We have a 1945 colonial with a basement. It has an ancient utility sink and under the sink a pump of some sort that goes who knows where. The pump has a switch to turn it on and off with a timer (it is smell of smoke when turned on). When we first moved in the washer drained into the sink and then drained out of the house but often the drainage hole in the middle of the basement backed up and flooded the room. We called a plumber and he fixed a drainage up the wall and connected it to our main line somehow... so it nolonger drains into the sink. He did not put in a pump of anykind saying that the pump on the washer was strong enough to push the water up the 3 ft or so. This worked for 2 years. Now our washer is broken and I believe it is the pump. I found several coins in the trap so they may be the culprit. So my questions are:
What is that pump under the sink for?
Should we have some sort of pump to push the water up or can the washer pump really take care of that?
And since we need to use a different washer till we get the other fixed will that one work the same way?
I would like to take out the old utility sink and put in a new one but we can't figure out all the stuff tied into it.
Thanks

OK! It sounds like the sewer main exits the house from above the floor line and the utilities sink had a pump that pumped the discharge up to the sewer main. The sinks pump died and went to pump heaven and your plumber bypassed the sink and installed a trap and standpipe in the main and let the washer pump lift the discharge up to the main. (How am I doing so far?) If you wish to install a new laundry tray you will have to install another pump, (click on; Sanivite gray water pump for kitchen or basement laundery) to find a gray water pump. If you wish to use the standpipe the plumber provided then purchase a new washer. Pumping up to the stand pipe didn't destroy the old washer pump, It just got tired and died. Good luck, Tom

That sounds about right. The other thing confusing me is that under the basement sink there is a valve where water can either go down or you can shut it off to direct it toward the pump. If the water is allowed to drain down then where does it go?