I am going to do a bathroom in my basement I broke concrete just to find out that my waste drain is right there /

so I want to install a backwater valve

question is how far away do i need the valve to be from the toilet ?

thank you for your time

why would you want a backwater valve?
water flows downhill so unless you are located in an area where the city sewer fills with water and backs up into the lowest house on the line, you don't need one..
if you do have a reason, then the best place to install it is where you have complete access to it for future maintainence. the distance between it and the toilet or the sewer main is irrelavent.
P/S, it WILL need periodic cleaning..

im in a suburb of chicago and in the past few years we have been getting hammered with 6 to 8 inches on certain days and everybody starts flooding so now since i want to place a bathroom in the basement and the clay pipe runs right across where i want to place a toilet i want to know the minimum distance i can place it without causing problems with flushing or some kind of back up issue.

does your area's storm water flow into your area's sewer system?
one should not be mixing with the other.
most localities spend millions and millions of dollars to seperate the two waters.
otherwise your sewer treatment plant is processing and treating storm water as it would treat raw sewage. costing the taxpayers beaucoup dollars..

If you have "red clay pipe" under your basement floor, then a backwater valve will be useless, because the water will leak out of the joints under the floor.

In some Chicago Suburbs, with constant flooding issues, (flood plaines) the government is purchasing them for fair valve. Other communities offer backwater valves and pay for the price of installation. They may be installed outdoors, 3-10 ft from the foundation. When the water table rises the back water valve kicks in. Much depend on your house in relationship to your neighbors and the level of the land. Check out RectorSeal's Back Water Valve.

Best Wishes

You may remember this company, but I have forgotten its name. They made a "backwater valve" which incorporated a pump so that you could still use your plumbing during a backed up condition, and it also would take care of any leakage through the BWV to prevent flooding. We installed many of them, but I cannot remember where I picked them up, (probably on the North side).

and if water is backing up, where would the pump discharge to?

The pump would overcome the backwater pressure, so it would discharge back to the sewer and then into your neighbor's basement.

It pumps it back into the backed up system. The pump has enough discharge power to pump into a full line.

quote; then into your neighbor's basement.

They would already be flooded so a little more wouldn't be noticeable, although you are really not adding to what they would have, other than any water you use in the building (the device held the solids until the flood condition was over), if your BWV was not leaking.

why would red clay leak? how do i tell it looks brown on the outside i have not yet exposed the inside just starting breaking the concrete in my floor for french drain install

One of the "facts of life" is that clay pipe joints "LEAK" regardless of how they are made, and I am sure that yours are cement joints which ALWAYS leak after a few years. One thing people in Chicago discovered is that when they put a backwater valve in the sewer to prevent flooding, the clay pipe under the floor leaked and created a hydrostatic pressure which 'popped' the floor and destroyed it. Before installing the valve the flood water on the floor equalized the pressure so it did not stress the floor.

it seems like no one likes the idea of installing a backwater valve /

so im putting in this bathrrom in the basement what are my choices if i dont want back up issues

Good question, because installing the toilet has little to do with a backwater valve. Without one, the basement will flood even if you do not install the toilet, and if you do install the BWV, you could have the same problems I referred to. The only way to prevent it is to convert to an "overhead sewer" which CANNOT flood and an ejector pump for the basement drainages.

We have been installing backwater valves on new construction here in Michigan for at least 15 years.

"Installing backwater valves" is a lot different than depending on them to prevent flooding. especially with the newer ones which have plastic or rubber "flap". I have removed the insides from many of those when the flap dried out and distorted. Then it would NOT flip up, and, therefore, it CAUSED a stoppage, and would have done NOTHING to prevent a backflow. The customers were better off without it.