Floor drain or NO floor drain

We are going to be having a concrete slab poured. We currently are having some plumbing work done and the plumber asked me if I really needed a floor drain in the utility room. There will be the hot water heater in the utility room. It got me to thinking about what hj said in response to another post about the drain and leads me to the question; if it was your house would you even install a floor drain to begin with ?

I had a new 1" water line install once, apparently there was a tad bit of moisture in the pipe when the plumbers soldered the main shut off valve to it. One week-end evening I bumped the valve and it came off. I was unable to shut off the water at the meter, so I had to wait for the only city emergency man to get to me and shut the water off. I made a heck of a flood inspite of the floor drain, but at least it was limited in depth. Today, I have 4 floor drains which may be overkill, and I certainly hope the day never comes that they will be needed, but if they are, I have them. In the meantime, a quart of water in each now and then keeps the traps filled. I think of the somewhat like insurance. I have them and hope I never need them.

I saw a comment somewhere (perhaps on This Old House) that one should put a check valve into the floor drain to prevent one's basement from flooding in case of a sewer line back up. Good idea or bad?

Mudball said:

We are going to be having a concrete slab poured. We currently are having some plumbing work done and the plumber asked me if I really needed a floor drain in the utility room. There will be the hot water heater in the utility room. It got me to thinking about what hj said in response to another post about the drain and leads me to the question; if it was your house would you even install a floor drain to begin with ?

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Without a doubt I would install a floor drain. In fact I'd be there to make sure when the concrete was poured the entire room graded towards the drain.

I have seen too many houses take a serious amount of damage from NOT having a floor drain the utility room. I would install one that has a spring check built in (basically).

Thanks for all the help. I wasnt expecting these answers. I believe I will keep the drain in place. I guess it wont hurt as it was already there but just had the way it was piped up changed and it is not connected to the sewer drains but is independently running out to daylight and now all it needs is to be adjusted up for being just below floor grade.

Regarding the check valve in the floor drain. At the time I had just the one floor drain mentioned in my earlier answer, the city sewer line clogged in the manhole where my sewer dumped into the system. The sewage slowly crept back up my line but the check valve was (apparently) covered with lint and didn't close. Came home from a trip and found my basement with 6" of sewage. My present drains have a plastic ball the will float and seal off the drain if that should ever happen again. Seems to be a better idea than the swinging gate kind of check valve.

Gary Swart said:

Regarding the check valve in the floor drain. At the time I had just the one floor drain mentioned in my earlier answer, the city sewer line clogged in the manhole where my sewer dumped into the system. The sewage slowly crept back up my line but the check valve was (apparently) covered with lint and didn't close. Came home from a trip and found my basement with 6" of sewage. My present drains have a plastic ball the will float and seal off the drain if that should ever happen again. Seems to be a better idea than the swinging gate kind of check valve.

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I wouldn't trust a swing check either.

I would not put a check valve on the floor drain unless you can remove it easily and service it. If anything put in an after market item like the Flood Guard. Most local codes will want a floor drain in the room with a water heater. The T&P valve relief pipe should be plumbed to the floor drain but leave an air gap of 2".

SewerRatz said:

Most local codes will want a floor drain in the room with a water heater.

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This is one of the reasons for the floor drain also...well kinda. There is now a 2" drain pipe for the water heater pan to connect to and that 2" is connected to the downside of the floor drain and I really do want to leave that in place and believe I will now. This water pan drain and floor drain Y together but however are not connected to the septic and are running directly out of the house separately in a 2" and runs to daylight.
Thanks again for all the help.

bwv

ANY backwater, backflow, device is ONLY effective if it operates. ANY debris caught on the seat will render it ineffective, although it may slow down the rate of flooding. A spring check valve will ONLY operate when the weight of the water above it is more than the spring's tension/compression, which could mean it would be well above "flood stage" before it opens, and would keep the water at that level "forever" unless it was able to be opened manually to let the water out. Even the "servicable" backwater valves are not perfect. I tossed the "removable portion" of one of them into the garbage a few months ago, because the "flexible" gate had become rigid, and curved. So it not only caught all the sewage flowing through it CAUSING the stoppage, but it would have been unable to prevent any backflow from the city's main. Fortunately, this house was in a situation where they were unlikely to ever need the BWV anyway.

OK... thanks

hj said:

A spring check valve will ONLY operate when the weight of the water above it is more than the spring's tension/compression, which could mean it would be well above "flood stage" before it opens, and would keep the water at that level "forever" unless it was able to be opened manually to let the water out.

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This isn't true what-so-ever if you get the right floor drain. The "check valve" is upstream of the trap and the spring tension is just enough to hold the diaphram closed. Any weight what-so-ever will open the thing. It just won't let water back up.