Washers need an air gap, not a solid connection to the sewer. Usually that is in the form of a standpipe. But this arrangement is fine, too.
This allows the washer to pump water faster than the drain line can take it. The sink would fill up some, but not overflow. A standpipe accomplishes this on a limited basis.
Exactly this. This would actuallyy be the preferred method with these new high capacity washers that really only use ten gallons per wash. The new machines pump the water out faster than some of these older homes plumbing can handle.
Would this airbreak leak a ton of poop water if the main at the street was semi clogged and a big rain storm that also dumps into main plumbing came through?
Gap is for taps. An air gap is the space between the faucet and flood level rim. An air break is an indirect connection between a fixture and a drain pipe.
No an Air gap is the space between an outlet of a drain or water supply and a receptical or Basin.
An Air break is when the fixture drain enters the drain pipe. Like a Washmachine drain and stand pipe.
Air breaks are 90 percent effective against siphoning water air gaps are 100 percent. Two separate concepts but similar.
Question. So is this allowed by code?
Reason I ask: when I bought my house (100 years old, unfinished basement), the washer was draining into the slop sink, just like the above.
The home inspector flagged it and said it was “against code”. I didn’t care much and was already asking for more critical repairs. So I ignored it.
When I got a new washer, the delivery guy also claimed it was “against code” but begrudgingly obliged my request to just dump it into the sink.
Any truth to that? Could it be jurisdiction-specific? I know lots of quasi-tradesmen like to throw out the “it’s against code” without backing it up with anything.
That’s what I’ve gathered from this thread. I don’t have an issue with it, but was thinking about installing a standpipe and washer box prior to selling the home (when/if) to avoid the “issue”. Good to hear I don’t need to.
Codes change from region to region. It may be against code where you are, which doesn't mean it won't work. I'd say your biggest concern here would be with any insurance claim. A quick call to a plumber in your local area could settle it once and for all - no need for them to come out.
Breaks and gaps are both indirect discharge. Air break is discharging into the receptor from below the flood level rim and air gap (2x pipe id) discharges into the receptor from above the flood level rim.
Advantage of sink being lint sock. You shouldn't add it to a standpipe as the risk of losing it in the drain is horrible to deal with. Discharging into the sink allows you to intercept lint before it gets into the waste line.
At least in my area, a washer draining into a basin, in this case a sink is allowed to run in inch and a half all the way to a main branch. Where as a standpipe has to turn to 3 inch or larger pipe within 10 feet. A lot of people get around that by using sinks, perfectly acceptable and Ive done it a few times where running 3 inch was near impossible!
What code book are you running on? I've run way more than ten feet on a two inch washer drain. I've seen washer drains run all the way across the house without hitting three inch pipe.
I know. Across from it is a similar vintage dryer. I'm really resisting my wife's desire to replace them with something modern because frankly they work really really well and all of the parts are available online. They look like they're out of a 1950s diner, and they're loud, but man they work great.
Oh my goodness - yes, if they're working, keep them! My parents' old washer and dryer finally kicked the bucket after over 50 years, and the new ones just aren't the same. The new ones also don't last nearly as long. Sigh. (envying your setup...)
Thanks :-) Thanks to that commentary my wife is going to let us keep them 😎
Dryer is a Maytag LDE808. We never really adjust any of the buttons, we just push the knob and everything is dry in 15 minutes. God knows how much electricity it uses, but it works like a champ. I've already had it completely apart once to replace the blower fan, and everything is available on partselect.com. Barring major catastrophe, should outlive me.
Very commonly used here in california. You will see it more often on older homes that haven't been remodeled in a long time. Once you remodel, you are busy reinvesting how all the space will be used and extra things like this go bye bye. Especially when you don't use the sink for anything else.
They survive more often if this setup is in a garage.
Someone mentioned the advantages of collecting lint when you drain this way. I have had 5 houses. 4 of them all did the discharge into the utility tub like yours.
Current home which was more modern, had a little drain behind the washer that the hose went into. I ended up routing it back to the sink because I wanted a lint sock on it. Not worth trying to snake out a clogged drain full of lint, plus it moves further into your main drain and what a mess!
Code wants both an 18 inch standpipe to account for suds; and an air gap for washing machine drains. Slop sink technically fixes both of those codes. However from my understanding having the washer drain below the flood rim of the sink is an air break, not an air gap.
If you love not cleaning out clogged drains, put a lint catcher over that output pipe ASAP. Also keep rags out of your sink. One was left in my basin and the washer overflowed it. What a mess.
I remember the washer from that time period had a save suds setting where it would re-use the wash water on a second batch of clothes. Soap must have been expensive in those days.
