Old house plumbing help

[Spfrancis]

Hi there,
I'm trying to understand some fundamental plumbing principles. We just bough this older house a few months ago, and I've noticed a issue this weekend. The drain pipe that comes from the kitchen sink is coming down into the basement, and it seems to be overflowing on this secondary looking pipe that I have shown in the picture. When I empted a large amount of water in that sink, it seems that water is coming out of the PVC pipe with the black hose stuck in it. The black hose is the waste water coming out of the Washer(W/D). To me the water should flow down that main PVC, and not come up that section that goes to the Washer. So the two things I'm trying to understand is why water would splash out of that open PVC. Is there something else going on, or should that have been a sealed connection? Second concern was wondering if that Washer should be hooked up better than it is currently? Any help would be appreciated. I wasn't sure what to even search on in this site to start down the right track.
Sony

 

[hj]

I do not know why that Y is installed there because your picture is too limited, but ANY TIME the drain line is restricted water WILL flow out of that opening because it was NOT installed properly.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

Reasons for a problem:
A. The elbow at the bottom is partially clogged probably. That should be a long sweep officially. However changing that would be pretty hard.
B. The standpipe for the washer is too short. You want to extend that. Also, this should have been 2 inch pipe and you might have 1.5.

What I would do to work around this (I am not a plumber, but I did this in my old house) is to cut maybe an 8 to 10 inch section of the vertical pipe. I would either locate my cuts to center that coupler with the barcode in the section, or I would cut the section above that coupler with enough pipe above the coupler to clear the new flex coupler. Use a medium Brasscraft drain bladder down the open pipe pushed below the sanitary tee that the standpipe comes in through. Blast out what you can. Then use two flexible couplers to restore the piece of pipe that you cut out. These should be metal banded, although I used non-banded couplers.

I would also extend the standpipe up if any water comes out when you use the washer or sink. You should probably also add a support to take the weight of the standpipe and the washer hose. It should be 18 inch minimum.

If you were installing this new, the kitchen drain pipe would not serve as the wet vent. But given the existing realities, I would leave that part as it is.

 

[Spfrancis]

Awesome, thank you. I'm reading up on the bladder solution. I will look to do the 2 main things. One is extend the standpipe on the right side another foot, and then cutting open the main pipe system at the coupler to use the bladder cleaning system. So when I measure the diameter of all the PVC, it is 2". Thanks for the instantaneous assistance. This site rocks.

 

[Reach4]

http://www.harvel.com/piping-systems/harvel-pvc-pipe/schedule-40-80/dimensions has the dimensions. Note that "1-1/2" PVC is almost 2 inches outside diameter.

Since you are buying pipe anyway, you could use a new section of pipe. The nice thing about using the piece you cut out is that the length is guaranteed to match.

 

[Spfrancis]

Oh I see. So, then all of my piping is the same size(1.5). So where could I introduce 2"? Is the idea to make the offshoot part of the "T"(going to the washer) all 2", while keeping the main flow of water down the "T" to be the current size?

 

[Reach4]

Oh I see. So, then all of my piping is the same size(1.5). So where could I introduce 2"? Is the idea to make the offshoot part of the "T"(going to the washer) all 2", while keeping the main flow of water down the "T" to be the current size?

In new construction it would be 2 inch. It is not practical for you to upgrade.

One general rule is that drain pipes can feed into bigger pipes, but big drain pipes should not feed into small pipes. So by that thought, you would keep your standpipe at 1.5 inch.

 

[Spfrancis]

So I opened up the pipe around the top coupler. I was able to put my snake down to the bottom and around the turn and it doesn' t seem like there is any blockage. I am noticing one thing. I see that the Y split in the picture, that the part that is going toward the washer is at a downward slant.. So the main time we see the problem is when we sent a lot of water down. (i.e emptying the dehumidifier reservoir, or when we wash dishers and releases the stopper to let the water slosh down). Could it just be the downward slant, and the short length of the up section that the black hose goes into. I"m worried about trying to remove the "Y" section, since there is so little room between that bottom of that Y, and the elbow. It is a tight area to cut in general.

 

[Reach4]

I"m worried about trying to remove the "Y" section, since there is so little room between that bottom of that Y, and the elbow. It is a tight area to cut in general.

You could plug the side, and you could glue the extension into the top of the wye.

I see another thing which is not permitted. It looks like the softener (or some other) drain is inserted into a hole drilled in the pipe. Interested in making that better?

Are you asking what kind of saw could make a cut?

 

[hj]

You have NOT said WHAT is going into the side opening of that Y.

 

[Spfrancis]

You could plug the side, and you could glue the extension into the top of the wye.

I see another thing which is not permitted. It looks like the softener (or some other) drain is inserted into a hole drilled in the pipe. Interested in making that better?

Are you asking what kind of saw could make a cut?

So you think that the brownish clear looking hose that is drilled into the up-pipe is a problem? That is probably the condensate hose for the furnace that is 4 feet away. Any thoughts on what I should do?
Do you think that having a slight down slope to the section that is going to the washer is a problem?
My thought is to put a "Y" on top of where the existing T: is, and just cut that existing T on the horizontal section and cap it. I would then have to build that whole section (ptrap, and up section) again. But the benefits I would gain 1: could get the upslope (if needed) and 2: I could get that section closer to the other side of the washer:
On the comment on what is the best cutting option for 1.5" PVC. I've tried the homedepot cutting tool that you have to spin, but it was hard to work in that spot. I also see that HD has a wire type thing. Is that any good? Any other options?

 

[Spfrancis]

oops sorry, I missed your comment before I hit send: The side opening of the "Y" is going to a non working dehumidifer, that we are not using. It is the drain hose.

 

[Reach4]

So you think that the brownish clear looking hose that is drilled into the up-pipe is a problem? That is probably the condensate hose for the furnace that is 4 feet away.

Furnace condensate hose... I would not worry about that, even though it is probably not literally allowed. I was thinking it might be hooked to a potable water thing.

Extend your standpipe. You can do that by plugging the side hole on the wye and gluing a PVC pipe to the top port. Or you could cut off the stand pipe lower and glue in a coupler and PVC pipe. A "cable saw" could be used to cut the pipe as could a bare hacksaw blade gripped maybe at the ends with Vise-grip pliers as handles.

To do it even closer to current requirements, add an AAV as a vent. I don't think that venting is causing your overflowing symptoms, but it is not that hard. Adding the AAV would mean cutting the horizontal pipe closer to the vertical drain and adding other fittings. Since your drain is 1-1/2, I think you would want to stay with 1-1/2 inch. I am not a plumber. Do add a support/mount/clamp/strap to take the weight and hold things up.

Where this sketch says 42 inch max , some codes require something shorter, such as 30 inches. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/proper-washing-machine-drain.63053/

 

[Spfrancis]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to try the simple solution of just extend the up pipe, and see if it fixes the problem. I don't have a lot of room unless I redo the whole section there for the washer. I want to see if extending that standpipe will fix the problem. If not, I will have to look at reworking the whole section. Hey, your help has been great. Thank you for all the timely help. I'm heading back down there this weekend, and will let you know how it goes.