Floor Drain Drywell Thoughts

[bfarroo]

I have floor drains installed in my shed in front if each overhead door. I was originally going to run the drain to daylight out the back if the property where the grade tapers off. The more I was thinking about it I may want to put in a dry well to have a place for water to drain in the winter and not freeze in the pipes. What I was thinking is I would put the drywell about 10 feed out the side of the building and probably 3 feet or so deep(top of well). I'd put foam above the pipe and drywell to reduce the chance of freezing.Then from there run an overflow drain from the drywell to daylight. Any thoughts or suggestions? I've searched some but haven't really found the information I want. I've seen the drywell kits at menards and they look flimsy at best so my though was to find a plastic 55gal drum to use. Would I fill the drum with rock or leave it empty? put holes just in the bottom or out the sides too? I'd get some clean rock to put around the barrel for drainage. Also it's mostly clay around me so there will be very little absorption but I don't plan on running huge amounts of water down the drain. I have a separate drain for the bath and sink area which will go to the septic.

 

[simpler=better]

In WI you're going to freeze pretty easily.

I'd drill holes in the sides and bottom of a plastic 55gallon drum, then fill it with rocks/bricks/rubble/etc. Bury that under the frost line and you're golden.

 

[ishiboo]

I would run them to daylight and use heat tape in the pipe if you ever get so much water it freezes enough to become an issue.

 

[bfarroo]

I though about using heat tape also, Would you run it inside the pipe? No dry well then?

 

[ishiboo]

Thats what I would do. If you're up for doing a drywell, do it outside and have the pipe empty into it with an air gap, so that if it did freeze or fill up, the water would then just run out.