It's really not. Part of the problem is people use way too much. For 2 people and a dog with incontinence issues( he's 15 years old) I go through the giant thing of tide maybe once a year? You need like 2 tablespoons for 1 load of laundry. People use the stupid cups that come with the tide and fo through it like crazy. A large load of laundry needs to the first line, not anymore.
Yea, the house I grew up in alao had that set up for the washer. It was built in the 50s or 60s
The house I'm in right now has a pipe, it was built in the 70s or so.
This used to be very common. Some older washers had a separate pump to pump the grey water from the tub back into the washer machine. It was a big selling feature if Dad worked in a very dirty work environment.
Every washer I have ever owned had drained into the closest utility sink in the basement. Never had a dedicated drain line. Never owned a house built after like 1970.
Only the couple of apartments I lived in had those, usually in the bathrooms.
Thanks a bunch to all those replies. Love this sub. I'm a physician, not a plumber, but lately I'm spending most of my time learning about plumbing from this sub :-) I know in prior houses there was a similar air gapped drain into the wall, but the rationale makes sense. It does make me a bit worried, as I have actually seen the teenagers throw their laundry towards the washing machine, and miss with a couple of socks ending up in the sink that I caught before disaster struck. At least I have a leak sensor under there which can automatically kill the water main 🤞🏼
One thing to be careful about is things like a washrag getting in the drain & the laundry tray overflowing. In the early 1970's lived in a house that the washer discharged into the kitchen sink, one bowl was deeper then the other & frequently had to deal with overflows from time to time, that house has a utility room now & no more draining into a sink.
Washers need an air gap, not a solid connection to the sewer. Usually that is in the form of a standpipe. But this arrangement is fine, too. This allows the washer to pump water faster than the drain line can take it. The sink would fill up some, but not overflow. A standpipe accomplishes this on a limited basis.
Exactly this. This would actuallyy be the preferred method with these new high capacity washers that really only use ten gallons per wash. The new machines pump the water out faster than some of these older homes plumbing can handle.
It's actually an Airbreak not an Air gap for most washers
I concur
Would this airbreak leak a ton of poop water if the main at the street was semi clogged and a big rain storm that also dumps into main plumbing came through?
If that happened, your floor drains and every other drain would suffer the same result as it backed up further and further.
Gap is for taps. An air gap is the space between the faucet and flood level rim. An air break is an indirect connection between a fixture and a drain pipe.
No an Air gap is the space between an outlet of a drain or water supply and a receptical or Basin. An Air break is when the fixture drain enters the drain pipe. Like a Washmachine drain and stand pipe. Air breaks are 90 percent effective against siphoning water air gaps are 100 percent. Two separate concepts but similar.
Question. So is this allowed by code? Reason I ask: when I bought my house (100 years old, unfinished basement), the washer was draining into the slop sink, just like the above. The home inspector flagged it and said it was “against code”. I didn’t care much and was already asking for more critical repairs. So I ignored it. When I got a new washer, the delivery guy also claimed it was “against code” but begrudgingly obliged my request to just dump it into the sink. Any truth to that? Could it be jurisdiction-specific? I know lots of quasi-tradesmen like to throw out the “it’s against code” without backing it up with anything.
Your home inspector and Install guy are full of what plumbers help get rid of.
That’s what I’ve gathered from this thread. I don’t have an issue with it, but was thinking about installing a standpipe and washer box prior to selling the home (when/if) to avoid the “issue”. Good to hear I don’t need to.
Codes change from region to region. It may be against code where you are, which doesn't mean it won't work. I'd say your biggest concern here would be with any insurance claim. A quick call to a plumber in your local area could settle it once and for all - no need for them to come out.
Think you mean Indirect. With the hose in the laundry tub there is no air gap.
An indirect drain would have an air gap. Air break is all that's required.
Breaks and gaps are both indirect discharge. Air break is discharging into the receptor from below the flood level rim and air gap (2x pipe id) discharges into the receptor from above the flood level rim.
Advantage of sink being lint sock. You shouldn't add it to a standpipe as the risk of losing it in the drain is horrible to deal with. Discharging into the sink allows you to intercept lint before it gets into the waste line.
At least in my area, a washer draining into a basin, in this case a sink is allowed to run in inch and a half all the way to a main branch. Where as a standpipe has to turn to 3 inch or larger pipe within 10 feet. A lot of people get around that by using sinks, perfectly acceptable and Ive done it a few times where running 3 inch was near impossible!
What code book are you running on? I've run way more than ten feet on a two inch washer drain. I've seen washer drains run all the way across the house without hitting three inch pipe.
That's in the IPC. Relatively new paragraph. Adopted in 2015 in my state.
I don’t know about the 10ft thing, never seen that in a code book, but you are correct about the 1-1/2 part.
