Plumbing in the basement?

iGotNoTime

I heard once a long while back that in order to put a toilet below grade you would need something called an "up flush toilet" or something like that. I don't know if such things are true or not but I would like to move our washer and dryer into the basement. Would I need anything special to ensure that the washer drains properly?

Where would I begin looking for information like this?

Hammatime

If you are just putting a washer/dryer in the basement, you probably only need the piping installed for the hose from the washer. The washer already has a pump in it to pump the water out. How high is the main drain line off the floor of the basement?

majakdragon

Check around your basement and see if there are any floordrains. Also look, as hammatime said, to see if your main drainline runs across the ceiling of the basement or goes down into the floor. If it goes into the floor, you just need to pipe it to the drainline (tie in) with a stand-pipe, trap and vent.

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iGotNoTime

Yes I have floor drains, 2 in fact. However one of them seems to be plugged as it drains very slowly. The other seemed to handle 5 gallon buckets of water fine, but I don't know if that means it is ok to use as a standard drain say for a washing machine.

If so I will be moving the stuff down there this week. I just don't want to drain to that floordrain and later have someone ask me 'Are you an idiot? You can't do that! No wonder your basement flooded.', know what I mean?

majakdragon

My reason for asking about the floor drains was to get an idea if your main drainline ran under the floor, which it evidently does. You now have a choice to either tear up concrete to tie dirctly into the main, use a floor drain for the washer, or find where the main line comes down from upstairs and tie in there (much easier). If you decide to use a floor drain, you still need the stand-pipe (to keep the washer from siphoning while in use) and I would highly recommend a filtering device at the end of the pipe to keep lint from clogging the drain. I have used a knee-high nylon sock tied to the end of a pipe for lint and when it is full, remove and toss it out. They are quite cheap.

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iGotNoTime

Hold on, all of my lines going to the septic system are just 20 inches below grade on the opposite end of the basement than the floor drain. All lines from sinks, toilets and even the water softener are all tapped into this massive cast iron pipe. The 2 floor drains are the only things not going into that.

Does that mean the floor drains do not go to my septic system? If that is the case is it safe enough to dump that much grey water into? Eventually it will not hold all that water correct?

majakdragon

Hmmm, you will need to find out where the floor drains go to before using them for a washer drain. Your Local Permit office may have a piping layout filed when the house was built.

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iGotNoTime

I doubt it, the house is 93 years old LOL. So worst case scenario I will have to plumb into the same huge cast iron pipe that everyone has went into? That pipe is about 2' higher than the washer, so will I need to somehow pressurize the drain to get the water from the washer to climb that?