Overflow Plumbing - Safety drain

[Spinny]

My external overflow consists of three 1 1/2" bulkheads. My original thought was to run all three down to the sump. I would use two of them as the drains and the third set higher in the box and use it as a safety drain (to be used when/if the water level inside the DT/overflow was to reach the point of overflowing).

The system has the sump located directly below the DT in the basement. Rather than running the safety plumbing to the sump, is it a better idea to run it directly to the house drain?

[reef2]

i wouldnt run the safety drain to the house plumbing. if ur main drain gets clogged and the emergency one kicks in and dumps the water down the house drain ur return pump will run dry and burn up.

[albano]

Really depends on WHY the DT is at overflow limit, but I would return this overflow to sump, AS LONG AS sump also has overflow drainage to waste. If for example 2 regular DT drains were clogged, and overflow went to house drain, sump would run out of water, possibly burning out pump.

[Spinny]

reef2,

Thanks for the reply, and good point.

So, I guess the way to look at the safety drain is to only pickup the slack if either of the two drains fail, or block partially. With this system in place, the sump(in basement) will overflow before the DT ever would.

[Spinny]

albano,

AS LONG AS sump also has overflow drainage to waste

The floor :lol: , I guess its better than having the flood on the upper level.

[reef2]

if ur drains clog and the emergency picks up the slack u shouldnt have any floods as long as the emergency drain can handle the flow. if the emergency drain cant handle the flow ur dt will flood.

[Spinny]

reef2 and albano,

Thanks for the clarification. So I will run all three 1 1/2" drains to the sump.

Thanks again