Floor drains

[Charles (in GA)]

Not trying to stir the pot here, but thought I'd share part of a discussion on a tractor forum about floor drains.

First, Joe says...... "I"m getting ready to put my concrete in my new building and am trying to find a floor drain to put in it. I would like one that is a foot wide and at least 4 ft long. Am having a hard time finding one. Any Ideas?

The Joe got lots of responses about how to build or buy floor drains and grates, and such, good info.

Then Joe came back..... "My wife the EPA inspector just brought me a bunch of stuff home and basically it says any residue caught by a floor drain has to be tested before disposal of any kind and could possibly be hazardous waste. No dry wells allowed. Has to be drained to a tank and the tank has to be tested and pumped. This is for everyone even just farmers. So now what???"

Then after taking time to throughly go thru the stuff Joe's wife brought home he says........ ". My concrete guy mentioned running it to door and just crack door and let out. I was concerned about Ice on that one outside my door. I thought about a trench drain either inside or outside the door going cross ways. Now I have researched it more and I see they are trying to make it illegal to have floor drains in buildings for enviromental contamination reasons. Now my problem here is that my wife is an EPA inspector and I would probably get "Busted". I am not sure about having my concrete going to door so my dilema is which way should I go now."

Now Joe is digging even deeper in his wife's paperwork..... "This material my wife brought home says that all floor drains that don't drain in a city sewer system and that also have oil water separator systems built in are illegal after Jan 2007 and have to be filled or plugged. Now being that my Wife is a EPA inspector I am allready busted if I put this sytem in. So I was trying to think of allternative. I was thinking of sloping floor to door and puttin a trench drain outside door and using door to block any spills as far as legality. I have employees so I'm sure I have to do it right."

Food for thought here.

Chalres

 

[TNToy]

That's why you build your shop with a level floor, and clean it out with a squeege.

Much better for fab purposes than a floor with a slope.

 

[Random Hero]

Level floor yeah, but with step ups surrounding the perimeter where the tools and storage are, that way water/liquid doesn't run under and behind everything.

 

[SteveL]

I suggest that your wife find a new job!

I put mine in to daylight out the side of the garage and tied into the gutter downspouts that run underground. Just made sure that it was covered by a big stack of plywood when the inspector came by.

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

I would check the wording carefully. Does a "drain" mean enclosed pipe ect. Or could you have more of a "gutter" IE 4"x4" channel in the concrete covered with a grate. I dont see how this would be different than having the floor slope outside the shop as the results are the same.
I really think you get into trouble more by the volume of use. If you just wash your car once a week in your driveway its a lot different from running a detail shop and washing 10 cars a day. If your farm is a business and you power wash tractors every day you might be more lible to have to recycle the water and have a proper means of disposel.