Why is my washing machine drain overflowing?

Question

The tube that the hose goes into is whats overflowing. I snaked it to make sure it wasnt clogged and its clear. Most of the water goes out but when its spinning at the start i get about a half gallon overflow on the floor. Its about 4feet tall, the pipe, with a sort of p trap at the bottom before it goes into the ground. Theres also a, assuming, vent pipe connected to it on the other side of the p. The vent pipe is capped at the top but is quite a bit shorter than the drain. I always thought the vent needed to be taller than the drain. Could that be whats wrong? Thanks

Answer 1

The drain line between the house and the street sewer line is partially clogged. Over time, the inside diameter of a residential sewer line becomes smaller in diameter because sludge builds up slowly on the walls. Eventually, the speed of outflow that the washer demands is greater than the speed the sewer line will permit. There are several solutions. The best two are:



First, you can rent a roto-rooter and clean out the line. There is a 3 inch pipe that will permit entry of the roto-rooter snake somewhere on the side of the house or the roof.



Second, you can make the washer stand pipe bigger. That way, the water will gradually collect in the pipe and when the spin cycle is done, the water will drain. Here is one method (there are others): Replace the stand pipe with a new one that you make out of PVC. Get two PVC pipes (3 inch diameter or larger) and cut them to the length of the existing stand pipe. Make a hole in the side of each one about 2 or 3 inches from the top. Connect those holes with a short piece of 3/4 inch PVC pipe. Use a PVC Y-shaped connector to connect the bottoms of the new 3 inch pipes to each other. Connect the bottom of the Y connector to a reducer fitting that will make the connection between the Y and the existing drain line below the existing stand pipe.



Water will back up as usual but will not overflow. The water will eventually back up to the 3/4 inch connector at the top of the new stand pipe and will overflow into the second stand pipe. That second pipe will hold more than enough to handle the overflow you described. (If the overflow is bigger than a 3 inch X 4 foot pipe will handle, there are other tricks.)



Mayan

Answer 2

You've got something in the drain pipe that is clogging the line to make it a slow drain. You'll have to have the drain line routered out from the clean-out.

Answer 3

IT'S FULL OF LINT! CLEAN IT OUT ONCE IN AWHILE!