We want to move our washing machine to a location in the house where draina ge will be difficult. We *could* run 50mm pipe round about 8m of walls with some AAVs, but it seems more sensible to use a pump, most likely a Grundfo s Sololift2 C-3 unless anyone has anything to say about it.
To get the right sizing of outlet pipe, we need to estimate the inflow (too small, and the flow will be noisy, too large and the flow will be too slow to self-clean).
Anyone have any idea even vaguely how fast a modern washing machine pump ch ucks water out?
IME washing machine pumps don't really pump very well, they just harass the water into moving on a bit. In a similar situation, I bought a spare pump, wired it in parallel with the existing pump and put it half way along the outlet. That worked fine.
nage will be difficult. We *could* run 50mm pipe round about 8m of walls wi th some AAVs, but it seems more sensible to use a pump, most likely a Grund fos Sololift2 C-3 unless anyone has anything to say about it.
oo small, and the flow will be noisy, too large and the flow will be too sl ow to self-clean).
chucks water out?
The pumping out is not a timed operation, the pump runs until the machine i s empty. However with a long small pipe, you can expect blockages, be sure to leave rodding/cleaning out points. You must have a fall, horizontal runs will cause problems.
You can buy a ready made pump system BTW. This will be more trouble free.
ainage will be difficult. We *could* run 50mm pipe round about 8m of walls with some AAVs, but it seems more sensible to use a pump, most likely a Gru ndfos Sololift2 C-3 unless anyone has anything to say about it.
(too small, and the flow will be noisy, too large and the flow will be too slow to self-clean).
I looked at those, to pump washing machine waste from a cellar. When I checked with Saniflow (about 2 years back) they confirmed that their pumps would not handle a hot wash - which made them pretty limited for me (I like to run a hot wash every 6 months or so).
The Grundfos is pretty good, but the discharge rate is very rapid. I wouldn't have thought it operates for more than 20 seconds for an entire cycle. And the float has stuck a couple of times - a kick cures it, but a rebuild doesn't reveal the cause. As others have said - for the OP, it'd likely be overkill.
I can confirm that this can be an issue. Many years ago when kids were at home and I had a combi, you didn't get hot water in the shower room when it was being run elsewhere. One morning, boy in shower room left hot tap on presumably waiting for girl elsewhere to stop using water. Evidently gave up in disgust and went to school leaving tap wide open (but not running).
A couple of hours later I had a call from disabled granny alone in the house with water coming through kitchen ceiling. Bottom line, the shower room sink drains to a saniflo. After running hot water for some time, the saniflo tripped out. Once the shower tray had filled up with undrained hot water from the sink, it overflowed ending up in the kitchen below.
However, I would have thought that with modern low consumption washing machines, the volume from a hot wash would not normally overwhelm a saniflo.
Can you expand on that please? I ask as on the few machines I've used the pumps seemed to operate until the machine is "empty"[1], not for a timed period. My main evidence for that is their behaviour (a) when used on different cycles with different water levels; and (b) when used to spin stuff put in wet, or to spin after being paused. In those circs. the pump operated for a varying periods before starting the spin cycle, not for a fixed time.
[1] taking empty to mean "negligible more water can be pumped"
Washing machines don't normally have a water empty sensor, so they just pump for enough time. But I wouldn't be too surprised if they've started monitoring pump current now to see when to stop, saving energy, but I've never had one that does that.
drainage will be difficult. We *could* run 50mm pipe round about 8m of wall s with some AAVs, but it seems more sensible to use a pump, most likely a G rundfos Sololift2 C-3 unless anyone has anything to say about it.
w (too small, and the flow will be noisy, too large and the flow will be to o slow to self-clean).
ump chucks water out?
ave rodding/cleaning out points.
d-laundry-room/
Bzzt shit-fer-brains. I used to repair these machines many years ago.
drainage will be difficult. We *could* run 50mm pipe round about 8m of wall s with some AAVs, but it seems more sensible to use a pump, most likely a G rundfos Sololift2 C-3 unless anyone has anything to say about it.
w (too small, and the flow will be noisy, too large and the flow will be to o slow to self-clean).
ump chucks water out?
ine is empty.
There are water level switches in the machine. One controls fill to the desired level. Another controls the pump ("tells" the programmer that the machine is empty .) Another stops the heater coming on if there's no water in the machine. Another stops the spin function from working if there is water in the machi ne/pump fails.
In practice these are usually in the form of two multi switches. They used to work on air pressure from a chamber mounted low on the tub. I think some newer machines have sensors that work on resistance now.
e drainage will be difficult. We *could* run 50mm pipe round about 8m of wa lls with some AAVs, but it seems more sensible to use a pump, most likely a Grundfos Sololift2 C-3 unless anyone has anything to say about it.
low (too small, and the flow will be noisy, too large and the flow will be too slow to self-clean).
Yes, 2 fill level switches, one for most washes and one for deep fill for delicates etc
The water level switches are pressure operated. It's not workable to create a switch this way that tells the programmer when the tub is empty.
The programmer controls the pump. It's timed.
The heater doesn't come on unless water has reached wash level. There is no 'empty' detection.
nope. In a pump failure scenario the water doesn't drop below wash level, which is detected. If for some unusual reason there is some water in the tub when it goes into spin, it just doesn't spin as the water provides a lot of resistance.
they do indeed. It used to be a thin pipe from low on the tub, but scale tended to block those resulting in flooding, hence a small airbottle is now added to prevent that.
No, my point was that (say) three or four litres of hot water going through a Saniflo would not warm it up enough to cause problems. The seal materials, etc, will be fine. What caused mine to trip was a continuous flow from a combi, perhaps five litres a minute at 40 C, going through it for perhaps an hour. They are not continuous rated, so actually water temperature might not have been so much the issue (except that obviously the motor / controller might warm up faster if it is pumping hot water).
I have a washing machine which is some way from a drain. I couple its flexible outlet hose to a 15mm copper pipe which runs at floor level for perhaps 5m, and the copper loops up into a tall standpipe trap which is under the bath (in a different room), and connected into the bath drain (separate U-trap).
Washing machine outlets must be raised higher than the highest fill level in the drum or the water will drain out as the machine tries to fill, and this is normally done by raising the output pipe at the back of the machine.
However, in this case I have all the outlet pipework at the machine at floor level, and I use the loop up into the standpipe u-trap under the bath as the raised part.
Also note that for a long run of pipe, you really want a smooth walled pipe which generates much less flow resistance, not a long concertia hose. As someone else said, it doesn't want to be a fat pipe, as the flow will be too slow to carry solids away, and they'll end up building up and creating blockages. The flow out the end of my long pipe is very fast. For the loop up, I used a proper pipe bender for smooth low resistance bends. They're joined on with straight releasable JG speedfit push-fit couplings so it can easily be disassembled for cleaning if necessary (although it never has been).
I did something similar for a dishwasher, but in that case I used 21mm solvent weld plastic overflow pipe, because dishwasher detergent is much more corrosive (copper might have been OK, but I didn't want to chance it). (Also in that case the outlet is way higher than the dishwasher, but that dishwasher was designed to cope with pumping up a few meters to a drain as it has a non-return valve built in, which is slightly unusual.)
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