I have a floor drain that is making running water noises. I looked in and saw that there was a stream of water pouring into it from about 6-12 inches down into the drain, from an outlet on the side. There are no toilets flushing, dishwashers running, or any other water source that could cause this.
I do have a sump pump but from what I have read those do not empty into floor drains, they empty outside. It has been raining a little bit, but as of right now it is not and probably hasn't been for a couple hours.
It's not backing up into the basement but I am a new homeowner and do not have any point of reference for what this is and whether I need to be concerned or call a plumber. I have done some googling but haven't found anything there. I also have a general home repair book I looked through but nothing seemed to apply here.
I believe this water has been running for at least a day now, but I haven't been going into the basement lately and don't know exactly how long. As far as I know it's constant.
Where is this water coming from?
Best Answer
You could have a p-trap primer. I found one of these devices connected to the floor drain in my old kitchen/laundry room, when we were remodeling. This device, similar to below, periodically "flushes" the drain and refills it to ensure you have a seal in the drain so that sewer gases do not come back up the p-trap into the house. The device can be hidden in a wall therefore not easy to find, and then a tube of some sort to the drain. Mine was inside the wall, connected to the washing machine cold water line, similar to the second photo. When we remodeled and moved the laundry to the garage, the floor drain was filled in and the p-trap primer was removed from the wall and the line capped.
How often the device worked I am not sure, or how it decided to run, I am not sure.