Plumbing drain through exterior house wall.

[pledosophy]

I am looking to setup a tank on an exterior wall (no crawlspace). I would like to plumb a drain through that wall and out into my sewer line. Ideally the drain will start in my sump, and then the overflow would go out and through.

I am considering also putting a water changing station out of the same wall and drilling another hole to pump the water in from outside.

Has anyone done this? I have no idea how I would go about drilling the hole, and how to properly seal it etc.

My interior wall is standard drywall, my exterior wall is masonite siding. I would like the drain to be at least 1" and the inlet to be the same.

In a perfect world I would be able to have my skimmer drain down the line, and be able to do water changes by simply pumping new water into the tank, and then the overflow would drain back out. This way I would not have to lift buckets or hoses ever and the water changes could be done with a flip of a switch so to speak.

If you have done this is there anything I can add to make it work better?

Thanks!

 

[Ron Reefman]

First question is, where do you live? Is there any chance of weather cold enough to freeze things?

I live in SW Florida and I ran a 1hp chiller out behind the house. But then in 20 years here, we've only had light frost 2 nights. And that isn't cold enough to be an issue.

 

[Billdogg]

^^^What Ron said^^^


Location, location, location!

Can you do it? Sure! I drilled a 6" hole in the side of my house to install a vent fan in my woodshop. I have a cap for it when not in use and to help keep the cold out in the winter (Central Ohio). If yo live someplace it rarely or never freezes I say go for it. If you live someplace that it does freeze in the winter, perhaps build a nice insulated box for the plumbing to exit so that it doesn't freeze up on you.

 

[ScottJ]

This sounds like it doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it... Make sure there is no wiring in the path of the holes you drill!

There, I feel better. Great idea btw. I love automation.

 

[Gtinnel]

I'm not familiar with the type of siding but I doubt drilling the hole should be that much of an issue. Just use a long drill bit to drill all of the way through the wall. Then use the small hole as a guide for the pilot bit for holes saws on both inside and outside, so the holes line up. You can use a carbide tipped hole saw on the outside if necessary. You could then just seal the pup with a little bit of silicone. As stated just make sure it doesn't hit wiring/plumbing/studs in the wall.
As for the aquarium part, is the plan to make an overflow on the sump so that if you add new saltwater an equal amount just overflows out of the sump and through the wall and into a outside drain? If I understand that as what you are wanting to do, what happens when you turn your return pump off? Wouldn't the extra water that the sump normally holds without the pump on also just drain out of the overflow and down the drain? Also if you have the drain of your skimmer going straight to a drain you need to be sure your skimmer never goes nuts and starts overflowing huge amounts of water. I was going to run skimmer drain hose directly into a drain but mine overflows fairly frequently, so I couldnt.

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Might be a Code Violation, would certainly draw the attention of Enforcement Inspector. All it takes is one neighbor to call. Yep, been there, done that, when a neighbor called about a new ground water discharge, off of a new sump pit. BTW, here they can come on your property, without permission, and it is very easy for them to get an interior inspection warrant!

 

[jdiefenbaugh]

Are you talking about tapping into a sanitary drain line, or just diverting to an existing drain outside your house? Please tell me you aren't thinking about tapping directly to a sanitary waste.

 

[dennis romano]

If you are draining into a sewer line, you run the problem of sewer gases backing into your house. There must be a P-trap filled with water to prevent this. There also must be a one way control valve to prevent water from backing from the sewer into your house. I have seen both events happen. Not very pleasant.

 

[pledosophy]

First question is, where do you live? Is there any chance of weather cold enough to freeze things?

I live in SW Florida and I ran a 1hp chiller out behind the house. But then in 20 years here, we've only had light frost 2 nights. And that isn't cold enough to be an issue.

Ron! Always good to see you buddy.

I live in Sunny California, 2 miles from the beach. It NEVER freezes here.

 

[pledosophy]

This sounds like it doesn't need to be said, but I'll say it... Make sure there is no wiring in the path of the holes you drill!

There, I feel better. Great idea btw. I love automation.

Checked that when planning. I will be putting wiring in on the side (running a new breaker for the tank), but I will know right where it is.

 

[pledosophy]

As for the aquarium part, is the plan to make an overflow on the sump so that if you add new saltwater an equal amount just overflows out of the sump and through the wall and into a outside drain? If I understand that as what you are wanting to do, what happens when you turn your return pump off? Wouldn't the extra water that the sump normally holds without the pump on also just drain out of the overflow and down the drain? Also if you have the drain of your skimmer going straight to a drain you need to be sure your skimmer never goes nuts and starts overflowing huge amounts of water. I was going to run skimmer drain hose directly into a drain but mine overflows fairly frequently, so I couldnt.

