washing machines in basements

[NT]

stick your nose near a 5 year old washing machine's outlet, I think you might change your mind.

Yes. So's a central heating pump.

NT

[Bob Eager]

And another level switch (set high) to turn it ALL off if something fails....

[Harry Bloomfield]

Unless you are making the sump good and deep, the pumps built on float switch tend to hang up on their flex. Much more reliable are the pumps where the float is built into the side of the handle, where it cannot tangle up due to the flex.

[Jules]

Heh, yes, that sounds like a good plan :-)

As another thought though, given the amount of plumbing running through the basement - and that the well pump is in there - I wonder about just going whole-hog and fitting a proper sump-pump anyway, and just draining the washing machine's outlet into it. It might be a useful thing to have, and saves on the cost/complexity of having two systems.

cheers

Jules

[Andrew Gabriel]

When we lived in the US, the washing machine used to spew out onto the basement floor in the general direction of a drain grille, which was the low point of the floor. The whole basement floor was effectively a wet room.

Being a US washing machine, the outlet water was often very hot (which was a concern as the basement was also the play room), and there's many times more water than you get out of a european machine, although it all went down the drain without any problem.

[Steve Walker]

Indeed, hence why I had our machine in bits the other day. We had small quantities of fibres caught up around the pump inlet and gooey soap residue around the pump, waste pipework and drum outlet, the result was an awful stench on the washing and in the kitchen if the machine door was left open after a wash. After a manual clean out, followed by a 95° wash and then a

60° wash with a washing machine cleaning tablet, all is sweet smelling - hopefully for a few years.

SteveW

[Steve Walker]

It depends on the area and the age of the water company's system. Here we have combined drains - sewage and rainwater go down the same sewer, hence it is fine, and in fact the norm, to discharge washing machines into the grids around the house.

SteveW