Moving laundry to basement

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

Currently, our washer and dryer are in a closet off of the kitchen (one piece stacked unit). I am planning to put the new units in the basement so that we can re-claim the closet as usable space. The dryer is pretty simple, and the hot & cold water supply for the washer is straight forward too. The question I have is the drain for the washing machine.

So far as I can tell, I have three options:

- a 48" stand pipe down the wall and across the floor to the existing 4" floor drain.

- hard PVC connection to the washer with a check valve tied directly into the overhead drain pipes.

- a 48" stand pipe into an ejector tank (not buried) which will pump up and into the overhead drain pipes.

Obviously, the first option is by far the simplest and cheapest, but is it enough? I know the floor drain can handle a good volume of water, since that is the drain that takes all the water when I have had to drain the entire house.

edit: No gas line to run...all electric

muleman · Nov 28, 2010

Rule out #2 as the washer will not push head. The first idea is the best as long as the drain can handle it. Most floors are not that hard to saw few cuts across to the drain and recess the pipe. The pit pump idea might cost more but works well till the float or pump quits. A washer dumps from 30-70 gallons per load so the drain has to be able to handle a lot of water quickly or you will have puddles in the basement.

tommu56 · Nov 28, 2010

My current house has the Landry on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms I'll never go back to lugging the wash to and from the basement.
(my might wife might have to but I wont)

Just my opinion.

tom

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

tommu56 said:
My current house has the Landry on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms I'll never go back to lugging the wash to and from the basement.

Just my opinion.

tom

That is actually our long term plan too....but the upstairs bathroom needs to be remodeled first to make room for the laundry area.

OhioTC18 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
- hard PVC connection to the washer with a check valve tied directly into the overhead drain pipes.

muleman said:
Rule out #2 as the washer will not push head.

I would say a washer can. It does here in my house all the time. The washer was plumbed to dump into the sump when I moved here. Knowing that was not right, I asked a few plumbers who said to plumb it into the drain system for the septic. It leaves the washer and hits a check valve about 2 feet up, continues up to the ceiling and across the basement about 12 feet and dumps into a trap and out to the septic.

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

Possibly a stupid question here, but how is your basement drain plumbed? Is it for storm water, or sewer water? I lived in houses that have had both.

CityGirl · Nov 28, 2010

tommu56 said:
My current house has the Landry on the 2nd floor with the bedrooms I'll never go back to lugging the wash to and from the basement.
(my might wife might have to but I wont)

Just my opinion.

tom

Amen to that! NEVER again! I will NEVER lug laundry up and down stairs again. Even with a chute in our first home it was a pain in the butt. I never understood why the laundry room is in a remote part of the house. The laundry should be nearest the bedrooms and not on the far side of the house or downstairs. If bedrooms and bathrooms are on two floors then have 2 laundry rooms! Dave, I hope you do half the laundry. If you don't be prepared for a lot of this :hammer:

muleman · Nov 28, 2010

We moved it from the basement to the first floor in the old farmhouse. When we designed this place the wife had me locate it in the pantry right off the master bath. I must say it is nice only going 10 ft. from the laundry to the bedroom. We also added an outside door to hang on the lines right outside the door.

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
Possibly a stupid question here, but how is your basement drain plumbed? Is it for storm water, or sewer water? I lived in houses that have had both.

Private septic. I have no idea what the mechanics of the plumbing are under the slab. The main drain line goes out the foundation at about 36" above the slab. There are two floor drains in different parts of the basement below the slab.

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
Private septic. I have no idea what the mechanics of the plumbing are under the slab. The main drain line goes out the foundation at about 36" above the slab. There are two floor drains in different parts of the basement below the slab.

If you don't have a sealed sump crock (with a grinder pump in it), I'm willing to bet that those floor drains in your basement simply take storm (run-off) water to a storm sump (typically uncovered) and then out to a culvert, or where ever your storm water runs. Major code violation to feed grey water into those drains.

BigAl · Nov 28, 2010

Might want to check local codes . Wash water is gray water and can be pumped out and used as irrigation in some areas . I would sure hate to see it go into a septic . Thats a lot of water .

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
If you don't have a sealed sump crock (with a grinder pump in it), I'm willing to bet that those floor drains in your basement simply take storm (run-off) water to a storm sump (typically uncovered) and then out to a culvert, or where ever your storm water runs. Major code violation to feed grey water into those drains.

There are no culverts within 1400' of the house, and it's so flat you could bowl down my driveway (well, except for the pot holes. :doh:

)

It would not surprise me if there is some sort of a French drain though.

