Laundry Fiasco

[gkostrom]

Thanks in advance for any help!

Part 1:

My laundry/utility room is unfinished and in the basement (exterior wall). We purchased a new front load washer and dryer, and it had been working well for 2 weeks or so. Right now, I have copper supply lines coming to a laundry tub and galvanized drain lines. There is no standpipe, and the washer drains into the sink. The sink drains to the galvanized pipe with (correct me if you see it differently from the photo) a separate vent that goes upstairs and presumably through the roof. Apparently, the galvanized drain line is completely blocked below where the laundry tub drains. After 1 load of laundry, the tub filled completely and overflowed, spreading across the laundry room floor despite the floor drain right beneath (Wahoo!). Despite leaving the water sit in the laundry tub overnight (I figured it would still drain slowly), the tub was still completely filled this morning. I disconnected the laundry tub's drain line at the p trap and tried to snake it to see if I could find a clog. Not reaching one, I ran water upstairs in the kitchen sink and it all started flowing out of the open p-trap of the laundry tub. I could call a plumber to scope it, but since I was thinking about adding a standpipe, wall mounted laundry tub and new sink fixture, I figured I might as well tackle it now. My thought was to cut out the galvanized slightly above the fitting near the slab and both the drain and vent lines up near the ceiling of the basement to replace it all with PVC. I would install a cleanout on the drain line in case of future clogs beneath the slab. I came up with this idea, but I don't like how the vent from the standpipe crosses over the main drain line... White would be new PVC (2" on drain, 1 1/2 for vent), grey would be existing galvanized, washer on right, sink on left. Any thoughts?

Part 2:
I was thinking about replacing supply lines with PEX when doing new (wall mounted) sink and fixture since I don't particularly enjoy sweating on copper fittings. Should I anchor a 2x4 on the wall to run the new PEX lines on to avoid them touching the exterior block wall? Would you recommend separate hookup valves for the washer instead of the "stacked" type here? I was leaning toward splitting both hot and cold lines and running one to the new sink and one closer to the washer with new (more reliable) valves.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Stuff]

For your immediate problem a decent plumber should be able to snake it to get things flowing again. Since water did not come up the floor drain it can't be too far in.
Is the washer one that dumps lint into the drain?

Before tackling a plumbing redesign think about if you want to move the washer and dryer.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

Your drawing looks good. It looks to be a vent on the left going up.
Snaking the slab plumbing, or replacement looks to be in your future. Floor drains shouldn't be backing up.

Since you are also repiping the water, you may as well move them closer and clean it up a bit. I like the washer boxes with the hammer arrestor shutoffs.

 

[gkostrom]

Thanks for the advice! After Stuff's suggestion, I think I'll end up switching the laundry tub with the washer. That way the washer would be next to the dryer. The supply lines are split around a window - strange but not worth moving to be closer together. It should tidy things up by switching the tub and washer around. What I thought was a 2" galvanized pipe ended up only being 1 1/2" and the vent was only 1 1/4". I don't think a 1 1/2" stand pipe would meet code, so I guess I'm back to draining into the laundry tub for now.

 

[Terry]

Often, the cast iron in the floor is 2".
You can remove the lead there, insert a rubber sleeve for that purpose and insert your 2" there.

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/replace-1-5-galvanized-washer-drain-with-2-abs.64723/