Question For Those W/ Multiple Washers On Single Drain Line

[frigilux]

When both my washers (a TL and a FL) drain at the same time, water comes shooting out of the two stand pipes, (which feed to the same drain line in the floor of my laundry room) geyser-like.

Is this normal? Do any of you find you can drain two washers at once, or am I asking too much of my plumbing?

I'm sure the drain pipes aren't clogging and I'm not hearing 'glug-glug-glug' from the vented floor drain or anything like that.

I've gotten pretty good at timing the two washers to avoid floods, but I was just wondering if this is a common problem when using more than one washer at the same time.

 

[Unimatic1140]

Eugene I use a large 3" PCV pipe going around the entire basement, which ends at the floor drian. I can drain 3 or 4 machines at the same time without any problem.

I bet the 1 1/2" PVC standard laundry line is not large enough for two machines.

 

[frigilux]

Thanks for your help, Robert! I'll bet that's my situation, exactly.

 

[toggleswitch]

A picture is worth a thousnad words. Please DO include one!

In laudry rooms seen in aparmtent buildings I inspect where there are, say, 3 to 5 washers, I have seen similar large diameter PVC piping for the drain hoses. However it sometimes terminates right in a slop-sink ("laundry tray").

Methinks the trick is to keep any lint fom going down the drain into the smaller pipe that carries the water from the SS.

By this method, every machine can drain at once and the water sits in the sink for a minute or two until the smaller diameter pipe can handle it!

 

[sudsman]

Drain Problems

Most of the newer machines have VERY powerful drain pumps and some will empty the machine in as little as 30 seconds. A Standard washer drain line just can't handle that much water from 2 machines at the same time. One thing I have seen when one has 2 or 3 washers is to drain them into a 55 gal drum then have a automatic sump pump drain that into the line. This can handle 3 or 4 washers but yet only one hose going into the main drain line.. We have used this system here for several years and have no problems with it..

 

[toggleswitch]

~One thing I have seen when one has 2 or 3 washers is to drain them into a 55 gal drum....

And at a certain someone's home in Arizona this month this is what we will see.

 

[westytoploader]

The standpipes I have in the washhouse are 1.5", but they're connected to 3 or 4" (I can't remmember) pipe at the bottom so draining isn't a problem, although I do get some suds backup from time to time. I think at the last wash-in, we had 3 going at once.

And since we have a back alley behind our house, I just ran a corrugated plastic "yard hose" from the large pipe to right up against the fence, and the washwater just drains off into the grass.

Speaking of 55 gal. drums, Nate in AZ has a VERY ingenious setup when it comes to draining machines. Nate, you should definitely mention it on this thread!

--Austin

 

[westytoploader]

Was typing my post and didn't see Toggle's previous comment! Oops...

 

[sudsmaster]

This thread is of interest to me because I have a large workshop in a separate building that could house and power a number of washers. But there is only one drain, in a half-bath at the back of the shop, with a small sink. What I am thinking is I could replace the small sink with a utility wash tub (maybe dual!), and then run PVC pipe from the line-up of washers to that location. This would require cutting a hole in the wall of the bath into the shop, but that would be a relatively minor alteration. Sadly, there is no floor drain, which would be ideal (for other reasons as well, such as wet mopping the shop floor).

Draining into the ground isn't much of an option since all the land around me is developed and someone would probably complain about suds in their daffodils.

Another challenge is getting water to the bath and washers... the water is disconected somewhere and I think I have to run a fair amount of copper water pipe to get it going again. That, and I will need to get some sort of water heater back there. There IS natural gas service to the shop, so I'm thinking a small on-demand gas water heater with pilotless ignition would work well. Don't want to spend the $$$ to keep a big tank filled and hot when it would be used only occasionally.

 

[bobbins]

Plumbing systems are designed based on hydraulic loads – flow rate of water through a pipe. VENTING is an important factor for the drainage system (relieving the pressure and sewer gases). Each fixture (IE Toilet, sinks, dishwasher, clothes washer, etc) are assigned a fixture unit.The plumbing code will have tables that will give pipes sizes based on fixture loads. A 3” may work, so long there is a proper venting.