Waterless trap for emergency overflow?

[markocosic]

I have a wooden house

 

There is a lot of plumbing in the "utility cupboard" that could, in principle, go wrong. (water pump gubbins, mechancial, de-ironing and softening filters, washing machine, general plumbing etc)

 

I'm toying with the idea of a "tray" with floor drain in it, dropping through the floor to a hepvo trap that just drops into the (vented) crawlspace.

 

In principle this will never see water. In practice it'll probably get the contents of a mechanical water filter spilled down it occasionally but that's about it.

 

Do they stay dry / sealed from an airtightness perspective in this application? It's likely that it would be under negative pressure (suck from house, stack effect to roof) rather than positive. 

 

Ditto for the fridge freezer (power cut defrost don't destroy the wood floor) potentially; though that can probably just be a deep enough tray given the limited volume of water in a freezer.

 

Madness because?

[Barnboy]

I had the same thought about my utility room after hearing of a few friends who'd sprung leaks on their water heaters.

I've fitted one of these Mcalpine waterless waste in to the floor, I've not tanked the room as it was a bit of a late decision but I figured anything would be better than nothing. You can buy replacement seal units that slot and lock in if there ever was a problem.

[torre]

I can't comment on the trap but you can get water leak detectors quite cheaply that will alarm and/or notify you via an app. It's something we're considering where we have a bowl sink without an overflow(!)

[MJNewton]

6 hours ago, torre said:

I can't comment on the trap but you can get water leak detectors quite cheaply that will alarm and/or notify you via an app. It's something we're considering where we have a bowl sink without an overflow(!)

 

Yeah, we've had a couple of Shelly Flood devices and found them really good. Whilst we've never had a real leak/flood to deal with I do periodically test them. Battery life has been great too - predicted to last 12-18mths but I've just replaced one that lasted just over 3 years!

[markocosic]

Thanks folks; this sounds like a goer. 🙂

 

This be the nervous corner...

 

Edited October 17 by markocosic

[Russdl]

I can see your concern there from the photo.

 

I’m guessing there will be door’s/stud wall to hide the gubbins?

If so, I would route a channel through the wood floor where the doors/wall will

go and then waterproof seal the gap between the two sections of floor (which would be hidden by doors/wall) and then install a tiny flood barrier so if the worst did happen it wouldn’t affect the whole floor. 

[markocosic]

On 18/10/2024 at 01:01, Russdl said:

I can see your concern there from the photo.

 

I’m guessing there will be door’s/stud wall to hide the gubbins?

If so, I would route a channel through the wood floor where the doors/wall will

go and then waterproof seal the gap between the two sections of floor (which would be hidden by doors/wall) and then install a tiny flood barrier so if the worst did happen it wouldn’t affect the whole floor. 

 

There'll be doors yes to form a cupboard.

 

I've found a nice metal roof shop locally. Copper / brass / zinc sheet and all the gubbins to work with it. I'll fold up a "tray" in zinc to sit inside in the base of the cupboard; and drain through a waterless trap. This will be more robust to e.g. dropping a screwdriver/spanner on it during servicing work than lino over a soft floor (likely to pinhole) and should catch drips from filter servicing / the odd bit of condensation from water filters in summer etc.

 

Cutting THROUGH the floor isn't an option as it's the aitrightness layer. Trimming a capillary break under the metal near to the doors might not be daft though - good shout and a job for the tracksaw 🙂