Washing machine drain pan installation

[NoSpam99989]

I need to install a wash machine drain pan. The drain will not be tied into the waste water system because the water would evaporate from the trap and allow sewer gas to enter the home. I also have no drain in the house I can allow the pan's drain line to empty into.

Thus, it seems the drain line needs to go directly outside and end somewhere where it will be noticed if water is flowing out of it. The problem is I don't want to create a lot of cold air flow into the house through this drain.

I'm sure there must be good solutions to this, but I have no idea what they are.

Thanks for any help.

[Charles Schuler]

[mm]

You're saying you have a trap now, that works and.... you meant to say the water would evaporate from the planned drain *PAN*, right?

I wish I could help. When I lived in an apartment, I had a scatter brain roommate, Bobbi, and I told her that she couldn't use the washing machine unless she stayed in the kitchen the entire time. Of course she left the kitchen and the Whirlpool washing machine overflowed. But what is strange is that this was the only time in 4 years that it overflowed. I don't know why I thought there was a risk, or how she made it happen.

But not enough water to leak downstairs.

She also dropped the oven shelf on the vinyl kitchen chair, leaving parallel burn marks; got indelible eye makeup all over the white sheet I lent her; rented an apartment on Sutton Place that she couldn't afford and gave a cash deposit without getting a receipt; and borrowed the bunny-mother's keyring to get into a closet, then left with all her keys so she couldn't get her car out of the garage to go home.

[NoSpam99989]

[mm]

What is "No" in reply to?

My question was, Where are you saying the water will evaporate from?

Are you telling me that becaus it is new construction, a) there is no waste water drain for the rest of the house, or b) that connecting the washing machine drain pan will cause water in the trap in the existing house drain to evaporate, or c) that the only place to connect the washing machine drain is past the existing trap?

If (c), don't you mean that the water in the *drain pan* will evaporate? Not the water in the trap.

Or is there a (d)?

You seem to have said (b), but I can't imagine why that would be true.

BTW, leaks from washing machines are pretty rare, but leaks from the hoses to washing machines are quite common. If the hose starts to spray, most of it won't get into the pan you are talking about. Have you protected yourself from hose leaks?

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail?

[<josh]

I believe, having been in this situation myself, he&#39;s saying (d): this is an entirely new installation, there isn&#39;t any existing drain or trap.

If the drain pan is the only thing feeding into a particular trap, the water in the trap will evaporate because, with any luck, the drain pan won&#39;t get used very often.

Options I know of:

Plumb something else to use the same trap.

Remember to occasionally refill the trap with water.

Fill the trap with antifreeze or something else that&#39;s very slow to evaporate.

Run the pipe outdoors with a flapper to limit air intrusion.

Run the pipe outdoors without a flapper and figure it&#39;s not that much air flow.

[mm]

Thank you. I wasn&#39;t going to figure it out without you.

[<josh]

Figure out some other fixture that can use a common trap with the drain pan. I&#39;ve seen one installation where the drain pan used the same trap as the washing machine&#39;s standpipe, but some plubming codes won&#39;t allow a laundry trap below floor level, so then you&#39;d have to elevate your drain pan above the trap.