Wash Rack Drain Location

[TheHorseMutterer]

I’m building a barn in the near term future and was pondering wash rack setup. It has forever freaked me out to have a drain of any size smack in the middle of the wash rack where the horses are stepping on it constantly (I’m paranoid, I know. Humor me.)

Does anyone have a drain setup that isn’t directly in the middle of the wash rack? Any experience with something like a trench drain at the back of the wash rack? I’m concerned that the slope needed for the cement in the wash rack will be an issue if the drain is at the rear and the whole thing will need to be sloped. Is that a factor here? Will my horse get vertigo if he’s standing on a “hill” instead of “in a hole”?

As far as logistics, I’m considering putting a trench drain at the rear of the rack that will essentially run the width of the rack and drain out the back to some kind of primitive septic (a dry well?). Or I can go the traditional route with a drain in the center and have it empty to the same dry well setup.

Any tricks, thoughts, or suggestions?

[mroades]

I would do a trench drain across the back with a heavy steel grate cover

[dressagegirl123]

That’s what I have, and it works perfectly! I HATE middle drains! When mine needs cleaning, you have enough time to finish whatever you’re doing before you’re standing in water.
It takes very little slope to get water to travel. You can’t see or feel the slope in my wash stall. Go for it!

[horsepoor]

What I have is what I would do again if (heaven forbid) I have to build another. My wash rack has the trench drain across the back, which is covered with a grate. The grate is actually super strong plastic that cars can drive over, so it is tough, and was cheaper when we built than the metal option. The floor of the wash rack is sloped to direct the water that direction, but you don’t have to have it very steep and it hasn’t caused any issues.

[arlosmine]

I’m planning on directing water under the back wall into a rock garden/swale/riparian area. There are many kinds of reeds and bog plants that tolerate road runoff.

I guess it will technically be a trench drain, but I want NO clog able underground pipe.

[TheHorseMutterer]

COTH comes through with all the answers I need. So I’m not totally insane to think this will work.

You guys rock!:yes:

[MissMilly]

This might be obvious, but make sure you set the drain far enough from the wall so that you can clean it out effectively, and any water that flows to it will not soak the wall with every little drain back up. The barn I boarded at for years had the drain too close to the wall, causing lots of damage to the wall from people working around the drain, and it being soaked over and over. The tiny slope from back wall to drain needs to be long and steep enough to protect the wall.

Also, make sure they start the grade far enough out in the front. Think about how far out of the wash stall your horses head gets- all of that water used on his head/neck has to fall on the grade that flows towards the back drain. Otherwise water will break towards your aisle.

Incorrect wash stall grading is the WORST-years and years of wet boots from standing in puddles, believe me, I know.

[TheHorseMutterer]

Thanks, MissMilly. I will actually be discussing this in detail with the concrete guy before installing. If he’s not comfortable putting that long of a grade in on the wash rack then I will settle for a center drain and just suck up my insecurities. I was planning to put the “rear” drain about a foot or so from the wall - maybe even 2, if needed - so that it didn’t get to the wall to rot it. I am building a metal barn, so it’s less of a concern that it will rot the wood than with wood construction. Between the drain and rear wall, I’m envisioning a pretty steep grade that will keep the water from running across the drain to greener pastures.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

My favorite wash stall in a barn is at a friend’s place. Her drain is in the aisle in front of the wash rack. So if you wanted to wash a truck or tractor you could (very big aisle with big overhead door). The floor slopes to the drain and it is a long, plastic, removable grate like a car wash has. There was a reason it went there instead of the back, but I don’t recall what it was.

Then across the aisle are two tie stalls and they also slope slightly to the drain. So if someone pees in the cross ties, it is quite easy to clean.

I can’t imagine a concrete guy having issues with your grade. My 3 car garage is all graded to a drain, much bigger than a wash stall!

[JB]

My drain is in the middle of the back of the stall. Out of the way, but big enough and accessible enough. I can remove the cover to pull out any junk that might work its way into it.

