I looked around some and didn't quite see a question about this, my apologies if you've answered it eighty times already... :D


I am having problems with my kitchen/washing machine draining properly. I have attached an image I made to create a better picture. My kitchen shares a wall with my garage, where my washing machine is... however my kitchen is 18 inches higher. The items in question are my dishwasher and garbage disposal in the kitchen, and my washing machine and wash tub in the garage.

I have the drain hose from the washing machine dump into the wash tub, which in turn has a two inch pipe (with a P-Drain) going into the wall. The wall connector is an iron fitting that looks like it once had threads. (the house is 45 years old). Right now, the pvc pipe merely rests in the iron fitting. It does take a while (10-15 minutes?) for a water from a large load to drain from the wash tub once its dumped from the washer.

To make matters worse, when I run the garbage disposal, the "fluid" backs up into the wash tub in the garage (with or without the washing machine on). So I end up with chunks of food and smelly water in the wash tub. :eek:

I looked closer at some of "the stuff" today, and it looks like there are also bits of black rubber that came out as well. I pushed a chunk and it disintegrated into a black, chalky streak... but it still worries me. We've had problems with our dishwasher draining in the past, but it has been fine for the last few months (knock on wood).

Any idea?

Thanks! :)

WOW! First off I really like your illustration.
That said, you're giving your drainage one hellava work out. Grease and garbage from the sink plus grease from the dishwasher plus grease and fiber from the washer all dumping into one drainline.
It's no wonder that you have problems. To clear the drain line you're going to hafta get upon the roof and snake out the wash tub roof vent with a sewer machine. Put out enough cable to get to the base of the stack and 20 feet more. While you're up there it might not hurt to run the snake down the kitchen roof vent as well. After snaking the lines flush them out with hot water. Good luck, Tom