basement laundry in old house - washer stack overflow!

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CYBERJUNKIE2

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ok, let me preface this with a few facts.

house was built in '46
plumbing diagram of entire house is included
i do not want (at this time) to replumb the entire house

my problems:
1. our newer washer has always been on the verge of overflowing the standpipe (see diagram) and it is progressively getting worse. it now backs up into the double utility sink.

2. i have the floor drain in the basement plugged b/c the washer will back up out of the drain if it is open.

i am hoping someone has an ingenius solution OTHER THAN:
1. install large capacity utility sink next to washer and have washer drain into it, with the sink drain moderating flow

2. cutting out the floor and getting incredibly sweaty and dirty replacing that undersized line in the floor and reconnecting to the main line (this is borderline above what i want to tackle...)
 

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Nate R

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Have the line snaked to make sure it doesn't have a partial blockage of lint or something that's slowly building. Maybe sewage sludge is partially blocking where this branch joins the main?

Either way, at 60+ years old for likely what is galvanized drain lines, your options are slim, and you may be reaching the end of the life for that line. Yes, that sucks, and will take a lot of dirty work and time or $ to replace, but it eventually will likely be required.

Why can't you drain the washer into the utility sink? Why not into a larger one?
 

CYBERJUNKIE2

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well, i can drain into a basin if needed. currently its a double kitchen sink in a sink base, and its nice to have storage underneath and countertop surround. also, i don't know if the force of a utility tub draining would be enough to back up the floor drain like it does now. if so, i'm still stuck have to plug the floor drain.

years ago in another basement laundry setup, we had a huge utility basin that the laundry drained into, which works, however its louder, tends to be damp all the time, and you can throw anything in if you're cleaning/soaking/etc in the sink while running laundry.

its an option, obviously.

my next investigative step is going to be popping open the cleanout plug on the main stack and check whether the main line to road is backing it up, or if the bottle neck is between the washer and the main line.

exactly what would the steps be to tear out the old line (mainly, what new pipe layout and how to tap into the main line again)
 

NHmaster

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Have the drains cleaned professionally. The small hand held hardware store snakes are a waste of time and money.
 
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