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

BigAl said:
Might want to check local codes . Wash water is gray water and can be pumped out and used as irrigation in some areas . I would sure hate to see it go into a septic . Thats a lot of water .

It all goes into the septic already, I'm just reconfiguring things.

OhioTC18 · Nov 28, 2010

BigAl said:
Might want to check local codes . Wash water is gray water and can be pumped out and used as irrigation in some areas . I would sure hate to see it go into a septic . Thats a lot of water .

Gray water has to go to the septic around here.

BigAl · Nov 28, 2010

OhioTC18 said:
Gray water has to go to the septic around here.

Thats a real shame .. There is no good reason for the state to do that .

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

BigAl said:
Thats a real shame .. There is no good reason for the state to do that .

When it's 20 below zero for a week straight, there is really no good way to handle gray water.

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
There are no culverts within 1400' of the house, and it's so flat you could bowl down my driveway (well, except for the pot holes. )

It would not surprise me if there is some sort of a French drain though.

Where does the water from your gutters go? Do you have a storm water sump in your basement?

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
Where does the water from your gutters go? Do you have a storm water sump in your basement?

Water from the gutters goes through the little rectangular pipes down the wall, and then through an elbow and through another 6' length of rectangular pipe. After that, it goes onto the ground.

100 year old farm houses don't have fancy-schmancy storm water handling systems.

No sumps or pumps anywhere in my plumbing. (This is the first house I have ever lived in or owned that didn't have a sump pump in the corner.)

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
Water from the gutters goes through the little rectangular pipes down the wall, and then through an elbow and through another 6' length of rectangular pipe. After that, it goes onto the ground.

100 year old farm houses don't have fancy-schmancy storm water handling systems.

No sumps or pumps anywhere in my plumbing. (This is the first house I have ever lived in or owned that didn't have a sump pump in the corner.)

Finally.

So your floor drains go to a storm water sewer. Check your plumbing code for where you can drain grey water. In Ohio, running it to storm drains ain't kosher.

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
Finally. So your floor drains go to a storm water sewer. Check your plumbing code for where you can drain grey water. In Ohio, running it to storm drains ain't kosher.

My definition of a "sewer" is a municipal supplied service that removes waste from the property.

I can't say if the floor drains go into the septic, or a different system of some type.

BigAl · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
Finally. So your floor drains go to a storm water sewer. Check your plumbing code for where you can drain grey water. In Ohio, running it to storm drains ain't kosher.

And you guys think California is full of it ??? For cryin out loud , its gray water , not toilet shit !!!

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
My definition of a "sewer" is a municipal supplied service that removes waste from the property.

I can't say if the floor drains go into the septic, or a different system of some type.

If the rest of your waste plumbing goes out the foundation wall 36" above the basement floor, your basement floor drains ain't goin' to your septic. Unless you have the first and only gravity defying floor drains .... :biggrin:

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
If the rest of your waste plumbing goes out the foundation wall 36" above the basement floor, your basement floor drains ain't goin' to your septic. Unless you have the first and only gravity defying floor drains ....

It's not possible that the main drain turns down once it goes through the foundation to the same level as the floor drains?

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
It's not possible that the main drain turns down once it goes through the foundation to the same level as the floor drains?

No.

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
No.

Why?

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
Why?

Umm ....

Gravity?

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
Umm ....

Gravity?

Huh?

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
There are no culverts within 1400' of the house, and it's so flat you could bowl down my driveway (well, except for the pot holes. )

It would not surprise me if there is some sort of a French drain though.

It's flat right? How does water from your basement floor drains flow UP 36" (more like 48") to your septic tank inlet?

DaveNay · Nov 28, 2010

jpr62902 said:
It's flat right? How does water from your basement floor drains flow UP 36" (more like 48") to your septic tank inlet?

How do you know where the septic tank inlet is? Perhaps it is lower than the floor drains.

jpr62902 · Nov 28, 2010

DaveNay said:
How do you know where the septic tank inlet is? Perhaps it is lower than the floor drains.

If so, your house better be esconced on a STEEP hill.

Moving laundry to basement

Klaatu barada nikto

Gone But Not Forgotten

Bronze Member

Klaatu barada nikto

Gone But Not Forgotten

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Silver Member

Gone But Not Forgotten

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Gone But Not Forgotten

Klaatu barada nikto

Klaatu barada nikto

Gone But Not Forgotten

Gone But Not Forgotten

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Klaatu barada nikto

Gone But Not Forgotten

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer

Klaatu barada nikto

Jeanclaude Spam Banhammer