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    kevinvv's Avatar
    kevinvv Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #1

    Jan 7, 2010, 04:53 PM
    Covering a floor drain
    I am isntalling a wet bar in a currently unfinished space in my basement, and the floor drain is going to end up under a cabinet. We have lived in the house for years, including two winters of record snowfall, and the basement has stayed dry, so I'm not concerned about draining moisture coming from outside. In addition, the drain is nowhere near the water heater and wouldn't be much help if I had a leak there. All in all, I'm comfrotable covering it up.

    However, roughly 18" from the floor drain, there is a small copper pipe that sticks up roughly 2" out of the cement. The pipe is not capped, nor is it threaded. I presume that it has something to do with the trap, and there is no other acces to the trap (the house was built in 1967).

    Do you know what this copper pipe might be, and is it safe to cap it?

    Thanks for your help.

    Kevin
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
    		  
    #2

    Jan 7, 2010, 05:25 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by ;
    Do you know what this copper pipe might be, and is it safe to cap it?
    That copper pipe sounds like it might be part of a trap primer. A device to keep the water seal in the trap from evaporating. Cap it off.
    If the floor drain won't ever be used I'd fill it with cement and level out the slope. Good luck, Tom
    massplumber2008's Avatar
    massplumber2008 Posts: 12,832, Reputation: 1212
    Senior Plumbing Expert
    		  
    #3

    Jan 8, 2010, 05:26 AM
    Hi Kevin...

    I agree with Speedball that the small pipe is probably a pipe that used to connect to a trap primer to keep the trap from losing its seal and allowing the trap to dry out.

    I got to wondering, however, how you were planning on hooking up the bar sink to the wet bar? Are you connecting directly to a plumbing pipe using gravity to drain the sink or are you planning on using a pump to pump the water up and away from the sink where it will connect to the drain pipe a distance from the sink?

    Let me know more on this. It could be that you could use that old floor drain to INDIRECTLY drain the wet bar sink and you won't have to cut into the plumbing or install a pump... maybe?

    MARK
    kevinvv's Avatar
    kevinvv Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #4

    Jan 8, 2010, 09:52 AM

    Thanks for the answers, gents.

    Mark- There is an existing utility sink that I will be removing and replacing with a bar sink. I've essentially designed the wet bar around the existing plumbing to keep labor and costs to a minimum. I'm cheap like that.

    Kevin
    massplumber2008's Avatar
    massplumber2008 Posts: 12,832, Reputation: 1212
    Senior Plumbing Expert
    		  
    #5

    Jan 8, 2010, 05:39 PM
    Cool... thanks for answering my question!

    MARK
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