Moving to the basement

I'm beginning to get things together to move brewing into my basement. One of my biggest problems is waste water removal. The sewer drain is 3 feet off the floor and cast iron. Has any one used anything like this...

1/4 HP Utility Sink Pump-FPUS1860A at The Home Depot

or like this...

1/4 HP Submersible Sink Pump System-Fp0S1800LTS at The Home Depot

to pump waste water to an above grade drain?

Yeah, those would work, but are $$$. At three feet of head you could get away with a smaller pump. I found this: 3200 GPH Vertical Float Sump Pump.

Does 28ft of total head lift mean that it can pump 28ft vertically? Because of where i would have to tap into a drain line, i need to pump about 8ft vertically?

Also, this one is a sump pump. Wouldn't be able to use one of those in my case. But thank you sir for the reply.

Yeah, at 28 feet of head, that pump would have no flow (max lift). Eight feet would be fine. If no sump, how are you thinking of collecting the water to be disposed?

centralpabrewer said:

Does 28ft of total head lift mean that it can pump 28ft vertically? Because of where i would have to tap into a drain line, i need to pump about 8ft vertically?

Also, this one is a sump pump. Wouldn't be able to use one of those in my case. But thank you sir for the reply.

Click to expand...

Why wouldn't you be able to use it?

You would need to get a catch basin and all the plumbing to connect it.

I think I would use the pump system though, just for the convenience of not having to do all the building. After finding all the parts and making all the fittings you would probably be spending almost the same $$.

With the two pumps from home depot, the second sits in reservoir tank, so I guess you could technically call that one a sump pump, but it is an all in one unit.

With the first one, it's more like a garbage disposal type, no reservoir, water goes in and gets pumped out.

I see what you mean ... Your drain line would be direct to the pump. A sump pump would work, but only with some sort of sump (bucket, garbage can, etc.). Are you installing a sink in your basement?

Yes, I plan on putting in a utility sink of some sort. Sorry I guess I should have specified that in my first post.

I just skimmed over this thread, but I think what you are looking for is a lift station. They're designed for below grade applications. Should be a tank with an integrated pump all together in one package.

I have a similar situation at home. I have an old house (~115 years old) so no floor drain. I have a utility sink with a pump box below it. As you can see in the picture, it's connected to the drain at the bottom and pumps to the right and up through the PVC. The red handled valve (or whatever is right below it) is a check valve. The pump goes about 4.5 feet up and then rides down and ties into the main stack along with some other items (washer waste water and 1st floor sink / disposal). In the last picture, you can (barely) see that there is a PVC piece that threads into the cast iron.

By the way, if you're going install a utility sink, I highly recommend getting a goose neck faucet (got one for about $25 at a plumbing supply store) so you can much more easily maneuver the faucet to clean out buckets, etc. I have a garden hose quick connect on the end of it to connect tubing to do remote filling of cornys, etc. I would LOVE to get a goose necked sprayer like you see in restaurant dishwashing stations, but those are $$$ for whatever reason. If this is a new application, I would recommend getting a double (or triple?) utility sink. I frequently wish I had another sink so I can soak things in one while working in the other, etc. It's a nice to have sure, but it is very nice. Of course I also would love a drain board as well, but I have that solved with some wire shelving (off-camera) with some towels laid on the bottom shelf. It's amazing how much cleaning goes on with this hobby...