The amount of slope needed to direct water there is really small in the grand scheme of things. It’s been a while since I’ve actually used it as a wash stall, as I’ve ended up having to store hay in it, but that also means I’m in there constantly, and I never feel like I’m walking on the side of a mountain

[FEIwannabe]

You only need 1/4" per foot slope for the water to run off. So for a 12’ deep washrack you only need a 3" pitch, not enough to do odd things to your horse.
I’ve boarded at a place that had the drain of one of the washracks and along the back and another washrack along the front. And at another facility that had a center drain. All worked well. But some horses didn’t like the center drain too much.

[My_Two_Cents]

My daughters has quite a bit less than a 3" slope. It is so slight but water does run towards the drain at the back just fine. Gravity works.

Make sure your concrete contractors know what you/they are doing.

[csaper58]

Be sure you have soil that will absorb and transport water. Not all soils will particularly clay soils.

All that bath water most go somewhere. That means the drain is either connected to a septic system, city sewage or it empties onto existing soil. The grade/slope of the area will factor in.

There are many websites on installing a french drain. That combined with a modified leach field would be the best solution for wash rack drainage at a barn that is not connected to some form of sewage.

The first step will be a Percolation Test to determine if the water absorbing capacity of the soil in the area.

[JB]

My barn is build on a raised pad, and backs up to about 25’ of wooded area before another small pasture area. The surrounding land also slopes directly away from the barn’s back wall, and across it. My rear center drain connects to pvc that’s underground and opens up to empty into that wooded area, so nothing pools or runs into any area that matters.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=FEIwannabe;8937823]
You only need 1/4" per foot slope for the water to run off. So for a 12’ deep washrack you only need a 3" pitch, not enough to do odd things to your horse.
I’ve boarded at a place that had the drain of one of the washracks and along the back and another washrack along the front. And at another facility that had a center drain. All worked well. But some horses didn’t like the center drain too much.[/QUOTE]

Exactly. The generally excepted rule and good chance it is code in most places. 1/4" per running foot for patio slabs. A 2% pitch. Though 1" in 8’ is used also. 2 1/4 for 12’

A 3" drop in 12 feet may sound like a lot but it will hardly felt, or look “sloped”

Just about every patio that all of us have spent time on are/should be built to the specification. I doubt any of use felt like we were sitting, standing on a slope.

“If he’s not comfortable putting that long of a grade in on the wash rack then I will settle for a center drain and just suck up my insecurities”

OP, he should tell you this is how it should be built. If he doesn’t and or isn’t “comfortable” doing it this way. I would hire another contractor.

I would bet he will be happy to do it this way. A center drain is not set on a level slab. No different than a show floor pan. All 4 sides have to be sloped toward the drain. More work and not nearly as easy as just sloping, pitching the whole slab in one direction. I know because I have done both.

Personally if I was building one and based on my experience using some others with drain clogging problems. I would install what is called a grease trap (for restaurant use) hair trap. The water and muck runs down the drain, that drains into the grease/hair trap box that catches the drain clogging material and filters the majority of the stuff that can or will eventually clog up a drain. Soapy water is “greasy” the box is designed to catch the soapy residue also.

There is an access panel on top at grade like a drain cover. The user periodically, daily depending on use open the top pull out the screen and dump. This adds extra expense to the project but IMO worth considering. One of those conveniences, saves on future extra hassle work and or the expense of having the drain blown out. If the drain is a short run and just draining through an outside wall I wouldn’t bother.

[gumtree]

Wonder why some people call it a wash “rack” and some call it a wash “room”. I call it a wash room or wash stall. Not sure where the “rack” comes into things?

Might be regional? Everybody in my neck of the woods call them wash stalls and or rooms.

