A floor drain found in your basement or laundry room is one of the most vital bits of plumbing you have in your home. No matter where it happens to be, it is important that your floor drain has a few vital components in order to properly function. Living in Vancouver, you may have had to deal with some rainwater seeping into your basement at a particularly wet point of the season. When this happens, your floor drain will end up being the spot where the water drains out of the basement and into the sewer. If your drain is not properly plumbed, you can run into some nasty problems as an excess amount of water tries to escape down the drain.
To avoid these issues in the future, it is important to make sure you have a floor drain that is built with the necessary components. If not, you might consider using the following tips from our Plumbing Experts to repair the issue at home.
Basement floor drain
Components of a Basic Floor Drain
To start you’ll need a basic understanding of how a properly constructed floor drain works. There are two major components to any floor drain. They are vital to its ability to drain water effectively while preventing any foul odours or backups emerging from the sewer. The first component is what is known as a cleanout. This is an access hole that is connected to the drain via a bypass pipe. When a drain gets clogged and needs to be cleared using a drain cleaning tool such as an auger, the cleanout is where you’ll gain access to the main drain. A cleanout must always be capped with a specific cleanout plug unless it is in use.
The other vital component to any floor drain is what is known as a ‘P-trap’. This is a bend in the pipe that is connected to the drain. Its purpose is to prevent serious backups of water and foul odours from reaching the interior of your home. You can find examples of P-traps all over your home connected to every drain. However, the one connected to your floor drain is the most important. Now you know about the important components of your floor drain you’ll be able to perform basic floor drain plumbing on your own.
Plumbing Your Basement Floor Drain
Before you get started on doing the job yourself, you might want to consult with your local Vancouver plumber to make sure there aren’t any glaring issues you might not have noticed beforehand. You can get some helpful advice about products such as cleanout plugs that can be used when the threads on your old cleanout are worn off.
To get started on plumbing your floor drain you’ll need to confirm that your drain is equipped with the components we mentioned above. You may need to replace the old cleanout cover with a new plug once you’re finished. This will prevent harmful gas from seeping into your home, causing foul odours and in some cases illness. To plumb the floor drain, open the cleanout and insert your drain cleaning tool through the pipe that bypasses the drain and P-Trap. If you find after using the tool and pouring water down the drain that there is still a clog present, it is likely time to call in the help of a trained professional.
If you have a floor drain issue you can’t fix on your own, or if you are not sure about how to prevent the issue from occurring again, be sure to contact the plumbing experts at MidCity Plumbers today!
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