Shopsmith Forums

Moving to a new place and for the first time I will not have water available in the shop. The nearest water is in the kitchen and the boss doesn't want me in there cleaning up. Also, no hose bib nearby. Normally I use water for washing hands, sharpening, cleaning brushes, etc. For those of you who have the same situation, how do you do it? What is your arrangement?

seajay62 wrote:Moving to a new place and for the first time I will not have water available in the shop. The nearest water is in the kitchen and the boss doesn't want me in there cleaning up. Also, no hose bib nearby. Normally I use water for washing hands, sharpening, cleaning brushes, etc. For those of you who have the same situation, how do you do it? What is your arrangement?

IMO there is no solution. I worked out of my garage for many years without water. It was a PITA. I used a down stairs bath room to clean things. I do most of the cooking and would never clean shop things in the kitchen. I totally agree with the "Boss".

When I built my dedicated 30' X 40' shop in 2009, the primary thing I wanted was water and a bathroom. Got that and love it. 5' X 5' room with a toilet, laundry sink and a 10 gallon hot water heater.

Agree with John it is a PITA.

Be nice if you could run a water line from some where .

I was able to run water lines into my basement shop, no big deal. That’s when I learned to sweat solder. But I was fortunate that a drain was already plumbed into the concrete floor. Putting in a new drain would NOT have been easy.

BuckeyeDennis wrote:I was able to run water lines into my basement shop, no big deal. That’s when I learned to sweat solder. But I was fortunate that a drain was already plumbed into the concrete floor. Putting in a new drain would NOT have been easy.

I had a floor drain, but it only runs to the sump pump and dumps on the yard. Not suitable for cleaning brushes etc.
So I bought a Saniflo sink pump that pumps up to my main stack. Decided against a complete bathroom, just a utility sink.
Works great for shop use.

I use the old school method of carrying a bucket of water to the shop to have available when I need it. My shop is about 80 feed from the house but there wasn't a cost effective way connect to the septic system from the shop so I went without water. If we ever move, I won't make that mistake again.

twistsol wrote:I use the old school method of carrying a bucket of water to the shop to have available when I need it. My shop is about 80 feed from the house but there wasn't a cost effective way connect to the septic system from the shop so I went without water. If we ever move, I won't make that mistake again.

Yes, we had a septic system for many years. A few years before building my shop in 2009 the county put in a vacuum sewer system so there was no problem hooking up to it. If we still had septic there would be no water in the shop.

Before I opened your post, I thought it was going to be about a leak or a flood.

I use the bucket method too and that's always worked. But I also take the position that I have been paying the mortgage for the past 20+ years and if I want to clean a brush in the kitchen sink, I will do so.

Agree with everyone else, if I ever get the opportunity to build my shop from the slab up, it will be solar powered, have a bathroom, and a wet bar. Basically a man cave with a Shop Smith in the middle of the room.

There is another possibility. Technically as long as you are careful what you put down the drain it would be considered grey water and you can use it for watering plants etc. Latex paint and standard casein glue would constitute Grey water and so would Dawn soap. You could very easily run a drain through the wall into a tank ( plastic garbage can etc ) to collect the water. As far as water supply look into PEX tubing. They sell it at at HD and it is very inexpensive and easy to run it from the nearest water source.
Paul