[denemante]

Hey all,

In an effort to keep it very simple, say I want to just drain my washer outside into a huge rain barrel that's 12 feet lower than my washer/first floor. That barrel is connected to a gutter downspout that's only a few feet away from my washer.

There's a bit more to the story than this like what I'd do with the greywater, but that's a different story.

95% of the time, I'd still use the house drain as usual. But 5% of the time, I'd want to switch from the house drain to this new drain barrel.

Since the downspout is only about 8 inches through the laundry room wall, I figure I could just cut a 2-inch hole through the wall, then cut a hole in the back of the downspout. Then run a downward-angled 2-inch PVC pipe right through the wall, and about an inch into the downspout. Then silicone/seal it all up.

Where the PVC comes into my laundry room down by the floor, I'd put a 3 foot high, 2-inch PVC riser pipe on it and attach it to the wall.

Done. When I wanted to use this instead of the house drain - I'd just lift the J-hook drain hose off the house drain and hang it on my new drain pipe.

No trap on the new drain - I figure since it's only used a few days a year, it would dry out anyway. Also figured I could put a valve in my new drain pipe to act as a closure. That would prevent frogs/critters, etc. from coming up the downspout into my house. I'd just open it when we wanted to use it.

Any problems with this idea regarding the flow of water?

Somehow, I feel like I'd want to use an automotive clamp to seal tight the j-hook drain when I was attached to it - so there is 0% chance that somehow, washer drain water could back up and flood my laundry room. I'm not sure how it could - but it's on my mind. No sure if it needs that air gap (like my house washer drain has) to vent air.

 

[md2lgyk]

A "different story" perhaps, but what exactly do you intend to do with this graywater? In most places (in the U.S. anyway), it's illegal to discharge it to the ground. As strict as environmental regulations have become, you could face criminal penalties and enormous remediation costs if you do it and are caught.

Your whole plan sounds wacky to me.

 

[denemante]

My next door neighbor has a complete greywater system. That happens to be close by. He said I could tap into it, but I'm not sure about that. He collects grey water in barrels then drains it off into his system, and I think he may separately water his lawn and certain gardens with it untreated. All by the book.

I'm considering buying/building my own as well, but that phase of the project would come later.

I know my project sounds wacky - but the question is whether the water would flow correctly...

 

[VIPlumber]

The way I see your set up in my mind it should drain fine. What do you plan on doing with the water that you collect in the barrel? There will be lots of soap in there from the washer.

 

[denemante]

I'm simply hoping to know if you just drained a washer into the top of a plain ol' 2 inch PVC pipe, and that pipe run was about 3 feet long and perfectly vertical, then had a bend or two, but was totally downhill the whole time and there was no trap...and it went 10 or 20+ feet downhill into a huge empty barrel - would the water easily flow right on down every time without fail? And assuming this drain pipe never reduced and wasn't clogged - 0% worry that it would ever overflow this drain pipe? And we could just hang the J-hook on top like we do onto the washer's house drain mounted in the wall, slight air gap and all?

I don't want to hijack my own post and invite off topic dialog here I'm not going to do this project until I have a legal and correct plan for the greywater and that's another story. This "secondary" drain will be rarely used. Still - I want to get my brain around the above first.

But I do have another question (if you are able to answer the first above!). I know washer waste water is grey water. I know it can be rich with stuff, cause blooms, and stink to high-hell if it's left for long and begins to decay. But to what degree? If I ran it through corregated underground pipe that was also open to the outside, it would sit in those little indents unless it was further flushed by rain, etc. Let's say no rain happens. Might this washer-drain-water eat away at something? Cause some uncontrollable bloom that clogs up everthing? Produce a stench that where open to the air, an entire backyard stinks beyond standability? Invite bugs? Or just nothing? Maybe a slight stink if you put your nose right into it, but if flushed through with clean/rainwater - it's all back to fine?

 

[md2lgyk]

The standpipe you describe should drain just fine.

Why would you use corrugated pipe? I'd use PVC, then there would be no worry about anything standing in it.

I worked for a company that designs and builds, among other things, field laundry units for the U.S. military. Because water is heavy and expensive to transport to places like Iraq, and lots of it is needed, some of the laundries had recycle systems to recover and filter part of the graywater so it could be used again. Opening up a recycle tank to do maintenance on the level sensor was enough to gag a maggot. That stuff is nasty. I wouldn't want it anywhere near my home.