washing machine problem/question

[Anonymous]

Our washing machine is located in an unfinished "room" in the basement, the rest of which is carpeted and finished. The house was built in 1946. The washing machine is newish, but the way it is connected to the water supply, etc. is original. When the machine rinses the clothes of water/soap, the water moves from the machine into an adjacent sink via a visible plastic tube, and a lint trap is attached to this tube which we need to replace every couple months or so. (This whole system is foreign to me - I grew up in a 1980's house where all of this occurred behind the walls so I never saw this nor did we ever have to replace any tube, lint trap, etc.) Here is the problem: often the lint trap is full before we realize it (it starts to look all grey quickly, but lasts several weeks after that, so it is hard to tell when it truly is full), and then the water sprays all over the floor and leaks into the carpeted area of the basement. This has probably happened once every 6 months for the 10 years we've lived in this house. I am sick of it! My question is this: who should I call to look into putting all of this tubing, etc. beind a wall so that I do not have this flooding ever again?! A plumber? A handyman? Also, has anyone done this and could give me a rough idea of what this will cost me? (The basement is nothing special, very bare bones, so it would be a waste to spend a ton of money down there.) TIA!

[Anonymous]

That's how I grew up. Just use a net on the drain of the basin instead. It will cost you $2 one time and you'll know long before the flood it's time to clean it.

[Anonymous]

it happens once every six months for 10 yrs? Haven't you figured out by now to keep track of the time and empty the lint trap at the 4-5 month mark?

[Anonymous]

My sympathies, OP. 10:44 clearly hasn't lived with this problem. Our old house had the same issue, and we have pets so the lint trap needed changing frequently. We lived there for years and still would forget to check it sometime when throwing in a quick load with a screaming toddler upstairs, and then have a mess on our hands. Or a relative would thrown in some laundry and not know to check and - water everywhere.

Here is what I wonder. In our old house, the previous owner told us to use those lint filters so we did. In our current house there was no filter on the laundry hose and we haven't put one on - so far so good. So I wonder if you really need the filter? Maybe the drain would handle the lint fine without a filter? Or perhaps we have a disaster in the making in our current house and one day the drain will clog completely.

Do others have to use these filters? What happens if you don't?

[Anonymous]

We never used the filters growing up. I used them for a couple years in our new house and it would get filled every couple weeks, sometimes making a mess.

We quit replacing the filter on the end of the hose and everything just goes down the drain. No problems after 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Yeah we've got a similar visible tube and basin and no lint trap, and everything just seems to go down the drain no problem. It's been 8 years and 2 kids' worth of laundry so it must be working okay.

[Anonymous]

A friend reminded me that one of the groups that may want to use these are people with septic systems.

[Anonymous]

Another person with a pipe draining into a sink and no lint trap and no problems.

[Anonymous]

You can also get a water alarm - put it near the sink and it'll go off if the sink starts overflowing, so at least you get down there before there's a huge mess.

(search "water alarm" on amazon)

[Anonymous]

I use cheap pantyhose and a drain cover on the sink drain that stops the pantyhose from clogging the drain. The secret is to change the darn thing before it is full. BuT I find that the pantyhose holds more and is easier to see if it is full.

Not sure how to put in the wall.