipe. Mike
 
@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.
 
A lot of the answers to this question depends on your inspector.
Joe
 
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