Trench Drain Material - Body & Grate

[Powers]

I've been having a fun ride through the world of trench drain spec sheets over the last few weeks. We need to get an order in on trench drains for our new floor, but I'm having trouble finding a trench drain that has the proper chemical and thermal properties, but doesn't cost me both arms, one leg, and an eye.

Our plumber provided us with a fiberglass composite trench body and an HDPE grate. Alternatively, he said we could go with stainless steel grates. The HDPE made the total cost (drain + body) $45/ft, while the stainless left us at $120/ft.

So my first call for help is whether anyone has any experience with the HDPE drain covers (high density polyethylene)?

My second question is whether anyone has a recommendation for a reliable trench drain body? The chemical spec on the fiberglass composite trench body doesn't look too good either. Check out the last column, for ProPlus GRP. http://www.josam.com/images/josammkt...ChemResist.pdf
I've looked at the NDS dura slope based on a recommendation from other forum users, and it looks like it has pretty decent chemical and thermal specs (see last page of link):
http://www.ndspro.com/images/stories...system-tsg.pdf

Any advice is much appreciated! Thanks everyone.

Marcus Powers
Head Brewer/Co-Founder
Zipline Brewing Co.
Lincoln, NE

[CopperKettle]

We have a plastic trench drain body with a stainless grate now, unsure of the specific type of plastic, but it is cracking already after one year of service. We spec'ed out our needs and our contractor picked the drain. We told him our chemical use so one would assume he got a drain that "allegedly" could handle them. We plan to cut it out and reconfigure the drains next year and will be doing all stainless. Yes it costs a lot more but it should last MUCH longer.

[beauxman]

After 3 years, ours is failing to the point of end of life/drastic repairs because now the foundation is being compromised. Spec sheets said it could handle the chemicals and heat. Reality says otherwise, the plastic/fiberglass is cracked and pulling away from the concrete. Luck for me, we are growing fast and I am ripping it all out soon for a new config. The question is now, what will stand up to the test of time and abuse.

Beaux Bowman
Black Raven Brewing

[yap]

I am using the Duraslope that you mentioned, but it doesn't have a lot of use on it yet so I can't speak to long term durability at this point.

What I can tell you is that if you plan to have any forklift (or even pallet jack) movement over the drain then the HDPE covers will not survive. I have already broken 3 of them moving a grain pallet over it. If you are super careful and only move the pallet jack wheel over the grate where it is supported by a cross member, then you'll have better luck. It's a pain to try to navigate through cramped space like that though. If you aren't driving over it then the plastic grates are fine in my opinion...

[fastricky]

Pretty timely thread for me... I'm looking into these guys:

http://www.infinitytrench.com/

Any reviews out there?

[malty1]

I recommend Zurn products. After a few years of heavy use in a 75,000bbl/yr brewery the drains did not have any issues.

[fastricky]

I recommend Zurn products. After a few years of heavy use in a 75,000bbl/yr brewery the drains did not have any issues.

Thanks, can you be more specific on which model? (I imagine you're referring something on the "High Density Polyethylene" page): http://www.zurn.com/Pages/ProductsLi...NodeKey=322579

[malty1]

Thanks, can you be more specific on which model? (I imagine you're referring something on the "High Density Polyethylene" page): http://www.zurn.com/Pages/ProductsLi...NodeKey=322579

Yes, HDPE is a great material to use. The stainless steel grates work well. I've used a drain similar to the Z886-HD. To clean the drains we would alternate between pressure washing and soaking the drains with caustic. The only issue was that the concrete around the drains started to deteriorate over time!

Beers,

Aaron

[fastricky]

No issue with boiling water being poured down it?

[fastricky]

I just spoke to Zurn... the 886 is spec'd to max temp of 140 degrees.

They said go stainless.

[malty1]

I just spoke to Zurn... the 886 is spec'd to max temp of 140 degrees.

They said go stainless.

Just curious, why do you need to put boiling water down the drain? I assume you are using hot water to sanitize? If used by fermenters and brights the 886 should work well and save you money by not going all stainless.

[CopperKettle]

I will repeat, do not skimp on plastic drains. Get STAINLESS. Yes it is expensive but so is everything else in the brewery. It will cost you more to have to rip it out and replace it than to do it right the first time. I have the ZURN HDPE drains (I called and had my contractor check the invoices from our construction) and they are cracking in multiple places after only a year.

[Fennellys]

Pretty timely thread for me... I'm looking into these guys:

http://www.infinitytrench.com/

Any reviews out there?

I can't review these guys because it took many many emails and many voice mails over a few weeks before I finally got to talk to a real person. They were out of stock on basically everything and were very apathetic on telling me when they might be back in stock. I ended up going with a different trench that I regret buying and wish I would have got the dura slope stuff.

[fastricky]

I'm revisiting this thread because for the 2 40' runs of trench we'll have in our brewery, the cost to go stainless is $30k!!!

Does that seem right? I'm thinking even if the plastic stuff fails after 4 years or so, the cost of replacing will still be significantly less than stainless.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[RiverCityBrew]

In our old building our trench drain was a poured in place concrete trough with a grate over the top of it. After hearing the nightmares about conventional trench drains i'm wondering if this is the best option. Our was about 10" wide so you didn't spend time chasing stuff on the floor to the drain.