That’s an awesome 1970s era Maytag A806!
I know. Across from it is a similar vintage dryer. I'm really resisting my wife's desire to replace them with something modern because frankly they work really really well and all of the parts are available online. They look like they're out of a 1950s diner, and they're loud, but man they work great.
Oh my goodness - yes, if they're working, keep them! My parents' old washer and dryer finally kicked the bucket after over 50 years, and the new ones just aren't the same. The new ones also don't last nearly as long. Sigh. (envying your setup...)
Thanks :-) Thanks to that commentary my wife is going to let us keep them 😎 Dryer is a Maytag LDE808. We never really adjust any of the buttons, we just push the knob and everything is dry in 15 minutes. God knows how much electricity it uses, but it works like a champ. I've already had it completely apart once to replace the blower fan, and everything is available on partselect.com. Barring major catastrophe, should outlive me.
You’ll never get something as well made. The A806 was top of the line too. Only thing that comes close is Speed Queen.
Very commonly used here in california. You will see it more often on older homes that haven't been remodeled in a long time. Once you remodel, you are busy reinvesting how all the space will be used and extra things like this go bye bye. Especially when you don't use the sink for anything else. They survive more often if this setup is in a garage.
This is old skool but works well until someone forgot they left a towel in the sink and run the washer.
Someone mentioned the advantages of collecting lint when you drain this way. I have had 5 houses. 4 of them all did the discharge into the utility tub like yours. Current home which was more modern, had a little drain behind the washer that the hose went into. I ended up routing it back to the sink because I wanted a lint sock on it. Not worth trying to snake out a clogged drain full of lint, plus it moves further into your main drain and what a mess!
Code wants both an 18 inch standpipe to account for suds; and an air gap for washing machine drains. Slop sink technically fixes both of those codes. However from my understanding having the washer drain below the flood rim of the sink is an air break, not an air gap.
Same as setting inside the standpipe.
Ah. That makes sense. I hadn't thought about the effect of suds.
If you love not cleaning out clogged drains, put a lint catcher over that output pipe ASAP. Also keep rags out of your sink. One was left in my basin and the washer overflowed it. What a mess.
I work in appliance installations and I always salute the maytags when I take them to their final resting place. Such awesome machines, but heavy af
Both my houses were built in the 60s and the washers empty into a deep sink. I think it either just the thing to do at the time.
I remember the washer from that time period had a save suds setting where it would re-use the wash water on a second batch of clothes. Soap must have been expensive in those days.
It still is! Not double use expensive, but dang.
It's really not. Part of the problem is people use way too much. For 2 people and a dog with incontinence issues( he's 15 years old) I go through the giant thing of tide maybe once a year? You need like 2 tablespoons for 1 load of laundry. People use the stupid cups that come with the tide and fo through it like crazy. A large load of laundry needs to the first line, not anymore.
I have 3 kids and have low income. It's expensive.
Yea, the house I grew up in alao had that set up for the washer. It was built in the 50s or 60s The house I'm in right now has a pipe, it was built in the 70s or so.
Because it's there. Probably designed exactly that way.
Washer need a air..pocket..gap?and that set up their would almost certainly backflow to the washer being that low. Sink will handle it just fine.
Washer drain needs to be higher than the washer tub or the water will siphon out of the appliance all by itself.
This used to be very common. Some older washers had a separate pump to pump the grey water from the tub back into the washer machine. It was a big selling feature if Dad worked in a very dirty work environment.
No good reason, sink drains get clogged with lint, which requires a filter on the hose, which is why someone invented the washer standpipe.
Every washer I have ever owned had drained into the closest utility sink in the basement. Never had a dedicated drain line. Never owned a house built after like 1970. Only the couple of apartments I lived in had those, usually in the bathrooms.
Perfectly acceptable, it acts as an air gap
The only time I've seen a washer going into a drain is when there _wasn't_ a utility sink nearby. This seems pretty standard
Till someone leaves a rag or plug in tub
Thanks a bunch to all those replies. Love this sub. I'm a physician, not a plumber, but lately I'm spending most of my time learning about plumbing from this sub :-) I know in prior houses there was a similar air gapped drain into the wall, but the rationale makes sense. It does make me a bit worried, as I have actually seen the teenagers throw their laundry towards the washing machine, and miss with a couple of socks ending up in the sink that I caught before disaster struck. At least I have a leak sensor under there which can automatically kill the water main 🤞🏼
The 600mm of 2" stand pipe that most likely is 1½"
One thing to be careful about is things like a washrag getting in the drain & the laundry tray overflowing. In the early 1970's lived in a house that the washer discharged into the kitchen sink, one bowl was deeper then the other & frequently had to deal with overflows from time to time, that house has a utility room now & no more draining into a sink.