Washer ineffective after located below main waste drain.?
Question:We moved into a house where the floor in the laundry room in the basement sits about 4 feet off the floor. The drain for the washer, due to the slope of the pipe and distance from the drain is at about 5.5 feet. The drainage tube from the washer had to be extended to reach the opening. Would this be the reason the clothes are still soaked after going through the spin cycle 3 times!? It seemed to start happening only after we moved.
Any help would be great.
Answers:
You need to install a discharge pump. Discharge pumps are very similar to a standard basement sump pump and utilize a float activated pump to push water uphill to a discharge point. Basically, it is an enclosed holding tank for the wastewater. Your sink/washer drains right into it. Once the water reaches a certain level, the pump kicks on and pumps the water out to your wastewater pipe.
I put a laundry tub in next to my washer and drained the washer into the laundry tub. Then the laundry tub drained into the discharge pump. Worked out great.
You can get them at any home center for less than $100.
Discharge pumps are designed primarily for sinks and similar applications where it will only need to handle liquid waste without solids of any type. If you plan on installing a toilet, you can get a similar pump that can also handle solids.
I gather from your description of the problem -- your washer is not pumping to the drain -- the fault may be the the discharge pump in the washer -- or in how you extended the discharge line to the drain 5.5' away. Perform a simple test using a 5 gallon bucket as a temporary drain positioned as if it were the real drain behind the washer. If the washer drains properly -- then you have a problem with your extension. Also, the extension may have placed an added load on the washers pump and caused the pump to fail.
Since the washer worked fine before, I have to assume that the added distance to the drainline is the problem. You would be best off by installing a basin and draining the washer into it and then a pump to the main drain (with a trap installed). Do you not have any floor drains in the basement that could have piping installed to carry the washer water to them?
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