Floor Drain Pipe Pitch

Laying a drainage pipe for plumbing is a job for professionals.

Floor drain pipe pitch. This drain pipe slope calculator will calculate the slope and total drop fall of a drainage pipe over a specified length of pipe. A pipe that slopes too much drains water but not solids. Don t bite off more than you can chew. A slope of less than 1 4 inch per foot will cause constant drain clogs and a slope of more than three inches will allow the water to drain without the solids.

Lay the pipe with enough slope to drain to a non perforated pipe that carries the collected water to daylight to a drywell to a storm sewer if approved by the local municipality or to a sump pump that will. A pipe with a very extreme slope of 45 degrees or more is considered vertical. Calculating the slope of your drain pipe is easy. A pipe that doesn t slope enough won t drain.

How to use the calculator. According to plumbing code drain pipe has to be sloped a minimum of 1 4 inch per foot and a maximum of three inches per foot or vertical. Install drain pipe to sit outside of not on top of the footings and below the bottom of the concrete slab or crawlspace floor. Drain pipe slope calculator.

The term slope is also frequently used and has the same meaning as pitch. According to the international plumbing code drainage pipes should be run with a uniform slope at the following minimum pitches. Usually 1 8 per foot is plenty for drainage this is the same as the commonly recommended 1 slope. If you re installing a drain pipe here s an easy way to figure out the slope for a drain pipe.

But there are other issues concerning pitch to keep in mind. While vent piping generally runs straight to the building s roof in a vertical path drain and waste branch pipes must slope toward main drainpipes which slope toward main drain outlets. Pipe slope and pitch terminology plumbers and building authorities express slope in either percent grade or inches per 1 foot unit. Larger lines such as 8 pipe actually require less pitch due to the larger circumference of the pipe.

Expressing slope in. It is generally accepted that 1 4 per foot of pipe run is the minimum for proper pitch on a sewer line. With the siphon principle in mind i first make sure that any drain less than 3 inches in diameter has at least a 1 4 inch slope 1 8 inch slope for 3 inch diameter and greater and then i simply measure from the floor assuming that it is level to the bottom of the drain at the trap connection where the trap weir is located. All of your drain pipe with one exception must slope slightly downhill.

Standard horizontal drainage pipe slope. Note that i said the drain pipe must be sloped rather than the french drain.