My plumber wants to remove my old "U" Trap / "house trap"in my basement

[HarveyCat]

Do these work if I don't have a clogged U-Trap? Seems like to work it needs to be blocked up? I was just trying to do preventative maintenance.

 

[Twowaxhack]

Personally at my house I would remove the house trap. Screw’um this is ‘Merica and it’s my house.

 

[HarveyCat]

Personally at my house I would remove the house trap. Screw’um this is ‘Merica and it’s my house.

What if their 100 year old system has really bad sewer gas? Is the U Trap still obsolete? Can I just take it out anyway?

 

[Twowaxhack]

What if their 100 year old system has really bad sewer gas? Is the U Trap still obsolete? Can I just take it out anyway?

I guess I’d find out. Anyone uphill of you ?

 

[HarveyCat]

I am almost at the highest oint in the city

 

[Twowaxhack]

I am almost at the highest oint in the city

Oh well, do it or don’t.

 

[Bird Doo Head]

Ok - this is crazy - but as it turns out Jersey City will not let you remove house traps/"U traps" - so what should I do?

Maybe they prohibit it because many houses from the olden days have weep tiles under the slab than drain to the building's sewer. The building trap is to prevent sewer gas from getting under the slab through the network & emitting through the concrete.

My current house (1890's, Basement age = ?), and a previous house (1920's), have networks of clay pipes with exposed joints under the basements, as did the house in which I grew up (19-teens). They form a grid under the slab and have footing drains, too.

The water leaks into the joints and is taken to the building U-Trap before the trap drains into the sewer system. One of them also had basement floor drains without traps, relying on the building trap.

One of my brothers has a 1931 house with the same set up.

Advantage? No sump pump required. Our water table is above the basement floor & we're dry. New houses on the block often have 2 or 3 sump pumps.

Paul

 

[Pipe Dreams]

Thanks! So all that needs to be done- is to sawzall out the U Trap and fernco coupling in a 4" PVC cleanout? Really thats it? What about adding a check valve right there - Jersey City has had sewer backups - it has a 100 year old "combined" rain run off and sewer system.

Yep, and make sure you stand right under it so all your sewage can spew out all over you instead of on the floor. That trap is full of sewage, no yes in a nutshell, that is all there is to do, but in practice there is much more that COULD have to be done.

 

[HarveyCat]

Maybe they prohibit it because many houses from the olden days have weep tiles under the slab than drain to the building's sewer. The building trap is to prevent sewer gas from getting under the slab through the network & emitting through the concrete.

My current house (1890's, Basement age = ?), and a previous house (1920's), have networks of clay pipes with exposed joints under the basements, as did the house in which I grew up (19-teens). They form a grid under the slab and have footing drains, too.

The water leaks into the joints and is taken to the building U-Trap before the trap drains into the sewer system. One of them also had basement floor drains without traps, relying on the building trap.

One of my brothers has a 1931 house with the same set up.

Advantage? No sump pump required. Our water table is above the basement floor & we're dry. New houses on the block often have 2 or 3 sump pumps.

Paul

Great info! Thanks