Precipitators and Traps in Plumbing?

"Could any one pls tell me what is the role of "precipitators" and "traps" in plumbing."

Never heard of plumbing "precipitators" till reading the OP.

A "P" trap as its name implies is shaped like the letter P and is found on lavatories or wash basins where the line runs into the wall to connect to a vertical stack and drop.

An "S" trap is also named for its shape and is used on lavatories and washbasins where the line runs to the floor and drainage piping below.

There are also drum traps. All traps exist to provide a water seal and preven sewer gas from coming up into the inhabitable space where they are located or serve.

Precipitators are drained by plumbing, they are not plumbing items.

There are two kinds of traps in plumbing drains. The first kind, the grease trap, floor drain sump, etc. keep grease and other debris out of the main sewer. Restaurants are required to have grease traps, to avoid the nuisance and expense of clearing city sewers clogged by accumulated grease.

The other kind of trap exists to keep sewer gas out of living spaces. The p-trap is the usual kind of trap installed on sink and lavatory drains. There is also a type of in-line trap, called an s-trap, sometimes installed in a long vertical drain. The s-trap is prohibited by most plumbing codes, because a large volume of water going down the drain can siphon the water out, so that it ceases to function as a trap.

There are also traps built into most toilet bowls and urinals. Any of these can cease to function if they dry out (usually from disuse). If this happens, just pour water into the offending drain to restore the trap's functionality. Showers and bath tubs that are seldom used (like in a guest bathroom) are particular offenders.

Hello, I am not sure of the precipitators use in plumbing but we use them in the paper mill to remove particulate from flue gas on boilers and kilns. They are many different kinds of percipitators, the ones we use basically apply an electrical charge to the particals when the flu gas pass through the chamber. this in turn causes the charged particals to magnetically stick to the rods. each charge rod has a rapper on top of it that pounds the rod at a predetermined interval which causes the particles to fall down to the bottom of the precip. where a drag chain removes it from the precip. The chemicals in particles are recovered by re mixing and send through a lime kiln to make more pulping chemical. Another form of a trap is used in steam systems to evacuate the condesate from steam lines without losing steam. I am not sure this helps because this is more of industrial aplication.

pipewelder

I know from visiting the plumbing supply store that there are S traps used.

Bijumohan and friends,

A sanitary sewer system has to carry solids by keeping them suspended in flowing liquid, and also carry a mixture of gases (including CH₄, H₂S, air, and others, called sewer gas). As the liquid flows through the system, it must push out the sewer gas ahead of it and air has to get back in afterwards. At the same time, you don't want the sewer gas to get mixed into the air we breathe in homes, offices, etc. Traps, regardless of their type, function to keep the sewer gas from entering your homes, etc. Branches from the system which may combine together before they emerge above the roof line are the vents which allow the sewer gas to escape in front of the moving liquid and allow air in afterwards without creating pressure or vacuum on the water in the traps.

The slope in the pipes ensures adequate flow speed to keep the solids suspended. Very often, there will be a "lift station" to pump the sewage to a higher elevation so it can flow (by gravity) to its intended destination (such as a treatment plant or lagoon).

In water and wastewater treatment plants there will be many times when you want to have the suspended solids separated from the liquid. This will often take place in large tanks called clarifiers or settlement basins. Often specific chemicals are added to the water to cause small particles to clump together so they can settle out (an example of an added chemical is alum). For this type of settlement or precipitation to occur, the flow rate has to be quite slow and agitation or mixing of the liquid is generally avoided.

Heavy materials in sewage will settle out very easily (an example is a gold ring or coin accidentally dropped down the drain). Therefore, you can expect a trap to often catch heavy items as they settle or "precipitate" from the sewage.

Hope this helps--JMM

Dear Mr. Mueller

Many thanx for the reply, it gave me an excellent overview of a sewerage in a commercial or domestic atmosphere

Precipitators are used in aeration chambers to precipitate aerated water before it enters a plenum or blower duct. As moister laden air is drawn past angled fin plates, water precipitates on the angles and drips to the bottom. There are also fiber precipitators that collect the water as it is drawn past its fibers.

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Foul smelling sulphates are stripped from water by "aeration:" spraying a fine mist which in turn falls onto precipitators located within an air streeam. As the water rolls arond (coanda effect) its fibers, air passing by "strips" sulphated from the water.

No answer can be better than jmuller's.

I guess you could consider a septic tank is a precipitator type device used in plumbing. The effluent (waste water) from a home enters the tank and whatever sinks or floats is separated from the water that is flowing out from the tank to the leach field. Leach fields plug up and fail when solids are allowed to flow into them so only clarified water should be allowed.