Is this 3-sink drain connection legit?

[Ars Glonalin]

Hi all. My friend works in a new government building.
She was checking out the self-sevice cafe when she heard unusual noise from the sinks.
Apparently there are three that drain to the point in the photo.
I've never heard of an interior drain 'hookup' like this one!
Does this somehow meet code requirements or is it as crazy as it looks?
The picture is looking under one of the sinks, inside the cabinet.
There is free space between the actual drain yoke for the sinks and the floor drain...
It may be my inexperience with commercial building plumbing, but this looks wrong!

Thanks

 

[JG plumbing]

Yeah. There are some different circumstances that can lead to this. You haven't really given enough info.

Things like this are common in commercial kitchens. Mostly for dishwashing sinks.

 

[Ars Glonalin]

I'll try to get more info, maybe a picture that shows a bit more context

 

[CT18]

Yes 3 compartment sinks do drain into a indirect waste like that set up. I believe on some they have a side that goes into a grease interceptor for cleaning out greasy pots and pans. They may also have the underground piped into a grease interceptor somewhere in that room.

 

[Jeff Handy]

What is up with this open fitting here?

 

[CT18]

They might be dumping a condensate drain or an overflow into that, who knows

 

[matt.mena]

This is a typical commercial three compartment sink indirect drain.

The open 1” pipe shouldn’t be there. They could have used that for a drain of some sort, like @CT18 said, maybe something that was re routed due to not meeting the plumbing code connected here.

Slightly off topic, My NC inspector’s interpretation of the indirect code is to run each basin as a separate indirect drain to the floor sink. They started enforcing it two years ago. Makes for a lot of work to pipe in a three compartment sink

 

[Jeff Handy]

Put a cap on that fitting that I circled.

If there is any backup, it will piss all over the cabinet.

Might not be one inch, might be half inch or three quarter, just by eyeball.

 

[PerplexedPlumber]

If I owned the building, I would look into the source of the open pipe before capping it. If all is working well, and it is a building that I don't own, I wouldn't worry about it. If a problem is created or mold begins to appear later, I would mention it to those responsible for building maintenance.

 

[Mitchell-DIY-Guy]

Looks like a fairly normal commercial kitchen sink setup with the air gap; though normally I've seen a slightly different drain set up. That almost looks like a bar sink set in the concrete floor! Normally they have a grate over them to prevent splashing.

I ran into quite the opposite issue on a commercial building inspection the other day. The commercial two-bay stainless steel sink in the kitchen area of a former Elks Lodge had the drains hard-plumbed. WTF? No air gap? But this "commercial kitchen" was anything but; the only thing commercial about it was the sink. The dishwasher was a residential built in model, with a jerry-rigged cabinet and wheels around it; the "stove" was two old Maytag residential gas ranges...and the "vent hood" was a Broan basically hanging in air above one of the ranges. I'm hoping that the building's buyer would rip out all that #@$% and do it right.