Move existing washer – cellar 2 upstairs
PatchogPhil
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Want to move an existing clothes washer/dryer from the basement to a back room on first floor. Basement only has OUTDOOR entrance.
Water supply and electric are not a problem. The water dishcharge, I have questions(s).
The original location in the basement, the washer just discharges into a short standpipe with trap, and then goes out the basement wall to a separate cesspool/drywell. I see no vent.
I know the new upstairs standpipe must be 30″ high with a trap above the floor. Can the standpipe and trap be inside the wall?
After the trap, how long of a horizontal run must there be before it goes down to the basement and then out the original exit point?
Replies
The standpipe and trap can be inside the wall--that's typical in new work and remodels. Check out an Oatey washing machine box online for fittings that combine water supply and drain, and also trim out the install. If I understand the question correctly, there's no requirement for a horizontal run after the trap. It can go straight down thru the floor if you want it to, or it can go horizontal, or both. Maintain a minimum of 1/8" slope per foot if it's horizontal.
Sounds like your existing drain goes out into a dispersion pit in the yard. Is that legal where you are? Are you rerouting it into a septic system or city sewer? You definitely want a proper vent on your new drain either way.
This is Long Island, NY. Home of the cesspool and washer machine drywell. Many areas are too close to the ocean to dig municipal sewage systems.
Of the washermachine drywell/cesspools I have seen, none have a vent. That does puzzle me but they work, many for 30 - 40 years and more. Maybe because the water is discharged under so much pressure?
You can get away with no vent if washer is the only source of waste water on that line. The water is pumped out, not even relying on gravity alone. If some water remains in the line between cycles due to vacuum lock, so what...
Think of it this way. If you have a hose attached to a pump, the water flows. There is no vent. Water displaces water.
The other venting problem, sewer gases, is not really much of an issue with a drywell if you are only pumping washer water into it. You may not even need a trap.
I've often though it would be an improvement if more homes had seperate graywater systems. Seems silly to build these oversize septic systems that handle 80%graywater. Seems few municipalites have any allowance for graywater systems, at least around here.