My husband and I moved to a new house and now our washer is not draining water properly. We had someone come to look at it, but they couldn't find anything wrong with the washer. It is in the basement, and we are on a septic tank. The pipes going out of the house are actually higher than the washer. The trap is about 5 1/2 feet off the ground and our washer's drain hose goes almost vertical to reach it. After the washer is finished there are suds in the bottom. I think that not enough water reaches the trap so when the washer stops spinning, the remaining water goes back into the machine.

You are trying to get water to run up hill with your current set up. Even adding a check valve to the washer drain hose will not entirely prevent this issue. Can you pump to a pit and pump it out?

Hi guys,

Hmmm... I don't know guys! Most washing machines will pump water up to 8 feet without much trouble.

Here, I'm wondering if you are using a new soap? Is it possible that the machine got damaged during the move... maybe?

Here's what I am thinking...

I would have you perform a test for us. I would have you fill the washer and add the soap as you would usually do, but this time, remove the discharge hose and run the discharge into a sump pit or a large trash barrel. Important here will be to NOT let the discharge hose drop below the top of the washing machine or all we will be testing is how your washing machine drains via gravity, OK?

Let the drain cycle complete and then look into the washer and see if the system pumped all perfectly or is there the same issue?

If the same issue exists, then the washing machine may have been damaged during the move, or maybe you are using too much soap.. that kind of stuff.

If the issue is resolved then the pump may have been damaged or is failing, or the pump timer may be damaged... stuff like that, but I still have trouble thinking that the issue is the height of the discharge hose UNLESS the hose goes higher than 7-8 feet.

Anyway, if you can do the test I would love to know the result, OK?

Back to you...

Mark

I agree Mark, the machine can pump to a fairly high head but then the water in the drain hose drains back down the verticle length, if I got this pictured right

Agreed, too... :) However, there is are many washers with 6-7 foot connections off the floor and they don't have complaints of water/soap remaining in the washing machine unless something else is up... at least, most of the time, maybe?

Tough one here, for sure, Bob!

Even adding a check valve to the washer drain hose will not entirely prevent this issue

Why not Bob?

Seems to me that a check valve in the drain hose would prevent any water from flowing back down into the washer after the pump has stopped. The check valve would have to be in the hose itself, not in the drain pipe however. If the hose is sealed to the stand pipe the flow of water out the drain should pull any water in the hose out behind it. If the hose is not sealed to the stand pipe the water in the hose should flow back down into the washer because air can enter at that point.

I just do not see a check valve not slowly leaking back down