Would anyone have suggestions how to connect a dishwasher to the washing machine hot water feed and disposal line? I know it's an unusual way of doing things but I don't have much of a choice...thanks to a big old return vent that is next to the sink. Any help will be appreciated...the plumbing supply guy just looked at me funny when I asked about it.
Deano in Cincinnati snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
Something to think about: Dishwashers normally discharge into the garbage disposal so that chunks can get grinded up. If you plan on discharging directly into the drain, be sure to de-chunk your dishes first.
OK, that's a new one to me...
How's the disposer going to grind the chunks unless it's running during the drain cycle? And if the disposer fills up with chunks, its not going to drain.
What about houses that do not have disposers? I don't recall seeing anything in any instructions I've read regarding rinsing dishes more throughally if you don't have a disposer.
My dishwasher has its own impeller to take care of the soft stuff. The instructions specifically say not to waste water by rinsing off soft food prior to washing.
Are you sure about that "so that chunks can get grinded up" comment?
I don't know. I guess someone figured the capacity of the disposal was greater than the quantity of detritus normally left on dishes.
I don't know. As a guess, they either rinse their dishes first or, when the drain clogs up, they move to another shotgun shack without a garbage disposal.
Can it handle T-bones, the tops of pineapples, or napkins?
Well, no, I'm not sure. It's merely a conclusion based on the observation that a) The disposal has an inlet for dishwasher output, b) the dishwasher's outlet hose fits the disposal, and c) instructions for both garbage disposals and dishwashers mention it (although they don't insist).
"Slip one hose clamp over each end of the short drain hose that will run from the garbage disposal to the large outlet on the air gap"
You are probably correct. Most (if not all) dishwashers come with a built in grinder for what would be expected to be discharged from a dishwasher. I don't ever recall having to run a disposal to grind the output of a dishwasher. In other words, there won't be any "chunks" to be ground up.
Here in WI, it is against code to discharge the dishwasher into the disposal. I don't know what the logic is behind it, but it is one code that I don't follow. The biggest benefit, as I see it, is that that you regularly have hot sudsy water going through the disposal, which generally keeps it from getting stinky.
JK
Why would I put a T-Bones in my dishwasher? And why would I expect it to pass through the dishwasher's drain system into the disposal to be ground up? Why am I even repsonding to this post?
gap"
I'm not sure how you reached the conclusion that because there is knockout for the dishwasher in the disposal that the disposal is supposed to be used to grind up debris from the dishwasher. The knockout is there simply to make the connection to the drain easier.
If you back-pedal any farther, you're going to run into something.
The only logic I can think of is that if someone forgot to run the disposal before running the DW, the DW might back up and cause a problem. On the rare occasions that it has happened in my house, the DW water would come up into the sink since the DW discharge hose is above the "clogged" drain of the disposal. I can't imagine it ever being a major problem, but maybe "they" do.
It's tough to answer that question without knowing how your plumbing is laid out. In general, you need to get the braided hose from the DW to a water source with a threaded connection, such as threaded shut- off or nipple. This may mean tapping into the water line for the washing machine with a T, a shut-off and a nipple. It may also mean you need a longer braided hose than came with the DW.
As far as hooking up the drain, that could be a bigger issue. Again, no one here knows how your washing machine drain is set up, so it's real hard to answer that question with any specificity. In any case, I don't know if the pump on a DW is strong enough to move the waste water much farther than the length of the supplied hose, and I'd certainly be suprised if it could lift it higher than the DW if that's where the top of the washing machine standpipe is. You need to call the manufacturer on that one.
At the very least you need to describe the current washing machine waterline and drain in a little more detail before we can offer any more help.
K, here's the set up...regular PVC vertical washer disposal line about
38" high. The hot water feed is a cold/hot cpvc 1/2" i.d., 5/8" od nipple attached to a shut off valve on the washer line. I can stick the flexible discharge tubing up in to the washer disposal line but the feed on the dishwasher is not 5/8" to fit the cpcv line...I do not know how to jerry-rig this.Thanks for helping....
Hey you other guys...my own house does not have a garbage disposal in the sink and the dishwasher has never caused a problem.
Deano
As I said in my previous post, I don't know if the pump on a DW is strong enough to move the waste water much farther than the length of the supplied hose, and I'd certainly be suprised if it could lift it higher than the DW if that's where the top of the washing machine standpipe is. You need to call the manufacturer on that one.
Any plumbing supply house, including the borgs, should have all sorts of reducers and fittings to convert whatever you have to whatever you need. You might even be able to cut the washer line and replace the fitting with one that fits your DW.
BTW...I'm still a little confused as to whether a washer is hooked up to this feed or not. Perhaps a photo or 2 would help.
OK, here's what I've done so far:
--built a simple cabinet for the dishwasher between the refrigerator and washing machine.
--Thought about reducing the 2 in. washer drainage line down to accomodate a standard diswasher "tee" but was concerned that this could cause problems.
--instead, cut the nipple off the tee and drilled a 7/8 inch hole in the drainpipe about a foot above the floor. Epoxied in the nipple...and tested, seems tight.
--the feedline is a tiny tube with compression fittings, I have to get a longer tube but will do so today and will epoxy it inside the
1/2 cpvc tube from the hot water line.--biggest problem is getting the thing level in an extremely tilted kitchen floor....our houses are all 1880's vintage .
Thank God for epoxy. I'll still advise the tenant not to use the washer and dishwasher simultaneously anyway.
Deano in Cincinnati
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