New contender for Dumbest construction question prize for 2007

Bill Lantry

Member
Messages
2,663
Location
Inside the Beltway
Hey, folks,

I've got a real winner on my hands! I know you like lots of pictures, so here they are. I've already taken several steps. I've figured out how the dryer stacks on the washer. They're secured, and presently on wheels. I've punched a hole through the block and brick for the dryer exhaust, and installed halfway decent vents. I've rewired for a new 110 circuit, and a 220, and punched a hole for an 8/3 w/ground cable out to a new 40 amp panel in the shop. I've cut out and replaced the studs I needed to fix, and repointed some block that had stairstep cracks. Now I'm running the pex, since the present plumbing is on the west (shop) wall, and the new plumbing needs to be on the south (back) wall. In that southwest corner, where the laundry sink used to be, there's a 1 1/2 horizontal drain pipe with trap, coming out about 14 inches to serve the old laundry tub. That spot will have a new cabinet, with sink, and I need a drain/trap to serve that. But I also need a drain/trap to serve the washer. The pipe needs to go down and connect with the existing drain. Doorlink wants the washer drain hose to connect to the recessed fixture I've already gotten installed. Normally, I'd just cut into the vertical drain pipe, but as you can see, all the wires to serve the upper floor are right there, and I am loath to move them or work pipe with them so close. I need a plan for how to serve both tub and washer drain. I've been thinking about some kind of flexible pipe, but Doorlink's pretty sceptical on that, and I can't say I blame her.

ANY ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Bill


Shot at distance:
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help 010 (Medium).jpg

Old setup:
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help 012 (Medium).jpg

Dryer vent hole:
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help 020 (Medium).jpg

New distance shot:
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help 018 (Medium).jpg

Electrical not fully nailed in yet, in case I need to move them:
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help 021 (Medium).jpg

Existing faucet:
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help 026 (Medium).jpg

new faucet setup:


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Best picture of specific problem area:

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Inot 100% sure I'm following all of this but is that pipe that runs underneath your new washer connection a drain pipe and if so could you connect to that one?
 
At first I thought the problem was that you were trying to get things to drain horizontally. Then I turned my monitor 90º and understood the problem better. :p I'm not enough of a plumber or electrician to help with the answer, but I can maybe help with the question.

Here are a few rotated pics, if it'll help:

help 018 (Medium) R.jpg

help 021 (Medium) R.jpg

help 026 (Medium) R.jpg

help 023 (Medium) R.jpg
 
Okay, I'll try to be as lucid as I can here....

First off, I notice that you are using copper for the drain and vent pipe. Therefore, as you are "Inside the Beltway", can I assume that there in DC (or wherever you are) you aren't allowed to use DWV (black plastic or ABS) pipe for the drain? DWV or even PVC would be a lot easier to work with. Just a thought. (DWV stands for drain, waste and vent. The fittings are made specifically for moving waste water down a drain line. This means that a person needs be careful to install some of the fittings oriented in the proper direction.)

Anyway, a 2" ABS pipe will fit around the outside (underneath) lip of the drain hole in the recessed fixture that you have there. It glues in quite nicely. Is that 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" copper that you are using? Perhaps you could transition from ABS to copper somewhere in your drain line from the fixture to wherever you tie in to the copper. A washing machine discharges a whole bunch of water at a time and therefore requires a big pipe to accept all of the water without backing up so generally a 2" pipe is used. You may be able to squeak by with a 1 1/2" drain line for the washer but I wouldn't recommend it. (BTW, if I'm just not judging the correct diameter of the pipe correctly and it IS 2" pipe already, please disregard all of the 1 1/2" talk above.):D

Also, you are going to need a trap for the drain below your fixture. It doesn't look like you don't have much room between the drain outlet in your fixture and the existing copper vent/drain....maybe 6"-8"? You might have a difficult time fitting in your trap. I would strongly recommend that you move the washer box fixture to the left to give you more room for your trap. I realize that this would require you to move/add a couple of studs but I don't think that you have the room for the trap otherwise.

Second, can I assume that the horizontal copper line directly under the fixture is a vent? (as opposed to a drain?) Any pipe above the tee where the existing drain ties back into the copper is supposed to be a vent. If you tie the washer drain into the copper ABOVE the existing drain, you have created a "wet vent". A lot of locales don't allow this, you may want to check that out.

