I live in an old house, converted into 3 apartments. Both my neighbors now have washer and dryer hookups in the basement, and their own washer/dryers. We each have and pay for our own hot water line, but share cold water. The downstairs neighbor has her own separate hot and cold water hookups, my upstairs neighbor has her own separate hot water hookup, and is currently using my cold water hookup since she doesn’t have one of her own. My landlord gave me permission to do what ever is needed, without affecting the other tenants. Now, I have only a hot water line, because my upstairs neighbor is using “mine.”
Here is my question: can I put a splitter on the end of the cold water line to go to both my washer and my upstairs neighbor’s, or would it be better to run a line back to the main pipe? It seems to me that running back to the main pipe would be better, in case we ever try to wash at the same time–I’m assuming the larger pipe would better accommodate the two washers than a splitter placed on end of the smaller one. However, an expert at Home Depot told me that since we share cold water anyway, the pressure difference and flow will always be the same, no matter where the pipe is split. He’s definitely wrong about this, right?
Yes, he is technically wrong, but he may be practically right.
Knowing the pipe sizes would help, but I’d just go with splitting the line at the washers (it sound like they are back to back, or at least close together). A few reasons for this:
- It is cheaper.
- It is easier.
- Depending on the pipe size, it may or may not make much of a difference to run the pipe all the way back to the main line.
- A washer is not a critical fixture. It will only matter if both washers are on at the same time and even then they will probably fill with water at different times. Even if they do fill at the same time, so what if it takes 4 minutes instead of 2 minutes to fill the tub? You don’t stand around waiting, do you?
Thanks, Dag. Now I just have to install new electrical hookups for my new washer and dryer, since the upstairs tenant’s electrician was lazy and connected the old hookups for my apartment into her electric fuse box. He left two big holes in my box labeled “washer” and “dryer,” then covered them with black electrical tape.
I don’t know how much it will be to install new electric lines. I called 5 electricians on Monday, and as of Saturday not a single one has returned my call! Also, I’ll have to move my neighbors washer and dryer to the left of where they are now, if I want to connect to my hot and cold water supply, since her plumber thoughtlessly put hers 1 inch from my hot water supply.