# Drain for a washing machine in a basement?



## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Okay...I kind of hate to post this on account that you all will know how dumb I really am:

If you live in a house with a basement, and you want to put a washing machine there, where the water needs to be pumped up in order to drain, how do you do that?

I live in a 20's era Craftsman style home, and the washing machine is already in the basement. Currently, the washing machine _may_ drain out through a drain line, out of the house, and somewhere in the backyard. The entire drain line is underground, and no waste water is ever seen on the ground.

I suspect there is a cistern of some sort that was originally built to capture the waste water.

I am hoping to correct this problem...it is part of a myriad of water problems I am having, and I want to fix them right. My ultimate goal is to pump that water into the city sewer system for treatment...and not into the suspected cistern.

So how is water pumped up, out of a basement, into a sewer/wastewater line that is currently overhead, hanging from the ceiling?

Can you explain what type of pumps, lines, etc., are used?

(BTW, no need to beat me over the head for the wastewater running into the ground via a cistern...if that is really what is happening. Someone designed and installed the drain system before I was even born!)

Thanks for the help!!!!! 

(I'm trying to figure out what problems I have...and how to fix them, _correctly_, one by one.)


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## tamsam (May 12, 2006)

What is wrong with the drain going into the ground? Most car wash soaps are worse than wash water. If it is causing wet spots then yes it can need to be fixed. When that system was put in it most likely was run into a gravel pit so that it could be soaked into the ground. Now to hook it to an overhead line it could get tricky. I may be wrong but my way of seeing how to do it would be this. First you will need a catch box for the washer to pump it's water into with a really good sump pump on it. The washer drain will have to be higher than the water level in the washer at some point. Next you will have to cut the pipe overhead and put a tee in it with the tee part up. Next the line from the collection box will have to be plumbed to the tee and it will have to be water tight. Now somewhere between the sump pump and overhead line there will have to be a one way valve. If you get all this done it should be good to go but no promises made. Good luck and let us know how you fix it. Sam


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## cfabe (Feb 27, 2005)

Depending on the washing machine it may be able to pump up high enough to get it into the main drain line. Check the owners manual. 

The other solution is a catch basin and effluent pump that will allow the washer to drain into it and then pump it up to the main drain line.


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## Stush (Aug 27, 2002)

Clovis, 

You can try something like this....

http://www.amazon.com/HARTELL-LAUNDRY-GALLON-RESERVOIR-OUTLET/dp/B0009TAAR0/ref=pd_cp_hi_1

or 

http://www.amazon.com/ZOELLER-LAUND...f=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1277919426&sr=1-10

But, I think that may be a solution in search of a problem? I would find out where the current drain actually goes. 

It is not uncommon for greywater to discharged separately from the sewage. In fact, I think it is just fine. In rural homes without city sewage available, this is actually the better way to go since you don't end up dumping all the extra water and detergents into your septic system. 

I lived in a house growing up that had the greywater discharged to a surface drain. That was always the greenest part of the lawn.


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## Tarheel (Jan 24, 2010)

cfabe said:


> Depending on the washing machine it may be able to pump up high enough to get it into the main drain line. Check the owners manual.
> 
> This is correct, but not all machines will have enough head pressure to pump it very high. Some of the newer machines have electric pumps (which would work better for a higher drain line) instead of mechanical pumps. As cfabe said check your manual or ask your local appliance tec. Ask me how I know ? Been there done that.


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## Reptyle (Jul 28, 2005)

Get you one of those large galvanized garbage cans. Pump your washer water into there, put a small sump pump in the garbage can to pump the water to outside or wherever you want it.


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

I'm going to have to search for an owner's manual for my washer.

We got the washer in the basement when we bought the place, and I have just been using that machine.

I bought our 'good' set used...even though it was only 5 months old when we bought them.

Keep the ideas coming...I appreciate the help!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I need all the help I can get!!!)


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## SolarGary (Sep 8, 2005)

Hi,
Some people use the grey water from clothes washers for landscape watering.
Some plans here:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Water/Water.htm#Grey

Using the water first for clothes washing and them for landscape water seems better to me than sending the water down the sewer -- better to use it twice and not burden the sewer at all?

Gary


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

That is a decent idea, Gary, and one that I've thought about before.

I even have a pump from an old swimming pool that I could use.

I still got to figure out these water problems though. I'm not sure what I'd do with the water in the dead of these Indiana winters.


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

Why do you think it goes to a cistern?

Where does the rest of your waste water go to?

Why don't you think you have a working septic/ leach field deal?

--->Paul


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

rambler said:


> Why do you think it goes to a cistern?
> 
> Where does the rest of your waste water go to?
> 
> ...


All of the waste water we have goes into the city sewer, except the washing machine. _That water,_ well, it goes into a 2 1/4 inch drain pipe that runs into the cement floor...and I'm pretty sure that it was originally_ supposed_ to run into a leach field/cistern/or into the sump pit.

The sump pit never gets filled up or gets any water from the washing machine. I'm guessing that it all goes out, underground, into the backyard, some where. 

*I'm still trying to get my head around this whole deal, in order to understand why they plumbed the washing machine this way.* 

Until then...

Again, thank you so much for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

clovis said:


> The sump pit never gets filled up or gets any water from the washing machine. I'm guessing that it all goes out, underground, into the backyard, some where.


If you don't like how it's working now, typically the water gets dumped into the sump pit and then pumped into the sewer pipe with a sump pump rated for handling the grey water coming from a washing machine.

This assumes your sump pump drains into the sewer - in many locations the sump pump is for water seepage, and _that_ water can't be added to the sewer, it must be put out onto the grass or into the rainwater curb drain, not the sanitary sewer system.....

Many towns in my area have divided the water systems in two - one handles sewer water, and the other handles rainwater/ basement seepage which is considered storm runoff water. Don't know what you have, and living 5+ miles out in the country I'm not so well versed in city hookups to start with.

--->Paul


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

That's grey water, and I'd have no qualms about letting it flow out onto the lawn. If the existing line in the basement works and drains, I'd hook the new machine up to it and be done.


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## Witterbound (Sep 4, 2007)

Is there a pipe in the basement where the water runs into the sewer system? Is that pipe in the floor, overhead, or somewhere in the middle?


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