overflowing waste pipe

kev67 · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:35 am Post Subject: overflowing waste pipe

I live in a top floor flat, and occasionally I get leaks from my washing machine, which drip through to the flat below. Obviously, this upsets the tenants below. In the past, the problem was caused by the waste pipe blocking up with limescale, but I have started putting water softener in the wash and it does not seem so bad now. The waste pipe seems fairly narrow and it seems that sometimes the washing machine fills it quicker than it can empty. I am thinking of getting a new washing machine, possibly one with an anti-leak detector. Would an anti-leak detector detect an overflow in the waste pipe, or just leaks from the washing machine itself. Can you get washing machines that will pump away the water more slowly? Is there any other way of guaranteeing that leaks will not happen.

jj4091 · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:18 pm Post Subject:

fit a bigger waste.

TicklyT · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:25 pm Post Subject:

First, what size is the W/M waste connection? They are usually 40mm or 1 1/2 inch. Any smaller, and there's a good chance that any machine may overtake the waste system.

Have you dismantled and cleaned out the waste pipe and trap as far as possible? It's not a pleasant job, but I was surprised how much grunge had built up in a year on ours. I think I will now be making it a yearly maintenance job to keep things copacetic.

Any leak detection system will only operate when a leak occurs - it will not prevent it happening in the first place.

You may consider teeing the machine waste into the kitchen sink trap so that any overflows will backflow into your kitchen sink rather than fill up your neighbours flat.

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breezer · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 6:22 pm Post Subject:

i had a similar thing when working for HP, although the customer said pipe was clear, i pulled it off and it was partialy blocked.

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kev67 · Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 10:28 pm Post Subject:

I'm not sure I can fit a bigger waste pipe. The plumbing's not very good. The washing machine waste pipe goes through the wall and joins the bathroom sink waste pipe and then the bath waste pipe before joining the drainpipe outside. The washing machine and bathroom sink pipe used to have a separate connection to the drainpipe, but it got blocked on the outside. Since I'm five floors up, it is very hard to get access to the drainpipe outside. Also, where the washing machine waste pipe joins the bath waste pipe, it is very tight. I doubt the pipe is blocked up. I had a look at it several months ago and there seemed to be no limescale build up since using bicarbonate of soda blocks. Previously I was amazed how thick it had built up. I was thinking that if I got a washing machine with a leak detector, it would switch off the machine whenever it detected one.