Wade Sanitary Pit Thing

[smarcus]

Found this pit in a basement in Chicago, the home was from the 30s. Water from the laundry tub flowed into it and I believe it then went to the sewer. There was a lite sewer gas odor throughout the basement that I believe was coming from this pit. I speculated that there was no trap. However, the smell was not stronger in any one location pretty consistent throughout the basement. In the photo directly above the pit water flowed in from a pipe at the right and out through a pipe to the left. I thought it might be a sediment trap when I was watching it, but can't think of a reason for a sediment trap in a home. Can anyone identify this?

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[John Kogel]

That was then, this is now. I don't think that kind of thing is permitted nowadays, although I can't be sure what they would do with that in Chicago.

I would recommend a drain company check the drainage and replace that pit with a continuous pipe.

I'll bet some of that drain pipe is shot, so the little pit could escalate into a major PITA.

[Bill Kibbel]

Wade was a big manufacturer of interceptors and separators. Interceptors were used for cooking grease and separators for drain systems (like in garages) that might have gas/oil. I'm pretty sure that is their separator.

[kurt]

Kibbel, you're a spook.......

It's the grease trap. Chicago had (has) lousy sewers.

Everyone cooked with lard and dumped it down the drain. All soaps were animal fat based. All that grease clogged up the city sewers.

So, grease traps were required from about 1900 to approximately 1989. All kitchen sink and laundry drains were routed through the grease trap (interceptor), the grease was separated out, and the clarified effluent ran down the outlet to joint the main building sewer.

Sometimes they're in the back yard (most common), sometimes they're in the basement or garage (common on the NW side).

Where was the house?

[smarcus]

House was in Oak Park, IL.

I first saw it I thought grease trap, but the in/out pipes were at the same elevation with no indication of separate chambers, so grease on top would just continue through the pit. At least that's what I thought I observed when watching it. Water in from the right then out through the left.

[Jim Katen]

House was in Oak Park, IL.

I first saw it I thought grease trap, but the in/out pipes were at the same elevation with no indication of separate chambers, so grease on top would just continue through the pit. At least that's what I thought I observed when watching it. Water in from the right then out through the left.

We have similar separators in some of the older garages in Portland. They simply used an elbow at the outlet pipe to act as a baffle. Perhaps the outlet pipe in your picture once had an elbow that has since been removed.

[kurt]

yeah, sometimes the outlet tee is removed by the guy that's rodding tree roots out of the sewer.

[Phillip]

Y'all have me thinking this might have been something like you are talking about. I did not know what it is.

It is out behind an older house. It is about 2 tiles deep.

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[SNations]

House was in Oak Park, IL.

I first saw it I thought grease trap, but the in/out pipes were at the same elevation with no indication of separate chambers, so grease on top would just continue through the pit. At least that's what I thought I observed when watching it. Water in from the right then out through the left.

I've seen something like this once before. That house was in . . . . Oak Park, IL. There was also a grease trap outside.

Mine was also very near the laundry sink. (Based on the paint color of the floor it is most certainly a different house.)