I’m trying to install my front loading washing machine. The manual says I can connect the drain hose to an inlet attached to the under sink waste pipe. The problem is that tHis inlet is sealed and I’m not sure how to unseal it. As far as I can tell it is all solid plastic with nothing that can be unscrewed. Any ideas?
Drill . Choose a bit almost as large as the hole, and drill down the centre of the inlet. Just be sure you aren’t drilling through the wall of the inlet…
(Well, that is how I did the job and I can’t work out how it could be done any other way.)
Thanks. I tried a drill but didn’t have a big enough bit. Will pay a visit to the hardware store tomorrow.
Is this just a PVC cap on a PVC pipe? Normally you just cut those off with a sawzall (or PVC cutter).
Make sure there’s a trap somewhere after this ‘inlet’ though. If there isn’t you need to build one.
Under the sink? In my experience waste plumbing is all closed up, unless it is just roughed in drain and vent sticking out of the wall for a future sink in which case it will be capped with pull off red or blue plastic caps. With ABS pipe it is easy to add a new Y and tap in to the existing stack so there is really no reason for a plumber to leave something for potential future tie in.
Often there will be a clean-out which will have a screw off cap, but this isn’t meant to be tied into. Kitchen waste pipes may have a small 3/4" Y for dishwasher hook up. These have a closed plastic end that you saw off (don’t drill - sheesh) off to if you wish to clamp on the dishwasher drain hose to, but this isn’t big enough for a laundry machine.
Laundry machines should really be hooked in to an open 1 1/2 or 2 " drain pipe at about the height of the laundry machine, This pipe should be clamped to the wall and with its own P-trap and maybe clean-out before it ties into the existing drain. If tying into a sink drain you would tie in below the sink drain’s P-trap.
Abs is really easy to work with. You cut and dry fit all your pieces together to make sure you get what you want, glue it all up working backwards from where ever you are tying in and secure it with strapping where necessary so it doesn’t flop around. Its practically Lego.
Do you have a sink next to the machine? Most machines just run the waste hose into the sink, don’t they?
This is not only really easy to install, it prevents backups or damage to the washer, since the sink can hold any excess water that can’t make it down the pipe fast enough.
Diagram:
I can’t run the drain hose into the sink in the normal fashion because the washer is mounted under the bench and the sink is mounted in the bench as well, so the hose has no way to get up to the top of the sink. Mounting directly to the waste pipe, above the trap, is an approved method described in the manual. The inlet pipe doesn’t have a cap on the end of it, it is completely closed off at the base of it so there is nothing that can be taken off or cut off.
I have a work around for the moment which is to run the drain pipe up the hole in the sink that the drain pipe normally fits down into and then the drain runs into the sink itself. It works but is ugly.
This is the setup I’d like to have:
If this has you baffled to the point of asking here maybe a plumber is in order.
Thanks for explaining.
Your drain pipe PVC (white plastic), right? A plumber would cut a section out and replace it with a “Y” (or “T”) joint like this:
If you’ve never done this, it should be easy. You just cut it the right length and use PVC glue to join them.