Plumbing, draining floor drain through septic system?

[tlmartin84]

Getting ready to start my shop build. I will be putting a small bathroom (Sink and Toilet) in my shop. It will only be used maybe a couple times a week. I am using a 50 gallon holding tank with the doghouse type leach field. Very small, for very small usage. I live in a soft sandstone area that absorbes leachate very quickly.

I have one bay setup as a paint/wash bay. It won't be used that often, may get hosed down once a month. I had originally planned to run a seperate line for this and just dump it on the ground or into a french drain out in my pasture.

My question is how do you guys feeling about tieing the single drain and septic system together? My main concern is sewer gas coming back through the floor drain, I am assuming that could be handled by placing a trap somewhere in the 3" drain line?

I am hoping a plumber can chime in on this.

 

[G_P]

A floor drain most certianly requires a trap. Check local code though, some places will not allow floor drains in a garage at all while others will require a grease/oil interceptor be installed.

 

[larry_g]

I would not even consider it. You only want biological matter to end up in the septic or you can kill the bacteria in the septic that makes it work. Go with your first inclination "I had originally planned to run a separate line for this and just dump it on the ground or into a french drain out in my pasture."

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Falcon67]

I would not even consider it. You only want biological matter to end up in the septic or you can kill the bacteria in the septic that makes it work. Go with your first inclination "I had originally planned to run a separate line for this and just dump it on the ground or into a french drain out in my pasture."

lg
no neat sig line

Having lived with a septic system - as above.

 

[tlmartin84]

A floor drain most certianly requires a trap. Check local code though, some places will not allow floor drains in a garage at all while others will require a grease/oil interceptor be installed.

You know what really gets me going about this is the fact that you don't even need a drain......

Slope the floor and let the water drain out down the driveway is perfectly acceptable but install a drain and then you have to get paper pushing morons involved.

 

[Highbeam]

Floor drains are supposed to go to sewer. However, I have a septic and there is no way I would run a garage drain to it. The worry is about the health of the septic system and not at all about the sewer gasses or stink coming back up.

 

[tlmartin84]

There is aparantly a big misconception about micro organisms in your holding tanks. Those little critters are pretty tough, they can take small doses of chlorine and are quite tolerant to some chemicals.

It is not like I am going to be dumping oil or gas down the drain, might catch some dust from what is missed during sweeping.

Worst case scenario as far as the "bugs" go is you have to have the tank pumped and start fresh.



Are there Traps out there for the larger diameter pvc (3-4"), or do you have to make your own from street "Ls"?

 

[tlmartin84]

I had originally just planned a sink, was going to dump it into the floor drain and then just run it out on the ground, or into a french drain (50 gal dog house).

Talked to the locals about it, and they said absolutely not. Common sense has been lost along the way.

I asked them why not, their reasoning was if you are using soap in the sink it will clog the french drain. My response was do you know many bars of soap you can fit in a 50 gallon drum? more than I could use in my lifetime......

 

[Highbeam]

Worst case scenario as far as the "bugs" go is you have to have the tank pumped and start fresh.

Uh no. The worst case is you ruin your drainfield and have to start over with a new one. By the time you know that the septic system has been failed, the field has been plugged. In fact, that's how you know. It backs up.

A sink is one thing, but dumping chemicals into the septic can kill the bugs. It's just not worth the risk. There have been folks on this site who have had a fuel line fail, rupture, or pop off and dumped 25 gallons of gasoline onto his floor. Imagine that sitting in your septic tank.

 

[volleyball]

Why not a second tank that drains into the ground. That way is something more than dirty water goes down the drain, you have a tank to **** it out from before you have a mini brownfield.

 

[tlmartin84]

I don't know why I even started this thread, my main question is........

Is there an off the shelf TRAP for 3-4" schedule 40, or do you have to make your out of a bunch of street elbows?