Drainage from washing machine in shed

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

Hi
I'm moving the washing machine to an outside shed. I know how to get the electricity and water out to the shed but I'm not sure how so sort out the drainage from the washing machine.

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

Don't know if I posted this in the best place if a mod thinks I would get a response elsewhere please move it. Thanks.

martinr5232

You will have to go to an existing drain depending on the distance use either a 2 inch or 4 inch waste pipe.

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

Thanks for your reply. It will have to go underground I presume at a fall. Is it ok to interfere with the existing sewer to connect to it underground

martinr5232

Hazel Happy Tic-tac-toe wrote:

Thanks for your reply. It will have to go underground I presume at a fall. Is it ok to interfere with the existing sewer to connect to it underground

Im no expert but i done it last year myself.
Lift the lid off the nearest aj and see is there a spare inlet if so you could connect a 4 inch pipe to that.
Or if there is a drain fairly close you could run a 2 inch pipe to that either way it will need to have a fall towards the drain.

Right2Write

Depending on where you are - urban or rural? If it doesn't interfere with anyone, you could also dig a soakage pit. You might want to check the legalities locally but in rural areas, I'd say there's a fair few that just drain to a soakage pit. Dig a good sized hole, fill with roughly crushed stone/ rubble to within a few inches of the surface, lay your pipe into this, cover stone with a couple of fertiliser bags or whatever and backfill top few inches with soil.

BrokenArrows

Right2Write wrote: »

Depending on where you are - urban or rural? If it doesn't interfere with anyone, you could also dig a soakage pit. You might want to check the legalities locally but in rural areas, I'd say there's a fair few that just drain to a soakage pit. Dig a good sized hole, fill with roughly crushed stone/ rubble to within a few inches of the surface, lay your pipe into this, cover stone with a couple of fertiliser bags or whatever and backfill top few inches with soil.

Does a soakage pit not just eventually fill up with soap residue?

Right2Write

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Does a soakage pit not just eventually fill up with soap residue?

A soakage pit allows water to drain away into subsoil etc. I suppose it depends on what size of rubble/ crushed stone you put in. I've made a couple, just tipping in odds and ends of blocks left over from building and breaking them roughly with a sledge. There'd be plenty of voids in this.

muffler

Right2Write wrote: »

Depending on where you are - urban or rural? If it doesn't interfere with anyone, you could also dig a soakage pit. You might want to check the legalities locally but in rural areas, I'd say there's a fair few that just drain to a soakage pit. Dig a good sized hole, fill with roughly crushed stone/ rubble to within a few inches of the surface, lay your pipe into this, cover stone with a couple of fertiliser bags or whatever and backfill top few inches with soil.

This is not allowed. If its a rural area serviced by a septic tank then all waste water MUST discharge to the septic tank. If its an urban environment with main sewer then into the sewer it goes.

Right2Write

muffler wrote: »

This is not allowed. If its a rural area serviced by a septic tank then all waste water MUST discharge to the septic tank. If its an urban environment with main sewer then into the sewer it goes.

You're doubtless right. But it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in that water discharge from a washing machine is just dirty water with some detergents. This would percolate away and break down in the immediate subsoils. There'd be a whole worse draining away from farms etc.

muffler

Right2Write wrote: »

You're doubtless right. But it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in that water discharge from a washing machine is just dirty water with some detergents. This would percolate away and break down in the immediate subsoils. There'd be a whole worse draining away from farms etc.

All fair enough points especially about farming effluent but the problem with grey water or soapy water if you wish is that it doesnt fully discharge or percolate into the natural earth. Basically it starts with a build up of residual scum which in turn traps more until you have a fairly serious layer of it.

I'm not sure if you have ever experienced the smell that emanates from the likes of soapy water after a few weeks (especially in warm weather) but trust me, sewage smells like roses compared to it

qhe0i9zvfgdou8

Thanks to everyone for the replies. You've been very helpful

the_pen_turner

can you run it into its own septic tank with its own percolation area

Right2Write

the_pen_turner wrote: »

can you run it into its own septic tank with its own percolation area

I'm not particularly convinced that a septic tank will do much to break down detergents etc., so they just end up in the percolation area anyway would be my guess. And a percolation area is just a larger 'soakage pit'.

the_pen_turner

Right2Write wrote: »

I'm not particularly convinced that a septic tank will do much to break down detergents etc., so they just end up in the percolation area anyway would be my guess. And a percolation area is just a larger 'soakage pit'.

I agree . its a waste of time.
the only thing is that a lot of the crap settles out

it is probably doing more harm to the septic tank than it is stopping by letting it into it own soak pit