garage drain to yard?

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slakwhere

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last year i moved from propane outdoors to electric in the garage. until recently i have been moving the brew stand next to the garage door and my drain line from my pump has been flowing down the driveway. i've been cleaning equipment outside with the hose. it's cold and miserable. I am now switching to bottom drains for clean in place, and want to plum a drain (and a vent hood) so i can brew fully indoors with the doors closed.

here's my question, is it possible for me to just plumb a sink/drain in the wall that drains into the ground? will i have any problems with starsan, oxyclean or wort draining into the ground?

my other option seems to be to actually plum to the house (detached from the garage) but would mean i could probably run some water lines out there (and possibly gas for heat). but that's WAY more expensive.
 
I imagine oxyclean may be your only culprit. I grew up in a hill billy house and the dishwasher and kitchen sink ran out strait to a tree. The tree was beautiful, and took the soap well....
 
I rinse my keggle into a dirt section in my backyard and it doesn't stink or anything. The hops kind of hang out though so after a while I'll just rake it around. If you have wet conditions that stay wet for a while and muddy soils then it may be a bad idea. Mold will grow on the sugars if it stays on top.
 
I have all of my drains to the yard. I have never had any problems so I would say go for it.
 
my system drains to the sump hole and right outside wont make the crying indian happy, but what he dont know wont hurt him
 
Maybe dig a hole large enough to fit a 55 gallon drum. Put a bunch of holes in it and put a bunch of silt screen around it to keep the dirt out. Fill it with a bunch of larger size rocks and plumb into it. This would surly give you enough capacity to drain into.
 
Yeah, that's the idea. You will still want to have a p-trap to keep any gasses that may form in their rightful location, but for the most part, since it is just gray water it really doesn't need to be 'treated'. I run my clothes washer out to the yard to keep from taxing the septic in my house. This is a more 'aesthetic' solution. Or, you could just run a hose out to different parts of the yard each time you brew.
 
I would go with the French drain idea or the 55 gal drum idea. I am thinking of doing the same thing when I build my shop. I used to do the same thing with down spouts on houses when I did yard drainage. We would dig a hole, run drainage pipe in about the half way point and fill about 3/4 the way with rock top of with dirt and put sod over it.
 
I would say a pice of "Peanut Pipe" this is perforated black plastic pipe that has Peanuts like shipping boxes that are in a net around pipe. It is used for Septic lateral lines. Dig trench lay pipe put gravel in then dirt over top. Also don't trap the drain just go straight out ( trap will freeze)
You are making a gray water system
 
I would say a pice of "Peanut Pipe" this is perforated black plastic pipe that has Peanuts like shipping boxes that are in a net around pipe. It is used for Septic lateral lines. Dig trench lay pipe put gravel in then dirt over top. Also don't trap the drain just go straight out ( trap will freeze)
You are making a gray water system

Good call... I forgot this is not in a controlled environment.
 
Well I am lazy and don't like to overbuild, so I would advocate just running it out onto the lawn considering the occasional light usage, BUT...while the chemicals might not hurt the lawn, the heat from a chiller, or CIP will. Probably be OK if you run cold water while draining...

I also like the perforated pipe in crushed stone if you don't mind the expense and labor.
 
Huaco said:
Maybe dig a hole large enough to fit a 55 gallon drum. Put a bunch of holes in it and put a bunch of silt screen around it to keep the dirt out. Fill it with a bunch of larger size rocks and plumb into it. This would surly give you enough capacity to drain into.

I did something like this with my downspout on the front of my house. Should work fine.
 
Look into dry well kits. It is basically the buried drum idea. My house has one for grey water. Though it has been disconnected for many applications, one bathroom (minus the toilet) is still on the grey well and it is not conveniently located for brewing.
 
Maybe dig a hole large enough to fit a 55 gallon drum. Put a bunch of holes in it and put a bunch of silt screen around it to keep the dirt out. Fill it with a bunch of larger size rocks and plumb into it. This would surly give you enough capacity to drain into.


+1

Building a "septic" style system would be the most environmentally sound option.
 
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