Help! Shower overflows when washer is on!

We have a washer & dryer, toilet and shower in a small room off our carport. For the second time in two weeks, the shower has flooded when the washing machine is doing a wash. It doesn't happen every time we wash, but twice in 2 weeks is 2 times too many! Any idea what is causing this?

You probably have a partially blocked main drain line. Washing machines output a lot of lint from your clothes, and depending on how things are installed, can ge a source of problems, or it could be any one of a number of things. Chemicals rarely help and compound problems for a plumber. Probably need to call a plumber to clean the line. Have you changed anything recently, like got a new washing machine?

I think Jim hit the problem exactly. The drain is partly blocked. New washers dump their water much faster than the older ones, so a drain that is too small or one that is partly clogged causes exactly what you are experiencing. Don't try home remedies to fix this, the drain line needs to be snaked by a professional.

jadnashua said:

Washing machines output a lot of lint from your clothes ...

Click to expand...

... and if you have a septic tank and field system, you definitely need to be filtering your washing machine's discharge or you will eventually have the same kind of problem getting anything to drain.

flooding shower in tampa

thanks for your replies. no changes in the past few months that i can think of. washer is several years old. man down the street from me said he had a similar problem, and it turned out to be frogs clogging his pipes! we do have plenty of frogs around here, but i've never seen one peeking out of my drain. anyway, you've convinced me to call a plumber. will let you know what it turns out to be. thanks again.