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Found out my basement drain backs up when I ran the washing machine too fast

I was just doing laundry last Tuesday like normal and suddenly water started bubbling up from the floor drain in my basement. At first I thought it was a leak but then I saw it coming BACK UP from the drain. Turns out my washing machine dumps too fast for the old cast iron pipe to handle. I had to stop the cycle, pull the machine out, and shop vac about 15 gallons of dirty water. Fixed it by running the machine on the delicate cycle which uses less water per spin. Has anyone else dealt with slow drains causing backups in an older house?

2 comments

2 Comments

piper_thompson316d ago

Ngl, delicate cycle is fine. Is it really that big a deal?

the_joseph6d ago

Man, this brings me back to my first house in Cleveland, a 1920s bungalow where the previous owner had painted the basement floor like 8 times. We had a similar issue with the washing machine but it was the kitchen sink that would back up into the utility tub first. I learned the hard way that you can't just dump a whole load of rinse water at once in those old pipes. Ended up buying one of those rubber drain blockers that let the water trickle through slower, like a household version of a traffic calming measure. It worked okay but I had to remember to take it out before I started the drain cycle or else it just gurgled and sprayed soapy water everywhere. Sounds like you got a decent workaround with the delicate cycle though, that's probably easier than what I did.