Backwater Valve Checkup

So, my first post I ever wrote was about a cool little backwater sewer valve we had installed in our house.

You see, during heavy rains, we had sewer water reverse its flow from the city sewer back up through our half-basement toilet.  Most of it was clear water, but then, we started having packages from the neighbors spewing on to our floor.

Lovely. Think of the famous "baby ruth" scene from a certain movie:

Yeah.  That's us.

Well, to prevent water from flowing BACKWARDS from the city sewers we had two choices:  An expensive, very labor intensive pump system that would thereafter require electricity to empty the water and waste from half of our house. Or, a simple mechanical flap that would theoretically close whenever water began to reverse its flow BACK to the house.

I usually think along the lines of something like Occam's Razor when it comes to solutions: "when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better."(Thank you, fine folks at  http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html for this definition) So, having two competing systems that should accomplish the same task, I chose the simpler one.

And so we did.  The problem with OLDER flap valves (like this one--NOT THE TYPE OF FLAP WE CHOSE)

I have heard is that when your kid sends an extra fibrous #2 down the drain, or his sister's barbie doll, the flaps get tangled and fouled, and won't properly reseal if backflow happens. But, I suspect the fouling happens because everything MUST make contact with the flap itself.  Contact is bad.  That's how fouls happen. But, if you can look at the picture at the end of this posting, the NEWER valve we put in sends waste OVER (not pushing through) the flap, so fouling isn't such an issue.

What IS an issue, though is that over time, like that white van you drive, the system slowly builds up grime.  So, I have a sign on the utility closet in our basement that reminds me EVERY TWO MONTHS to check both our regular back up sump pump battery AND the backwater valve.

I just checked the backwater valve yesterday after about five weeks of poop and garbage-disposaled food flowing over it, and I found nothing serious had built up yet, but that I did need to take a tooth brush and warm soapy water to reach into some crevices and encourage a few floaties and a little grime on the wall to continue on down the drain.  If you look at the picture below, all you do is unscrew the top and you have easy access to the yello flap below.  Again, a little grime on the walls and a few small pieces had not made their way to wherever poop goes in its next life.  Now, the presence of a bit of grime and stuff DOES tell me that the downside of choosing a simple mechanical valve over the more complicated electric pump system, is I have to stay on top of cleaning it out to make sure it opperates well.  A little grime after 5 weeks doesn't mean in another 5 weeks there would simply be a LITTLE more grime.  I suspect grime multiplies (not adds) up because the more more grime, the more likely OTHER grime will stick to it.

Kind of like little grime teenagers.  The more teenagers on the corner, the more who want to stop and see what's going on.

Oh, that's right.  That was back when teenagers went outside.  Well, forget about it, then.

My guess is about every two months should do the trick for keep the flap working and the house protected!