On 01/22/2014 06:03 PM, Jeff Wisnia wrote:

Am I correct in assuming that the drain of a urinal equipped with a
Sloan "sensor activated Flushometer" valve should be able to accept that
valve failing in the open position and handle the full water flow
without the urinal overflowing?

That didn't happen in our office building last night when a valve in the
second floor mens room failed to close, the urinal overflowed and the
floor drain also could not handle the continuous flow so the water went
out under the bathroom door, spread into a couple of offices and then
leaked down into several offices below, including mine.

Our landlord's maintenance manager called it "a perfect storm" and there
have been workers here all day cleaning up the messes it caused.

Just for S&Gs (I guess I should say P&Gs)I tested the urinal in the
first floor mens room a few minutes ago. I pushed the manual button on
the top of the Flushometer valve as often as it would accept a push and
watched the water level in the urinal continue to rise while I did that.
I have no doubt that it would have overflowed had I continued, or the
valve got stuck open.

The building is about 25 years old and I suspect that nobody gave much
thought to testing the urinal and floor drain's capacities during that
time, and most likely they were partially clogged. I hope they will in
the future.

Jeff




A plumber who once came to my house to snake out a drain tested it by
turning on the hot and cold water full blast. He told me that any
fixture's drain must be able to handle the full input without backing up.

Since the floor drain could not handle the overflow either...I assume
the entire drain pipe must be clogged.