Basement drain (Backwater valve?)

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Hunter01

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I just found out that my house is the lowest one on our particular sewer line going to the main line. That means if the line gets plugged (like it did last Friday) between here and the main, sewage backs up into my basement first! Is there a reliable valve I could install in my 3" PVC basement drain to allow drainage of my A coil and water conditioner without allowing sewage to back into my basement? There's at least a 6" drop to the top of the water in the trap.
Edit: This IS the floor drain I'm referencing and the A coil and water conditioner drain into that at floor level. The only other drain in the basement is a slop sink, and that's 2.5' off the floor, so I'm not concerned about that. If the sewage gets that high, I'm toast, anyway.
 
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Reach4

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What is not reliably is a flapper valve. The backwater valves are normally open, and close if the water rises. They are more effective. There are systems that put a pit in the yard with a backwater valve and a sump pump injecting sewage downstream of the backwater valve. They are very effective, and the pit offers significant storage if the electricity is out. Figure about $8000, but your city sewer department may have some program to partially reimburse you.

You may also have a laundry sink or floor drain in the basement that would be even more of a problem than the others. If you were just interested in those, piping your water conditioner drain up high with an up-high air gap would keep that from being a path of water. The AC coil is up fairly high, so sewer levels would have to rise considerably to get that high. A valve of some sort could be OK to add to that line... maybe it would have a float ball. I don't about that. But the connections to the sewer would have to be water tight.

If you want to protect floor drains and more, you will need a better system.
 

Reach4

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It's the air conditioning condenser coil, often above a furnace, that is in the shape of an up-side-down V.... so in the shape of an A.
 

hj

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quote; The backwater valves are normally open,
ALL "backwater valves" are normally closed. The water flow through them opens them and then they close again.
 

Reach4

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quote; The backwater valves are normally open,
ALL "backwater valves" are normally closed. The water flow through them opens them and then they close again.
The classic flapper valve is normally closed, but predictably gets held open by debris getting under the flapper.

This example of a normally open backwater valve was not the first. The ones that I have seen do require a small drop from input to output, but that should be achievable if you have several feet of drain pipe open. http://backwatervalve.com/products/fullport-backwater-valve.html

diagram.jpg
 
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