I am building an shop addition on to the garage, which is attached to the house. I would like to put a sink in it to clean up. The problem is the drainage. In order to connect to the house system I would have to go thru the slab in the garage, which has radiant heat tubing. I could connect to the sewer at the street, but lots of $$.
I could run a pipe easily above the ceiling of the garage, then down into the house basement and connect to the house system. Would it be possible to use a sewage pump to pump the sink drainage up into this pipe? Would I put a pit in the floor of the addition?
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Paul
Replies
Your's is a very common situation. You probably don't even need a pit (unless you want one). Since you're only draining a sink, you can install a pump and tank beneath the sink itself that pumps up into the pipe. There are systems made for this but you can also do it with a home made system. A small sump pump with a float switch inside a plastic tank (you could even use a joint compound pail if the pump is small enough). Just install a check valve about a foot above tank to keep the column of water in the pipe from draining back down. You'll need a vent pipe into the tank as well to keep the pressure balanced inside when the pump discharges.
My father installed an even simpler system in his garage. He ran the pipe into a drywell outside. Drywell was just a 5 gallon plastic diffusion tank filled with stone inside and about a foot around the perimeter and lined with filter fabric. Buried just under the surface of the earth, it drained well. Since there was just soap and water discharging there was no grease buildup.
Check local restrictions on such a home made system though especially if you're drinking surface water.