Re: washing macine hookup


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Posted by wallyd on January 15, 1998 at 07:52:47:

In Reply to: washing macine hookup posted by Todd on January 14, 1998 at 20:17:26:

: I was wondering if i could drain the washing machine up and over a wall than into a drain pipe on the other side of the wall? The drain pipe would be about 10 feet away from the washer.

Todd,
The 10 ft distance isn't the real problem, the problem with your proposed arrangement is the height. The pump in the washing machine has to lift the water up, over the wall. How high is the wall? If you look in the installation instructions
that come with the washing machine, you will see that the maximum recommended height for the standpipe is about 7 ft. Some may be a little more, others a little less. Even though the top of your drain on the other side of the wall is less
than this number, it is really the height that the pump must lift the water that is important (over the wall).

A pump can only impart a set amount of energy to a water stream. To get maximum flow, you want to have no elevation change; then all of the pump energy
is converted to kinetic energy (movement of the water). When you have to overcome an elevation difference, some of that energy is used just to lift the
fluid, and there is less energy to go towards moving the fluid. Basically, the higher that I try to pump the water, the lower the flow rate will be. If we extend the
outlet hose high enough, we would eventually reach a point where the water would just get to the top, but there would not be any flow.

Now, if the installation instructions tell you 7 ft max, and your wall is 8 ft high, it might work ok. BUT the pump is working extra hard (your
car engine works much harder if you are going 55 mph up a steep hill than it does if you are going 55 on level ground), and you may wind up
replacing the pump in your machine every few years.

I wouldn't do it (except as a temporary hookup until I had the time to run
a new drain line). Since there is a drain line close by (10 ft away on the other
side of the wall) why not extend the drain line and punch through the wall? If it is
a concrete wall, rent a hammer drill to get through the wall. It takes a little while, but
isn't as hard as it seems. A little time and effort spent now seems better than spending
money and time replacing the pump in the washing machine.


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