Floor Drain

[lebowski714]

I know there are a ton of variables and depends on the state and local inspector but I'm wondering if anybody has ever run into problems trying to get approval for a brewery without floor drains. Of course I would like to have them but the building we wish to lease has in-floor heat and can't cut into the floor to install a drain.

Thanks,
Chris

[kugeman]

Chris, regardless of what the local health code is, I can't imagine how its possible to operate a brewery without floor drains. My current operation has a bunch of drains but unslopped floors, and even that is a HUGE pain in the a**.

No matter how hard you try there will be lots of liquid on the floor. I have drip trays under all the tanks but it's a losing battle. Just the condensate coming off the tanks during cooling is a mess.

If you've already figured out a plan of attack for keeping floors dry I'd love to hear it.

Just my 2 cents....

[mmussen]

I have to agree, even with floor drains and being careful the amount of water that ends up on the floor is way more than you would think. I can't imagine trying to work in a brewery that didn't have any floor drains.

[Thirsty_Monk]

Also agree.
Find a different space.

[lebowski714]

Yeah, I agree.

Just hate to find another place over something silly like floor drains, given all of the other great features the property has.

Thanks for the feedback.

[gitchegumee]

Besides keeping the weather out, there is very little more important in a building than floor drains.

[Ted Briggs]

pour a sloaping slab with drains over the existing one?

[BlackCatBrewing]

Floor drains are not silly they are a necessity! You're better off with a dirt floor than a heated floor as the dirt can absorb water. Sometimes people build the floor up, if that's not a possibility I'd look for a new location

[Bham Brewer]

I worked in one place many moons ago that didn't have proper floor drains (none in brewhouse, one single 4" in ferm room). We were doing 6 barrels a day and while it wasn't horrible, I REALLY wouldn't recommend it. There were headaches, improvisations and "make do" actions.... for instance, when cleaning a ferm, we had to put a tub under the ferm drain. Spent yeast, etc, was rinsed, drained into the tub and then pumped to the single floor drain. Had to watch level in the tub to make sure it didn't over flow, if it did you were gonna be mopping!

Been there, done that, wouldn't want to do it again...

[Renzo]

If it doesn't have a drain at all, then you can easily plumb one in from outside the building under the existing concrete slab and run it in as far as you can dig under then through the foundation. Jackhammer a hole in the slab first and run a pipe out through the hole. Keeep the top of the waste as low to the slab as possible then just get a floor tiler in to screed the floor to fall to then tile it with cheap tiles. The underfloor heating shouldn't reach all the way to the edges of the building. If it does then fit the wastes into the bottom of the walls by digging them out a bit - sort of like creating a small cave in the bottom of the wall then get the tiler to screed to those holes.

[SRB]

I wouldn't want to imagine a world where my brewery does not have a trench drain. The more trench drain the better, with as much slope as possible.

Just the thought of buckets and pumps sent shivers down my spine. We have our own list of pain in the ass jobs at our brewery (hand scrubbing open fermenters comes to mind), and brewers obviously can make do with less than ideal situations, but the lack off a floor, or trench drain sounds like a nightmare.