Advice for a new darkroom

[Steve Duprey]

I'm setting up a dasrkroom in my home, and have hit a design snag. Water supply is no problem. but the sink is below the main sanitary drain line for the house. I was thinking of pumping it up to the laundry sink (just over the darkroom) and draining through that, but wonder if this is likely to be a bad idea. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Best regards,

-SPD

 

[JBrunner]

Are you saying the drain line exits the house above the basement floor? Non vertically?

 

[glbeas]

I have the same situation with my darkroom. I use a grey water pump from Home Depot. The only thing to watch out for is the hose clamps holding things together tend to rust out and cause leaks internally. I solved it this last go around with some large tie wraps, pulled them tight with pliers and they are holding for now.

 

[mgb74]

It's not that uncommon to have pumps to drain waste water UP to the outlet, even toilets (toilets require a different type of pump). For example, in our lakehouse, we have a basement sink that drains into a sump hole. From there, it's pumped up to the main drain where it flows into the septic system. I will say that building codes in that location are not as stringent as in many cities.

Any sump pump should work, though I can't say how it will stand up to chemicals. You should make sure that you install a checkvalve. The sump pump would need to be sized so that it won't be overwhelmed by the water supply.

But I infer from your post that there is no sump hole, raising the question of how you would mount the pump. Is that the case?

 

[DWThomas]

Somewhere I believe I've seen a small (about a cubic foot or so) self-contained unit that is a sump tank plus pump. It mounts under a sink, is plumbed in with closed pipe connections and just comes to life when the sump level rises. The problem is not that uncommon with any basement remodeling.

Edit: A little Googling shows Dead Link Removed. The unit I think I saw way back when was off white and rectangular, but these sound like possibilities.

DaveT

 

[George Papantoniou]

I've got a system like that installed in my darkroom, for the same reason. I have two 100lt tanks with a submergible pump installed in each one. It works fine, but one of the two pumps (it was an old one) broke down after a couple of years and had to be replaced. You can operate like that without any problems, as long as you keep an eye for the pumps from time to time. An alarm (if the pump does not work and the level in the tank rises) can be convenient.

 

[Monophoto]

Steve -

I've done that for years, both in the former home and in the current darkroom. I use a Rubbermaid bin as a reservoir, with a Home Despot sump pump to pump the gray water up to the basement ceiling level from which it can flow down into the house drain. I did put a check valve in the line from the pump to the house drain to prevent a backflow if the house system ever backs up.

My sump pump is about 10 years old at this point, and is starting to fail. The first sign of a problem was that it kept tripping the GFI receptacle that it was plugged into. So I do tend to get a little nervous when the gray water level starts approaching the top of the reservoir. One of these days I will replace it.

Have the same arrangement for a wash tub in my workshop at the other end of the basement.