Water heater floor drain...can it be "hidden"

[bootlegend]

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I have permits and will have inspections but I'd like to save myself some rework if I'm about to screw up.

I'm trying to add a bathroom in an existing 5'x12' unfinished basement room that has a water heater and a floor drain. My first step was to relocate the water heater so that a shower would fit (below sewer line but I'm going to be using a Saniflo system) where the original water heater was. My question is about the drain pipe for the T&P relief. Originally it discharged to within a couple inches of floor and the floor drain was about three feet away. I installed the new heater with a drain pan and plan on piping drain pan through wall and to the existing floor drain, but the drain will be covered under a 2"x8" raised floor for the shower so the P trap works. I can try to make the section of floor removable so if I had to access it I could. I would have an air gap at the vertical drain on side of water heater where it discharges into the drain pan. Would this be acceptable? Posted a sketch I was messing with that hopefully illustrates better.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Phog]

The answer to this question is going to be specific to your locality. There are very different T&P discharge termination requirements across the country.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[WorthFlorida]

It be easy for the floor drain to dry out and thus build up of sewer gas under the enclosed area. With an open drain you would smell it. The inspector may allow it if a trap primer is installed. Just google search it. You'll see these in public rest rooms.

 

[bootlegend]

Thank you all for the replies. Apparently the sketch did not upload. I will try again.

In your experience will inspectors answer questions like this as a courtesy? I don't really want to do all the work and then have him tell me it's no good.

 

[WorthFlorida]

This is what my brother did at his house. A macerator behind the bathroom wall in another room and elevated the shower and toilet floor. Kept the sink at the concrete floor and it drains into the macerator. Going this way you do not have to move the WH and just need rearrange the bathroom. Just a suggestion. The macerator is not cheap but beats cutting up the concrete floor.

https://www.saniflodepot.com/produc...mgoDkeTrSz4omeuzNXJkkmcgJDlv8rVRoCLAQQAvD_BwE.

Just note that Saniflo devices and any other brand must have a independant vent going to the outdoors. It cannot be tied to the house vent system. As water enters the tank, it pushes the air out of the tank and it has to go somewhere. When it pumps out the liquid, air must enter. An AAV cannot be used since it only allows air to enter. An inspector may look at the installation instructions as a reference. Part of their job includes the appliance was installed correctly.

 

[bootlegend]

Thank you. I am trying to do the same sort of thing. I was hopeful the sketch would illustrate it but I realize it isn't the best. I have relocated the WH from where the shower is in the sketch to where it is shown. I need to raise the shower for the P Trap to flow over to the Saniflo macerator/pump that sits behind the toilet. No need to raise toilet because Saniflo offers the rear discharge toilet. But that leaves me trying to get any T&P WH relief to the existing floor drain, labeled in the attached sketch. Going through the walls and then discharging at the drain but it would be covered by the step up to the shower level.

 

[Phog]

I'm not a pro. So don't take this as universal bible. But regarding the inspector, it's your job to look up the codes, make good plans, and be familiar with what you're doing. The inspector is not a 1-800-helpline resource to answer broad "how do i do this?" questions for DIYers. But as long as you do your own prior research, have familiarity with relevant code sections, and are asking specific clarifying questions, the inspector should usually not have a problem answering.

 

[bootlegend]

Thanks Phog. That's what I hoped. I'm looking into it as much as possible, but I know codes can be deceptively ambiguous. I have asked two plumber friends their opinions and they both said that they think it would be acceptable as long as the drain is accessible (removable floor panel or something). Like WorthFlorida mentioned above, I just need to make sure the drain doesn't dry out. But both friends did say I may wan't to run it by an inspector.

 

[Phog]

For floor drains sometimes a check valve can be acceptable, I've also heard of people piping a nearby fixture into the upstream of the floor drain trap (like a stationary wash tub drain outlet) to keep it filled. And of course the trap primer that WorthFlorida mentioned. Which one(s) of those options you can use will be up to the inspector, and what the inspector is looking for perhaps might not even be specifically written into local code. In this case you'd first read the code & then follow your plumber friends advice-- ask the inspector what they'll be looking for. And then be prepared that the final answer might be that the inspector just wants you to jackhammer the floor and move the drain a couple feet over to an area where it won't be covered.

 

[bootlegend]

It did cross my mind to just move the step closer to the shower so that the drain is exposed. Then I wouldn't need to drain through wall because the floor would carry any water to the drain. I'm using a waterproof vinyl so that would be okay, but I would have a huge drain opening (~8") in the floor. Maybe I could find a decorative drain cover that I could fit the flooring around.