Hi All
There have been previous discussions on the installation of a basement shower using a macerating system.
A common issue has been the elevation/slope of the shower to drain into the system and the resulting need to raise the shower base accordingly (6-8 inches to accomodate a p-trap)
The homeowner (like me) ends up with choices that are:
Break the concrete slab and drain it corectly $$$$
violate the code for either the p-trap or the min height from shower base to ceiling (6′-8″) in most places due to a lack of overall headroom. Additionally, a shower that is only 6′ in height will be awkward.
I discovered this shower drain that is european and is low profile.
It comes in two versions – membrane seal (not recommended in MANY forums) and a water seal.
Looking at the spec sheet/diagram it appears it uses a p-trap type of construction with a ring of water that gets displaced but maintains the “water seal” functionality of a standard NA p-trap.
My questions:
1- is the volume of water maintained as a part of the seal a significant contributor to the effectiveness of the water seal ?
2- How much greif will I end up with trying to mate the fittings?
All advice is appreciated.
Mike
here is the link
http://www.wirquin.co.uk/CATALOGUE_WASTES.pdf
the item is on page 97 and its called a slim shower trap, there are 2 models, water seal (the one I like) and the waterless (membrane based)
Replies
This the One?
I decided to forget about adding a shower stall to a basement half-bath build-out last February as much because of the issues you raise as because of the need to deal with the humidity produced during a shower. By far the more troublesome accommodation is the drainage issue when faced with ripping up concrete under limited headroom.
The design of the item pictured is intriguing & clever. I suspect the water volume present in the trap itself would be entirely adequate for the purpose. That the flange to connection bottom is just 2.28" (by my calculations based on 2.54 cm/in) would suggest it'd fit where 2" p-traps common on this side of the pond require 4x the depth or more doesn't begin to touch upon the difficulty of reliably and permanently adapting this metric-dimensioned fixture to our Imperial-dimensioned products down-stream.
It appears to be fabricated from ABS plastic? Perhaps there's a component available here that'd be 'close enough' to warrant a bit of backyard re-engineering to make a sound, watertight, permanent connection.
As for getting it approved by the local authority (if required) or past a lending institution when the time comes to turn ownership over.... You up for that?
Cracking
It sure looks like cracking would be an issue since there is almost no mud covering the pipe. Normally there would be a concrete base, a membrane, and the a float on top. This looks like it allows 1/4" at most for all three. I guess you could put the base and membrane under the pipe and have the pipe in the float, but then it penetrates the membrane. None of this is a good thing.
You know, chopping a hole in the concrete isn't that big a deal.