Seasonal Sinks In Garage / Workshop?

[Lewis Cobb]

It's finally starting to get warm enough in this part of Canada to get out into the garage and tinker. I have a dedicated workshop off the back of my garage that I can heat separately but there's no easy way to plumb a sink out there becuase there's no way to get into the house with the pipes.

However, in the garage, there is a way - and I can run the lines through the ledger board and they will come out in the basement. This got me to thinking -

Has anyone installed a sink in their workshops that they use on a seasonal basis? i.e. in the dead of winter, the thing is disconnected and not used? I can install those outside taps that have the shutoff 12" from the tap so there's no freezing to contend with there, but the drain - i.e. the P trap - had me scratching my head. Maybe some way to blow it out, disconnect it etc. for the winter months.

I'd really like to have a sink close by instead of strealing through the house with the workclothes on, covered in mess and getting a blast from SWMBO on a regular basis.

Anyone done something like this ?

Thanks,
Lewis

[harry strasil]

My Blacksmith shop was never heated at night in the winter, we have one of those freeze proof self draining hydrants like farmers use that flows into a small salvaged sink and then into the sewer. Its one of those 8 ft below ground ones, in a bricked up pit where the city water meter is located.

[Frank Hagan]

Has anyone installed a sink in their workshops that they use on a seasonal basis? i.e. in the dead of winter, the thing is disconnected and not used? I can install those outside taps that have the shutoff 12" from the tap so there's no freezing to contend with there, but the drain - i.e. the P trap - had me scratching my head. Maybe some way to blow it out, disconnect it etc. for the winter months.

Try finding a p-trap with a clean out:

[David G Baker]

Like Frank posted, a P trap with a clean out will do the trick. Many commercial bathrooms in Michigan have the P trap with a clean out and are covered with an insulation product shaped for use on P traps.

[Lewis Cobb]

Thanks for the info folks. I'm off to the plumbing supply store here on Monday to search out the items. I have never seen that insulation that goes over P traps but it probably exists around here somewhere.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Doug Shepard]

The one in my unheated GaShop had the pipe laid in the concrete slab when it was poured and comes out from the basement wall in the laundry room in the house. Every fall I have to shut that pipe off in the laundry room the blow compressed air through it to get the water out. It's a PITA but it works.

[Andrew Duncan]

It's a PITA but it works.

My seasonal sink is supplied by a yard hydrant connected to a sink inside my shop by a garden hose. The hose is disconnected from the hydrant (but not the sink) during the winter. The hooked up an air fitting on the hot water side of the faucet to blow it out for winterizing. In practice, I find it's easier to just pour some RV/Boater antifreeze into the hose until it runs out the faucet. This takes all of 1 minute and avoids having to climb under and behind the sink to get to the air fitting.

As to drainage, there's no trap involved as the drain is simply a PVC line out to the woods. I have a rural house with a septic system, and I'm no more likely to dump something nasty down the house drain than I am out the shop drain that dumps on the ground.

[Lee Mitchell]

Howdy All!

Re: Outdoor Sink hookup

I've done a couple of these - inside shop, outside shop, patio/grill area. I live out in the country with a septic tank. Due to the distances and cost for both fresh and grey water with standard plumbing, the following is what I use.

Take your faucet with you to a home improvement store. Match up a coupling that'll allow you to attach a garden hose instead of a supply line to your faucet. Get one for each side. Attach these to the faucet.

Next, get a Y shaped washing machine hose. Attach each leg of the hose to each side of the faucet.

If you have an old garden hose, cut off a length (exact amount is up to you and your circumstances) of the female end of the hose. Use a hose repair kit to add another female end. You have a length of hose with a female connector on each end. Attach one end to the remaining end of the Y washing machine hose. Attach the other to your regular garden hose.

The advantage of this setup is that for winter all you have to do is disconnect your garden hose from the water supply and open the faucets at your sink. As long as you can get some down hill slope on your hose, all the water will drain. Let it drain, then put a cap on the end of the hose to keep it clean until the next time.

Now for the drain. I don't put in a trap, as it isn't needed in this situation. There are no sewer gases for the trap to stop. Simply attach a short straight connector to the sink basket assembly. Then attach a sump pump hose to the connector with a radiator hose clamp. If memory serves, this flexible drain hose is 15-20' long, it can be be routed to a convenient spot for the grey water.

Note: If you can't route grey water this way, one alternative is to use a bucket under the sink. Or, check out the portable grey water tanks used by rec vehicles.

BTW, for hot water water in my shop, I have a kettle on the woodstove, a single burner hot plate, a propane camp stove and a microwave. So while I'd like to have fast hot water, one of these options will work.

If you use the water in your shop for drinking, coffee, etc. either use a food grade water hose or let the water run for a while to flush out any accumulated chemicals that may have leached from a standard garden hose. And, I always sanitize the hoses that I use for this purpose. (Fill the hose with a chlorine bleach and water solution. Let stand about 20 minutes. Then flush well.)

Sorry to be so long winded on my first post. Hope the info here is of some help.

Lee

[Bob Slater]

I bought a small stainless industrial sink on Ebay and plan to hook it up to a 30 gallon tank mounted above it, I will only use this sink for hand washing and maybe some parts washing. The water will drain into a container below and I will dump it out the door every few days. Pretty crude, but I have no water nearby even though my shop is in the heart of the city.

[Pete Shermet]

Hi Lewis,
This sounds like winterizing a cottage, in doing so I just use plumbers anti-freeze in the p trap ( and mine also have the clean out but it was a PITA to open them every season to drain them) these things are not designed to be constantly opened and closed so eventually they leaked and had to be replaced, and with ABS you know that means they had to be cut out.
If you needed to open and close them often I have seen plastic ball valves at Princess Auto that may be able to be adapted to the drain of the P trap.
As I recall you are in Northern Ontario (Sudbury or the Sault I think)
They just opened a New Princess Auto in Sudbury , if you've never been there I recommend you go but plan on spending an hour or two maybe more just looking at all the neat stuff!!!!LOL
Best Regards
Pete

[Lewis Cobb]

Hi Lewis,
This sounds like winterizing a cottage, in doing so I just use plumbers anti-freeze in the p trap ( and mine also have the clean out but it was a PITA to open them every season to drain them) these things are not designed to be constantly opened and closed so eventually they leaked and had to be replaced, and with ABS you know that means they had to be cut out.
If you needed to open and close them often I have seen plastic ball valves at Princess Auto that may be able to be adapted to the drain of the P trap.
As I recall you are in Northern Ontario (Sudbury or the Sault I think)
They just opened a New Princess Auto in Sudbury , if you've never been there I recommend you go but plan on spending an hour or two maybe more just looking at all the neat stuff!!!!LOL
Best Regards
Pete

Hi Pete -
I'm actually in Fredericton in New Brunswick. There's a Princess Auto down here but thankfully it's about 1.5 hours drive away. My wife would never see me and the house would be jammed full of stuff if it was any closer -

I like your idea about the drain valve on the P trap - but the anti freeze idea might just do me as well. This is in a garage that is attached to the house but unheated. In actuality, the temperature gets close to freezing some years out there but not actually freezing. Then again, for the odd year when it does get down there, I'd rather be prepared.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers,
Lewis

[David G Baker]

I live in Mid Michigan, if I leave bottled water in my car overnight while it is parked in my unheated garage it will freeze solid. I can't leave any liquids in my garage during the Winter months or it freezes.