This Washington state area inspector wrote this article about the stand pipes for laundry machines. This is important information for home owners and apartment dwellers to be aware of when setting up their washing machines. An error could literally land them in hot water. Dirty soapy hat water at that.

 

Via Donald Hester NCW Home Inspections, LLC (NCW Home Inspections, LLC):

Wenatchee Home Inspections- Taking a Stand

As a home inspector it seems you get a run on certain items that keep showing up. Recently for me it was the washing machine standpipes.

Force it in there    Hmm, trap what trap

I have been doing several homes from the 40's/50's era where clothes washing was not performed like it is today.

Modern washing machines use about 30 to 40 gallons per full load for a top loader and about 15 to 25 gallons for a front loader. So you can imagine how much water is being discharged in each cycle.

Today's standard for a washing machine standpipe should be 2" pipe. (Years back it was 1-1/2 inches.) Most modern plumbers have the total height of the standpipe to come out at around 42 inches.

The requirement is that the standpipe has to be between 18 and 30 inches above the trap weir. The trap should be 6 to 18 inches above the floor and a minimum of 4" trap arm to the waste/vent stack.

Washing machine standpipe

With washing machine ability to discharging soapy water in greater quantities you can easily overloading the capacity of the plumbing. And we all like to clean up floods in our home, right?

Wenatchee Home Inspections- Taking a Stand

NCW Home Inspections, LLC  is located in Wenatchee Washington serving Chelan County, Douglas County, Kittitas County, Okanogan County and Grant County Washington and the cities of Wenatchee, Leavenworth, Cashmere, Orville, Cle Elum, East Wenatchee, Quincy and many more...                             

NCW Home Inspections LLC-509-670-9572

www.ncwhomeinspections.com

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5 Comments on Wenatchee Home Inspections- Taking a Stand

JUN
04
2011
1,150,396 Points 53 Featured Posts Outside Blog

Robert,

I had not seen this. Will go leave a comment for Don.
5:30pm • #1

I rarely see any of the standpipe other than the opening because it’s in the wall.
9:24pm • #2
155,778 Points 13 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Steve that's one of the benefits from the re-blogging function.

That's true Russel most are buried, If you're lucky you'll be able top see the diameter of the pipe.
10:48pm • #3
JUN
05
2011
537,618 Points 6 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Good Morning Robert, excellent input for home owners who are having problems.  A better solution than adding a laundry tub!
5:04am • #4
155,778 Points 13 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Dan I appreciate the comment. This is a reblog. I recommend linking through to the original blog and commenting there too.
10:21am • #5


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Robert Butler, Montreal, Canada Home Inspector

Montreal West Island, QC

More about me…

Aspect Inspection

Address: Montreal - West Island, Serving the greater Montreal region, Pointe-Claire, QC, H9S 4l7

Cell Phone: (514) 914-1249

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Usually I'm presenting an aspect of home maintenance, value improvement or 'how too' instructions to feature best practice ways to do things around building and property issues. Some times it's building tech history or how thing came to be as they are, the back story on terms, expressions and phrases. I keep track of the strange, the unique, the special and interesting things I get to see, including the dangers. These are filed as OMGs. OMGs always have photos, so I share the file with you from time to time. The rest come out of thin air. More than once I start writing a comment on someone else's blog and end up inking a whole new blog. Am I inspired or am I ranting? You can decide.


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