General Pipe Cleaners 3F 3" Float Model Flood Guard, Small, Black

...it does let water exit. We haven't had a flood since I installed this, and may that always be the case.It was easy to install, certainly easier and cheaper than ripping up part of the garage floor, as one engineer recommended for a back flow valve.***************************UPDATE 6/18/13: We've had several heavy rains and no back-up yet. Run-off from my snow-covered car easily drains.It's a good idea to take this out and clean the gook and leaves off with hot water from time to time.My garage drain opening was irregularly shaped and the valve wouldn't fit, so I cut the bottom off of a Tupperware-type container and set it in the drain with waterproof caulk. The valve fits snugly inside it.A+++ purchase, especially given the price.***************************Update 3/11/17: I was asked by another customer to share pictures demonstrating how I installed this back in 2012.

It worked perfectly. It kept water in my floor drain from backing up. Unfortunately, in the torrential rains we had the weekend of August 12-14, the water found other "vays". It backed up through my utility room basin and overflowed onto the floor, and through my kitchen sink, also overflowing. It even rose to the toilet and tub on the second floor. (I was out of town that weekend, but that must have been a monsoon.)The culprit, it turned out, was a clog in the city's sewer line out under the street. Once they took care of that, no more backups. Amazingly, none of my neighbors on my street had this problem; perhaps I got the brunt because my house is nearest to where the under-street clog was. But I'm going to leave the flood guard in, because it really does work. I'm impressed.

This is an easy to install means to protect your basement from sewer backups. My brother recently went through a headache due to a city line backing up during maintenance in the street being performed by city crews. That made me realize that even though you may not be in an area prone to sewer backups; something as simple as a city crew working out at the street could cause havoc and headaches.The installation is rather simple. It does come a little looser than the inside diameter of the drain; so be careful not to drop it down the drain! I almost made that mistake. Tighten it up just enough to press into a clean flood drain and then tighten the rest of the way when you get it where you want. You can slide this down the pipe to fit below any flood grates installed on the drain - so those will go back in place as they were before.I would definitely recommend this to anyone with a basement connected to a sewer system.

About as expected, to be seen as yet how it will work in a high water event. Used an impact driver to expand inside of pipe to ease installation

I'm in a condo unit with a common drain for about 6 units. had a flooded basement recently due to plug in drain and subsequent backup from other units. I was looking for a means of preventing this from happening again. This fits in the floor drain pipe. A float hangs down and closes with rising water in the drain to prevent backup yet under normal operation allows water to go down drain. I have a 3" drain and the float closes off about 60% of the pipe area so if you were to have a broken washer hose, it might flood more than before before you installed it, a tradeoff I am willing to accept. You need a clear vertical pipe with about 4 -5 " space for it to fit and work. My pipe was rusty (about 40 years old) so I used Rustoleum and a wire brush to remove enough rust to allow this to fit. A screw turns to close the unit to the pipe. There are several units similar to this on the market in case you have a different installation.

This thing has saved my a#$ more than a few times now. Guys did a crappy job putting my sewer line in. The consequence is that there is a "belly" in my line where crud sits and about once a year eventually blocks up enough to where I can get a backup. When this happens, I have no idea. It strikes when I least expect it. Usually about midnight the night before I have to go to work. We'll think that maybe, hopefully, its just the cat litter box overflowing that my teenage daughter swore she would change if we would just get her a kitten, but, well that happened maybe ONCE. Now I'm the official litter box changer, and to be honest I'm not very fond of cats so I get a little lax. So I get up stand at the top of the stairs, turn on the basement light, look down, and see oceans of brown water, brown pieces of something I can't quite make out, and gobs of white that looked like they used to toilet paper at one time, but have now evolved into some out-of-this-world mess. The smell is horrific. Enter the general wire 3F flood guard!Cleaned up the mess, dropped one of these guys in, held it in place with a piece of string while I secured it in place, and then put a water alarm sensor right above it. The result, now when my pesky sewer wants to back up, this guy keeps it from becoming a horrific mess. Buys me a couple days to get a plumber out there to snake the drain. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

so i did a specialized basement waterproofing project on my house. i have cinder-block walls that leaked and bowed. it's a long story on how i dealt with all that, think i will drop a video on youtube about it at some time.so this item became the icing on the cake to address any back flow from the drain in case of flooding and run back from city sewer drains.this was not a direct 3" dia fit for my drain, my drain was slightly bigger, i figured out i had to use a washer from what's used inside toilet water closets, if you were going to replace a bad flapper/water drain tube inside the closet, that's as close of an explanation i can throw at you guy's. there in the toilet repair section ion case you buy this and experience a slack fit, because it should be a tight fit. hope that helps.

Appears to be well made. I installed it and hopefully it will prevent a flood. Would purchase again.

So far, seems like a good product. Shipped in a timely matter.

Arrived early. Simple design. Great Quality

Good overall quality. The problem with this product is that it does not have a spring to keep the drain closed and avoid the smell from the drain to come up. I had to use the spring from the the previous flood guard to install on this one otherwise we would have had a bad smell in the basement.You have to be careful to install a spring that is not too strong so that the water will still be able to go through if there is flooding from a broken pipe or else.

The item was smaller than I needed. The actual size I need does not exist. I will need to look for other solutions.