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Tip: Have a washing machine?

Muse

Muse

Lifer
My washing machine drains into one of those large plastic square sink-tubs you can pick up at Home Depot, etc. The hose from the washing machine dumps water into the sink, where it accumulates quickly, usually more quickly than the sink's drain can accept it to the sewer line. That's the purpose of the sink -- to make sure you don't get a back-flow onto the laundry room floor.

Water from the machine always has a lint component that will slowly build up in the drain pipe leading to the sewer line, necessitating an occasional cleaning with a snake of some kind. To prevent this from happening with any frequency (I haven't had to do it since installing the washing machine a dozen years ago), at a hardware store you can buy a lint-collecting fine metal screen sock that fits over the hose that comes from the machine and hangs over the edge of the tub. This sock eventually gets clogged with lint, after maybe 10-20 loads. I bought a pair of these a dozen years ago and have never had to replace them. If you have a washing machine that drains into a tub-sink, you can do the same:

Take a metal coat hanger and untwist at the top so that you have an approximately 4 foot length of wire with one end hooked. When a metal screen sock gets clogged with lint, let it dry thoroughly and hang it over the hooked end of the coat hanger. Go outside and with a flame, light the bottom of the metal sock. Hold it away from you and allow the flame to engulf the sock and burn itself out. Then put the sock in a sink and scrub briefly with a brush to dislodge any ashes. Voila! Ready for reuse.
 
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I didn't realize people had washing machines that didn't dump directly into a large diameter drain specifically for washing machines.
 
deadlyapp said:
I didn't realize people had washing machines that didn't dump directly into a large diameter drain specifically for washing machines.
Click to expand...
I don't know how large the diameter of mine is, but even a wide one would eventually clog with lint.
 
Muse said:
My washing machine drains into one of those large plastic square sink-tubs you can pick up at Home Depot, etc. The hose from the washing machine dumps water into the sink, where it accumulates quickly, usually more quickly than the sink's drain can accept it to the sewer line. That's the purpose of the sink -- to make sure you don't get a back-flow onto the laundry room floor.

Water from the machine always has a lint component that will slowly build up in the drain pipe leading to the sewer line, necessitating an occasional cleaning with a snake of some kind. To prevent this from happening with any frequency (I haven't had to do it since installing the washing machine a dozen years ago), at a hardware store you can buy a lint-collecting fine metal screen sock that fits over the hose that comes from the machine and hangs over the edge of the tub. This sock eventually gets clogged with lint, after maybe 10-20 loads. I bought a pair of these a dozen years ago and have never had to replace them. If you have a washing machine that drains into a tub-sink, you can do the same:

Take a metal coat hanger and untwist at the top so that you have an approximately 5 foot length of wire with one end hooked. When a metal screen sock gets clogged with lint, let it dry thoroughly and hang it over the hooked end of the coat hanger. Go outside and with a flame, light the bottom of the metal sock. Hold it away from you and allow the flame to engulf the sock and burn itself out. Then put the sock in a sink and scrub briefly with a brush to dislodge any ashes. Voila! Ready for reuse.
Click to expand...

alternatively, you can just move to a better neighborhood...
 
OBLAMA2009 said:
alternatively, you can just move to a better neighborhood...
Click to expand...
One place I rented had no drain for the washing machine. The prior tenant used tenant-style ingenuity. He taped up the window in the room with the washing machine, punched a hole in the glass, ran the drain hose through the hole in the window into the backyard where he used a post pounder to breach the top of the clay sewer pipe. He used a vacuum cleaner wand to connect the drain hose to the sewer pipe.
 
I don't understand anything you said

My washer is connected to a drain made specifically for the washer, as is the case in any house I've ever lived in. There was never a problem with lint clogging such a line, nor have I heard about such a problem... until today

Your line from your washer is just hanging in a sink?
 
wabbitslayer said:
Best way to avoid all these problems is to get a washer with either an optical digital output or hdmi
Click to expand...

Is it true that the HDMI 2.0 spec allows you to mix color shirts and white socks without the color bleed issue they had before?
 
gorcorps said:
Your line from your washer is just hanging in a sink?
Click to expand...
That's how it used to be done eons ago. Drain line goes into the laundry tub adjacent to the washer.