Your best bet would be to sweat in a "wye" (Y) just BELOW the tee at the drain with a short pipe going up at an angle through the stud. Then install a 45 degree fitting to get the pipe back on a vertical attitude. (It would be REAL good to have made the transition to ABS/DWV by this point.) Install a DWV tee (oriented in the proper direction) immediately after the 45 degree fitting. You now have two holes left in the tee. The hole to the side will attach to your trap and the hole pointing up will tie into your existing vent.

1111pipe1.jpg

This is what your configuration would look like after you came through the stud and your pipe was running vertically. You can see the start of the trap on the far left. Notice the orientation of the tee! (Very important) This is a 2" drain with a 1 1/2" vent. You can buy the tees already made this way.

As far as sweating copper around your existing wires, just pull all of your cable staples out a couple of feet above and below where you are going to heat the pipe. Then ziptie them out of the way, maybe tying them temporarily to the stud. Use a bent over nail to tie them to. Them partially put in a nail a foot or so above where the flame will be and hang a dripping wet thick towel (an old bath towel works great) over the wires between them and the flame. Then, just be careful where you aim the flame.


Hope this helps.
 
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I've figured out how the dryer stacks on the washer. ... In that southwest corner, where the laundry sink used to be, there's a 1 1/2 horizontal drain pipe with trap, coming out about 14 inches to serve the old laundry tub. That spot will have a new cabinet, with sink, and I need a drain/trap to serve that. But I also need a drain/trap to serve the washer. The pipe needs to go down and connect with the existing drain. Doorlink wants the washer drain hose to connect to the recessed fixture I've already gotten installed.

Thanks, Vaughn, for turning the pictures.

Bill, I'm kind of confused here. It seems like your W/D are a stacking unit - and you've already roughed in the vent hole, and also the water lines.

Here, I drew on top of your photo. Is that what you had in mind?
doorlink-laundry.jpg
I was confused as it seems to me that the hot/cold supply line rough-in should be more to the left to be behind the Washer/Dryer. Or do you want them more easily accessible?

And so, is that sort of what you want for the drain line? I'm not a plumber, and I've been caught by surprise before about vent regulations, so I'll defer to the experts on that. Mark is making a lot of sense. That horizontal line is a bit of a puzzle. It looks like it might be a vent, but then the whole hookup looks a bit odd.

What about just clipping the washer line to the side of the laundry sink/tub and just draining into that? I've seen that in many houses. It's not lovely, but it works.
 
Gentlemen,

Yes, washer dryer goes on left, still unobtained sink on the right. I've learned to make things as accesible as possible, as I'm fully capable of doing really dumb things! ;)

Case in point: last evening, as I did the pex, I neglected to tighten the threads on the fittings that connect the supply box to the pex line. It took half an hour to get them loose. Then Doorlink had put the plumber's tape "somewhere. I thought it was in this box. Here's some plumber's putty. Will that work? Hurry up, we need to sit down to dinner, I have to be at church in 20 minutes!" Did you know that plumber's putty will actually work to seal pressurized water fittings? ;)

Existing drain system is inch and a half. It's really strange: the pipe goes up to the next floor, but there's nothing up there. The bathroom's on the other side of the house. There's no vent in the roof. When I crawl up in the attic, there's nothing there. It's truly wierd. When I get around to doing the upstairs exterior walls, I'll be able to figure it out, until then, I'm leery of messing with the system. So two options: Strap the drain outlet to a big sink. That's how it was before I started. It's also what flooded the main electrical panel three times. It's easy, and I only need one trap. But it's not exactly an elegant solution, and I've already got too many brute force git 'er done jury-rig solutions going on in this house, and even this room.

The only other thing I can think of is some kind of double trap array, like one would see under a kitchen sink. But there's not really room for that, unless I do a rube goldberg number in pvc. Yikes!

Thanks,

Bill
(ps. Vaughn, thanks for taking the time to flip the pictures. I've been staring at this thing for so long even my own view is so twisted sideways seems normal! ;)
 
Just as a reminder fellas, this is a washing machine drain that is at issue here, not just a sink drain. There is a need to accommodate a lot more water volume than a sink faucet and therefore needs a different drain structure to prevent overflowing the pipe above the trap.
 
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