Plumbing Advice for steam generator drain

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baggins424

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Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice regarding the set up of the gravity drain and TPR from my steam shower generator to my plumbing system. Right now I have plumbed in an ABS trap to a vertical stack to catch discharge. The top of the stack is above the shower flood level. My plan was to drop the copper pipe from the water drain and TPR to the top of this stack. Either tying them together with a "T" or dropping individual pipes from the drain and TPC. From my research, this seems standard. I also have a vertical vent stack in the shower wall (within 18" of generator) that I can easily attach into. Upon speaking with a general contractor (not plumber) he recommended hard connecting the drain lines to the ABS and adding a mechanical vent or tying it into the existing vent because he felt that there was a possibility of the trap drying out and introducing sewer gasses. (I installed the trap around 3 weeks ago, poured in some water and it is still there).
Are there any plumbers that would recommend one solution or the other. The dead end/air gap is obviously way easier but I don't want to do this twice, i want to set it up pro, and I am interested in trying to meet code requirements.

My other potential issue is discharge water temp. I would say max potential temp is 160*-180* which is right at the border for ABS and may not be to code but all the information I have found with drains directly next to the steam generator show an air gap to PVC or ABS. The generator purges and gravity drains 10-15 minutes after shut down.

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baggins424

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Thanks for your reply John.
Washer is on the floor below and a wall over, so no. Right now I have the new trap tied downstream of the shower drain and dead ended above the shower flood level (like the "or" picture in the drawing). See any issues with either of the described options? Leaning towards the easier one... What would be perfect in this situation?!
 

hj

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drain

NEITHER option is correct or acceptable. Plan A is an "S" trap with an open vent. Plan B is a simple "S" trap with NO vent of any kind. Both would be rejected. Then, depending on the material used, if you "inject" the discharge from the generator, OR T&P valve, into the drain line, it could "melt" it.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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Your drawing shows what I think you have drawn as the pressure relief valve and the drain line of the steam generator. Here in Vancouver these items are rarely hooked up in residential installs since they are not required by the manufactures to be.

Most times the generators are just placed on the ground and most times not even a drain pan is used.

Your efforts are to improve the safety and ease of service.

What type of steam generator do you have?

Some self purge through the steam line itself.

What about putting in a priming gizmo to self prime the trap?

Any way you can pipe the drain pan to another location? Your P trap should be below your tie in location on your vent line if you go this route.

I have never seen the pressure relief value ever hard piped to any kind of drain line below. We only hook up the drain pan of the generator.
 
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