The majority of us have a wall drain or in my case, I have a standpipe as the washer is against an outside wall and we didn't want the potential for freezing.
 
Growing up we had two machines. The old wringer type which still worked fine was used for grungy work clothes and shop rags. It dumped into the laundry sink and we just tied a nylon over the output hose. When it filled with lint, throw away and attach another. With polyester there's a lot less lint to deal with.
 
Muse said:
I don't know how large the diameter of mine is, but even a wide one would eventually clog with lint.
Click to expand...
I've never heard of one clogging. If this is true, why doesn't the hose out of the washing machine clog with lint?
 
When I first bought my house.... along with all new things like face cloths, towels etc the first time I washed the face clothes about 50% of them completely disintegrated into lint. I hate how everything is made so cheap now. Long story short, all this link accumulated downstream into the main sewer line, and I got a localized sewer backup as the machine was dumping into the drain (the next laundry batch), which was fully clogged. The laundry sink was full nearly to the rim, and there was water squirting out of the clean out of the main stack and poop sludge coming out of the sump pit drain. I was eventually able to unplug it with just the plunger though. Got lucky.

Basically, if you buy any new towels or face cloths, just keep a very close eye on how much of them are vanishing and turning into a pile of lint, and you probably want to fill the bath tub with water and drain it, just to make sure you clear the line before too much of it accumulates.
 
DrPizza said:
I've never heard of one clogging. If this is true, why doesn't the hose out of the washing machine clog with lint?
Click to expand...

Our laundry room came with a stand pipe in which to place the drain hose. We clogged the pipe with cat hair requiring a call to the plumber. We've since installed a laundry tub with nylon to catch the hair before it gets into the drain. Installing the tub was cheaper than a single visit by the plumber.
 
IronWing said:
Our laundry room came with a stand pipe in which to place the drain hose. We clogged the pipe with cat hair requiring a call to the plumber. We've since installed a laundry tub with nylon to catch the hair before it gets into the drain. Installing the tub was cheaper than a single visit by the plumber.
Click to expand...

Or just don't put your cat in the washing machine.
 
gorcorps said:
I don't understand anything you said

My washer is connected to a drain made specifically for the washer, as is the case in any house I've ever lived in. There was never a problem with lint clogging such a line, nor have I heard about such a problem... until today

Your line from your washer is just hanging in a sink?
Click to expand...

This.
 
DrPizza said:
I've never heard of one clogging. If this is true, why doesn't the hose out of the washing machine clog with lint?
Click to expand...
Ours does, though the lint and cat fur just sticks to whatever other muck builds up. Now, it has a flexible pipe that can be opened and have a snake put down it easily. Though, drain cleaner every now and then seems to do the job well enough.
 
I've never lived anywhere where the washing machine drained into a sink. My grandparents lived in a home built in the early 20s that did, but that's the only time I've ever seen it. I've never had any issues with sewers backing up that weren't caused by roots invading the line to the street.
 
That's essentially dryer lint you're burning, and as OP can testify, extremely flammable. That's proof why it's important to periodically clean your dryer tubing, clean the lint trap before each use and not to use the flexible plastic dryer vent tube (banned under most fire codes).

I grew up in a house where the washer dumped into a utility sink and it was a PIA to clean the sink drain or whatever Rube Goldberg device was attached as a filter to the washer hose. In my home for the last 25 years the washer dumps directly into a drain pipe to the septic system and we have had zero problems-and I bet the washer is used on average at least once a day.
 
gorcorps said:
I don't understand anything you said

My washer is connected to a drain made specifically for the washer, as is the case in any house I've ever lived in. There was never a problem with lint clogging such a line, nor have I heard about such a problem... until today

Your line from your washer is just hanging in a sink?
Click to expand...
Yes. Maybe it's because my house is old. It was built in 1910, a Craftsman. I'm pretty sure that if I just hung the drain hose from the washer into the vertical stand pipe leading to the sewer line, the water would just back-flow right onto the laundry room floor. Those off-white plastic tub-sinks I described are available at Home Depot, that's where I bought mine a dozen years ago. The internal dimensions are 20" x 20" x 10" (height).

The drain hose from my Sears washer has no fitting on the outside end. There's no way to "connect" it to a drain, it has to hang over one. This system prevents flooding in the laundry room.
 
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