Basement drain line question

jimmyfloyd

Ok, There are actually two questions going to be asked here, but they deal with the same area in the basement. See the picture of the area for reference:



1) The first question is in regards to the red outline. This is a galvanized drain line that is in the basement. It has one capped T visible in the picture. The upper part runs up to the ceiling height, and the goes 15 feet perpendicular to the wall towards the center of the house. At that point, there is a 90 towards where the kitchen is, but it is capped off with a plug at that 90. Basically, it is no longer in use. What I would like to do is remove as much of it as I can up to the first 3 -4 feet coming out of the floor. I would like to then use that to drain my washer into if it still drains correctly.

A) Would this be possibly assuming it still drained correctly?
B) How would I go about removing the pipe if I cannot get it turned with a wrench? I've tried it twice and none of the connections move.
C) Also, if I do remove it, then can't get it to drain, how do I cap it off?
D) Will I need a trap if it is being used for the washer?
E) If so, how to I connect PVC to the Galvanized if there are no threads?


2) My second question deals with the drain in the floor marked in blue. It appears to be a Bell trap drain with a bypass. The cover for the bell trap was long gone when I got the house. After looking at it more, I see that the center part of the drain is filled with dirt and rocks it looks like. The drain itself seems to actually drain out the bypass which heads in the direction of the arrow.

A) Can I get a replacement cover for this? it is 7.5 inched across.
B) Do these normally drain in the direction of the bypass? I want to try and clear the debris from the center hole and want to make sure it doesn't go in a different direction.

That's it for the questions at the moment.

TheEplumber

Consider this:
A washer requires a 2" min. pipe for drainage
Your line may drain to a dry well which is probably abandoned (why is the pipe not in use?)

To remove the pipe, cut it into manageable lengths with a sawzall. You can cap it with a rubber gem cap.

The "by-pass" at the floor drain is actually a clean out. Its supposed to be plugged.
it's used to rod out the drain line. Clean the debris out of the trap to make it drain properly and re install the plug. for a grate- you may have to fabricate one.

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jimmyfloyd

Would using a Laundry tub sink to drain the Washer into work if the pipe is only 1.5" in diameter rather than 2"?

TheEplumber

It should be 2" as well but I've seen lots of them on 1.5"
Cut the pipe off, stick a garden hose down it and see if it drains. If not, cap it with a gem cap and find an alternate plan.
Don't forget, you'll need to vent whatever fixture you put there. Perhaps an auto vent if allowed by your code.

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AllanJ

It will probably work okay. It depends on whether the laundry tub is big enough to hold the water pumped out of the washing machine until the water can go (more slowly) down the 1.5" drain pipe.

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