NDS Mini Channel

The NDS Mini channel has an extruded cellular PVC body that has a 3 1/8” overall width. A 2.8” wide grate rests on a plastic lip that is formed at the inside top edge of each channel wall. Three Iron Age patterns are available for the Mini channel. These include the Minnione, Interlaken and Carbochon. The standard plastic grates made for this system are three feet in length and have screw holes for attaching the grate to the channel. The Iron Age grates that fit this channel range between 11” and 14” in length and have no screw holes. Indentations are cast into the edge of these grates that allow for easy drill hole placement.

NDS Spee-D Channel

Like the Mini, the NDS Spee-D channel has an extruded cellular PVC body. The overall width of the Spee-D Channel is 4 ¾” and carries a 4.125” wide grate. This channel has an internal lip at the top edge of each wall that is used to support a ¾” thick grate. Iron Age has two grates that sit very well in the Spee-D channel: Interlaken and Locust. The Locust grate has a 24” length, which is the same as the standard plastic grates that fit the system. The Interlaken grate is only 18” long. Though these grates don’t have any screw hole to use during attachment, they are heavy enough to set firmly in place.

Standard 100mm wide Trench Body

Trenchdrainblog.com has a blog article on grates for this channel body style. Read this article to get some history of the channel size. To quickly recap, there are many channel manufacturers that supply a 100mm wide x 1000mm long channel. The grates that fit this channel size are 4.8” x 20”, more or less. Two grates are required to complete a 1 meter channel. Iron Age has 10 grating styles of this sizing that would fit the standard 100mm wide channel. Some product models that will support the Iron Age 5” x 20” grates are ACO K100S, ACO FG100, Multidrain Alfa Channel, ABT Polydrain. Smith/ACO K100S, Smith/ACO FG100, Jay R. Smith Enviro-Flo, EcoTrench 100, Tiger 100, Meadrain 1000, and MEA Pro-Plus 100.

The grate patterns available for these channels include River Rock, Locust, Oblio, Interlaken, Argo, Regular Joe, Paradise, Sunset, Greek Key, Carbochon and Janis. These grates are each about ¾” thick and sit well in the channels listed above. In all cases, the grates have a hole in the center which allows a grate locking device to be used. These locking devices are specific to the channel system you purchase and are available from the manufacturer.

INSTALLATION TIP: To ensure that your grates fit the plastic channel bodies after installation, we recommended that a 5” wide strip of plywood be placed in the grate opening during pouring the concrete. The plywood helps to keep the drain clean and prevents the channel from compressing inward during installation, thus making the channel too narrow for the grating.

Zurn 806 and 886

Zurn has 4 channel bodies that are designed for interchangeable grating. Zurn’s Z886 and Z806 are the most popular of the four. Z886 is a 4 inch wide, pre-sloped, high density polyethylene product, while Z806 is a pre-sloped, fiberglass bodied product. Zurn has about 36 grating choices for these channels. Iron Age only has one grate available that will fit these Zurn products at this time: Interlaken. To the right, you can see the Z886 channel with a cast iron grate. The grates for these systems are a little wider (5.375”) than the grates for the standard 100mm wide channels (4.8”). The length is around 20 inches, which is about ½ meter.

NDS Dura Slope

Dura Slope is a pre-sloped polyethylene channel that looks a little bit like Zurn’s Z886. The channel width of Dura Slope varies from 4 to 4.5 inches. The channels are 48 inches in length. The grates that fit these channels are 6” wide and 24” long. The grates rest in a ¾” deep channel lip and are bolted into place with a ¼” – 20 stainless steel screw.

Iron Age Designs makes three grates for this system: Interlaken, RG133 and Locust.

NDS 8” Pro-Series

The 8 inch Pro-Series by NDS has a neutral sloped 6.5” wide channel body made from injection molded PVC. The channels can be either shallow (4 ½”) or deep (7 7/8”). Channels are available in 20 inches (1/2 meter) lengths and fit together in a tongue-in-groove fashion.

Only one Iron Age grate has been designed for this system: Carbochon (see right). Typically, stainless steel screws are used to hold plastic grates for this system in place, but the cast iron version doesn’t offer screw holes for attachment. However, at 18 pounds, I don’t think this grate is going anywhere.

MEA Meadrain 2000

MEA has a couple of 8” wide trench drain systems that are made from polymer concrete. The U2000 and EN2000 are neutral and step fall systems that are available in 1 meter and ½ meter sections. The “U” channel is made without edge protection while the EN2000 is manufactured with a ductile iron edging that protects the channel from weathering and impact. MEA has another 8” wide channel that is fiberglass reinforced called the Pro-Plus 200. This product comes in 1 meter pre-sloped sections. All three products have designs that accommodate two of Iron Age’s grates.

The products shown to the right, are Oblio (top) and Greek Key (bottom). These are recent designs that are beginning to see some attention. The Oblio is showing a few bolt-down locations while the Greek Key is without a way to lock it into the channel. Each grate is 8.8” wide and ½ meter long.

NDS Catch Basins

NDS makes 4 catch basins that are compatible with Iron Age decorative grating products. The catch basins are square and measure 9”, 12” 18” and 24” on a side. Their model numbers are NDS 900, NDS 1200, NDS 1800 and NDS 2400, respectively. Four patterns are available for use with the 1200 system; Sun Grate, Oblio, Interlaken and Locust. The Interlaken is the only pattern available for the NDS 900 and 1800 catch basins. The Oblio grate pattern is the lone option for the NDS 2400 catch basin.