[horsepoor]

[QUOTE=JB;8939162]
My rear center drain connects to pvc that’s underground and opens up to empty into that wooded area, so nothing pools or runs into any area that matters.[/QUOTE]

This is kind of how mine works too. The trench drain in the back of the wash stall empties to a (4"?) PVC pipe which is tied into the drain system for my barn gutters. The wash rack drain has a doohickey that catches hair and gunk before it goes into the pvc pipe, and periodically we pull the grates and clean that out. I quickly learned that just leaving the screws out of the grates made that easier and since the grate fits fairly tight, the screws weren’t really necessary to hold it in place.

The pipe that carries the water from wash rack and barn gutters goes some 30 or 40 feet to connect to some drainage pipes for my arena, then those carry all that away another 150’ down the hill to empty into the woods. Where the barn pipes connect to the arena, there is this other doohickey that catches all the hair and gunk that made it through the first one – so you have to go empty that out once in awhile and let me say, it is gross (if I’m riding and think, huh, I smell a dead critter, it means it is time to empty that catch basin thing!). But necessary so the other pipes don’t get clogged.

Our whole place is all about moving the water off it or at least away from buildings and usable areas, I swear.

[gumtree]

[QUOTE=horsepoor;8939284]
This is kind of how mine works too. The trench drain in the back of the wash stall empties to a (4"?) PVC pipe which is tied into the drain system for my barn gutters. The wash rack drain has a doohickey that catches hair and gunk before it goes into the pvc pipe, and periodically we pull the grates and clean that out. I quickly learned that just leaving the screws out of the grates made that easier and since the grate fits fairly tight, the screws weren’t really necessary to hold it in place.

The pipe that carries the water from wash rack and barn gutters goes some 30 or 40 feet to connect to some drainage pipes for my arena, then those carry all that away another 150’ down the hill to empty into the woods. Where the barn pipes connect to the arena, there is this other doohickey that catches all the hair and gunk that made it through the first one – so you have to go empty that out once in awhile and let me say, it is gross (if I’m riding and think, huh, I smell a dead critter, it means it is time to empty that catch basin thing!). But necessary so the other pipes don’t get clogged.

Our whole place is all about moving the water off it or at least away from buildings and usable areas, I swear.[/QUOTE]

lol, good explanation of what I was trying to explain about the “doohickey”.

Yes, the smell can get interesting. Even more so when cleaning the drain grease traps in a restaurant. I was a dishwasher and cleaning the grease traps was part of my job. A Dirty Job.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=gumtree;8939270]

Personally if I was building one and based on my experience using some others with drain clogging problems. I would install what is called a grease trap (for restaurant use) hair trap. The water and muck runs down the drain, that drains into the grease/hair trap box that catches the drain clogging material and filters the majority of the stuff that can or will eventually clog up a drain. Soapy water is “greasy” the box is designed to catch the soapy residue also. [/QUOTE]

Absolutely. The one advantage to the drain in the middle is less manure running into to it.

If you put the drain at the back, folks using the wash rack who have a horse take his dump mid-bath will be likely to keep on working and stop to scoop it up at the end. Fine, but that means they’ll make that manure pile into more of a slurry… and then that has to go all the way down your drain and plumbing with no problem, or create a mess that, it seems, no one wants to clean up. Or you have someone use the wash stall for a horse who is being body clipped or having his mane pulled… both jobs that can send extra hair into the works.

I was the barn rat who, as a kid, bathed all the training horses after they worked, so keeping the wash rack draining was my problem. Also, I think you need a wider gauge pipe than you think you do. I believe I have seen some big ol 4" and perhaps even 6-inchers.

A wash rack with a heavy, square cast iron grate in it, (plus that square hair/grease trap) is quite safe for horses, IME. But it’s pretty easy to lift out for cleaning, too.

[vxf111]

I thought long and hard about this when I did my wash stall. Mine slopes front to back (a very minimal slope, barely noticeable) with a full row of trench drain along the back that empties underground into a drain field. So far I am really happy with it.