The drain inside of the sump can be height adjustable. Basically it will be right above where the sump fills up to when the water is off.

Then for a water change I will just pump in the new water. That will cause it to overflow.

At the end of the water change I can turn off the return pump for a moment to get out the extra. At first I thought this would be a waste of new water, but when I looked into it the effect is less than 5%. It if makes changing the water this much easier, I can just do a nominally larger water change to compensate.

The skimmer going nuts can be a problem if not watched. My skimmer now hasn't ever done that but IME the best way to plan/compensate for that is to limit the amount of ATO water that is automatically refilled each day so if that were to happen I could set an alarm to notify me. I like visual alarms so I will probably rig a switch to a light bulb or something like that as well as receive a text for when I am out of town.

My buddy lost his 450g when a skimmer went crazy and he had an unlimited supply of RODI as a reservoir. So I am conscious to not make that mistake.

 

[pledosophy]

Are you talking about tapping into a sanitary drain line, or just diverting to an existing drain outside your house? Please tell me you aren't thinking about tapping directly to a sanitary waste.

No sanitary waste. I would be putting in special drain just for this. I misspoke saying sewer line, I just meant sewer. The drain will go from outside the tank down the side of the house and onto our gutter. I will have to put in a few things to make sure nothing can ever climb up it, but it will be it's own drain. I am contemplating tying it into a french drain that will go out to the street, but I figure it's not that much more expensive to run a second drain line so it's worth the piece of mind.

 

[TriggerFinger]

I drilled two 1” holes through my home with a hole saw. I put PVC tubes through the holes and used silicone around the pvc to keep it from moving. I have caps on the outside to keep the critters out when they are not in use.

 

[User]

If you are draining into a sewer line, you run the problem of sewer gases backing into your house. There must be a P-trap filled with water to prevent this. There also must be a one way control valve to prevent water from backing from the sewer into your house. I have seen both events happen. Not very pleasant.

P-traps I get, but none of the toilets or baths in any of the houses I’ve lived in, including one I had built 5 years ago, have anything like what you are talking about. Not even near the main sewer line that exits the basement wall, or before the junction at the street before it hits the main culvert

I had my last 2 fishroom SW waste line pumped straight into my sanitary waste stack, and no issues. P- trap before it joins the stack and a studor vent on a vertical to avoid vacuuming out the p-traps. 4 years with zero issue, and passed code in GA

 

[ZoWhat]

Bring out the big toys

 

[Gtinnel]

P-traps I get, but none of the toilets or baths in any of the houses I’ve lived in, including one I had built 5 years ago, have anything like what you are talking about. Not even near the main sewer line that exits the basement wall, or before the junction at the street before it hits the main culvert

I had my last 2 fishroom SW waste line pumped straight into my sanitary waste stack, and no issues. P- trap before it joins the stack and a studor vent on a vertical to avoid vacuuming out the p-traps. 4 years with zero issue, and passed code in GA

The valve he is talking about is called a backwater valve and it is just a check valve so if the sewage gets backed up it can't enter into your house. I don't know if it is required but its a good idea to have one, especially if your house is a lower elevation than all of your neighbors.
I actually ran my drain from my AWC into my drain waste vent line and it's never been an issue.

 

[User]

The valve he is talking about is called a backwater valve and it is just a check valve so if the sewage gets backed up it can't enter into your house. I don't know if it is required but its a good idea to have one, especially if your house is a lower elevation than all of your neighbors.
I actually ran my drain from my AWC into my drain waste vent line and it's never been an issue.

Yeah- we have a walkout basement on top of a hill in an area on a plateau - not sure we have much of a flood risk.

however- they seem really inexpensive and easy to install, so I may add one for piece of kind. I’m new to this neighborhood so might poll the neighbours first

thanks.

 

[Gtinnel]

I never had one, and as long as your neighbors houses are lower so it flows into their houses first then it shouldn't matter. However, if raw sewage were to back into my house I'd seriously regret not spending the couple dollars on a valve.

 

[londre5000]

So I am talking with my contractor currently for something very similar. Our idea is to plumb similar to a washer and dryer plumbing in the wall. You can google image this. I was considering have the outside drain to look like water hose spigots so can be open and close and I could hook up a hose to refill the tank from my detached garage. This spigot drains right over my underground over flow drain for when it rains a ton here in Louisiana. As water would not be flowing thru the pipe except during water changes I don’t have to worry about freezing.