DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

Hi All,

This has been bothering me since I moved in here. The picture is of the waste solution the council installed under our sink in the kitchen (pardon the mess). Having looked through the site at great length, I'm pretty sure they've bodged it very badly, emphasised by the atrocious stench that rises whenever the washing machine is turned on or indeed any water passes out.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/Darker_Rage/IMG00043.jpg[/img] (copy-paste may be needed - BBcode doesn't appear to be turned on)

The outlet pipe doesn't connect directly to a foul pipe; it drains into an open drain on the outside of the house (which makes the wind whistling into the kitchen through the waste pipe a major factor in winter!)

I'm taking an educated guess from looking through the Waste projects on here that it should be a pipe down from the sink with a join for the washing machine, then into the trap, then the outlet from the trap (carrying both kitchen sink waste and the washing machine waste) goes out.

I'm pretty confident I could do this work (the pipes are sealed with rubber gaskets and white nuts to hold them - push-fit? I forget the correct term!) but I would really appreciate it if someone could check I was on the right lines! I would be quite simply reversing the fittings as they are, with the bit with the washing machine leading instead to the waste out, and the other bit having the washing machine connected to it. Is this likely to cause any problems, for example when the washer starts pumping, is it likely to start spraying out of the kitchen tap?

Very much appreciate anyone's views (including upon if the job was botched to begin with).
Leo

Oh excellent, I had to laugh when I saw the photo, that's a real good un!

The trap is connected the wrong way round. I am surprised it doesn't fill the washing machine when the sink plug is pulled.

Where the washing machine hose is currently connected, should be the outlet to the drain, and the "T" part just under the sink outlet is the connection point for the w/m hose.

It's probably been done like this I guess because it originally had a normal "P" trap fitted. At some point, someone decided to change it so a washing machine could be connected but what they bought wouldn't fit so they dodged it.

had to have a good look at this, took me a while to figure out what was going on!

what a bodge!

"pipes are sealed with rubber gaskets and white nuts to hold them - push-fit?" - they are actually compression fittings. undo the nut (should only be hand tight) inside is a rubber "olive" and a plastic ring - don't forget to put the ring back in!

i'd be inclined to buy a new trap, you can get one for a few quid and available anywhere that will have a port (for want of a better word) that you can push the washing machine straight onto - might want to add a jubilee clip to ensure a sound connection.

other than that you are good to go in the way you described. and no, the washing machine waste won't come out of your kitchen tap! if it does you have a real and very interesting problem on your hands!