Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - Admiral Washer

My son's Admiral washer starts to spin before ever draining any water out. When the water goes into the drain it's like a pressure washer and the drain backs up. I checked my own washer and mine drains until it gets most of the water out before it goes into the spin cycle. Any suggestions as to what's wrong with the Admiral washer?

Hi bb:

What is the model #? What happens if you take the drain hose out of the standpipe and let in run into a sink or trash can. If you try a can, elevate it so the top of the can is above the level of the washing machine tub. Otherwise you'll get a siphon effect and not a true test. I'm wondering if the house drain pipe might be obstructed? Let us know what happens. Thanks.

Some machines drain and spin at same time. Probably all that is wrong is your son's house drain is not handling the discharge due to bad pipe or clog. (More likely bad restricted pipe, as washer drain high discharge should be blasting the line clear)

Yes, if the washer drain is put in a trash can or tub, you will have your answer.

Besides a plumbing redo, one quick solve that has worked for me is to buy these rubber Fernco-like fittings that both clamp around your standpipe and around your discharge hose, sealing off any possible way the water can leak back out. Some people frown on this type of fix though, claiming you put the washer drain pump under undo load. But personally on the units I have done this too, I haven't had to go and replace any pump. Nor any syphoning problem. What MIGHT happen is after awhile, you may actually blast the inside of the drainline cleaner since the water is being forced down the line. Your call.

Thanks for your replies. I met a plumber at my son's house today and he said the lines were clear. He filled the washer all the way up and let it drain, it did not back up until he filled it up again and then it did back up. He said that was too much water going in the pipes not to have backed up right away if the pipes were blocked. He indicated it may be a septic tank problem. There is a separate tank for the washer that the septic tank people call a washer box. I've called them and the "boss" is going to get back with me about a possible cost. I'm scared! Since I don't have much knowledge about plumbing I'm at the mercy of everyone. Plus, I'm a woman and last week some jackleg plumber wanted to sell me some drain cleaner for $88.00 that would take care of the problem pronto. I told him to get lost. Talked to my sister later that day and she had the same people come to her house. The only difference is she bought the stuff. Mama always said I was smarter. Ha. I'm at a loss however on how to remedy this problem. I'm washing my son's clothes at my house now but it will have to be repaired soon. Any other suggestions appreciated.
Brenda

If you think a price is not reasonable, get at least 3 estimates.

Are you located where the ground is frozen now, or not?

If you think a price is not reasonable, get at least 3 estimates.

Are you located where the ground is frozen now, or not?

I am in very dry NC so no problem with frozen ground. My problem is I don't know what's going on with this drain. It could be one of three things: The drain has a clog, the pipe will not take the amount of water that goes in at one time, or the septic tank is full. Today I think I will go there and put the outside hose in the drain and see if it backs up. If it does, that eliminates one of the above so then I only have to consider the others.

I drained the washer load and on the 2nd fill up it backed up. I then took the hose from outside and turned on the water and let it fill the drain. It did not back up. My theory now is that the drain water is too much for the pipes to handle. Maybe it's the vent pipe. Next I will have a man go up on the roof and snake the vent pipe. Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Well, your hose does not discharge as much as the washer drain, more than likely. If your 'clog' let's say was able to allow 10 gpm's to continually pass, but not 15, then you could have a restriction (as opposed to full blown clog) where this clog comes into play.

It sounds to me that you have a good head on your shoulders and will likely reach certain conclusions and will end up figuring this out. We have pretty much covered the possible scenarios, and now it's a matter of finding out what it is.

And as I mentioned earlier here (I think), you could always use one of those Fernco-like couplings where your discharge hose goes into your drain, and at least try that and see what happens.

And as I mentioned earlier here (I think), you could always use one of those Fernco-like couplings where your discharge hose goes into your drain, and at least try that and see what happens.[/QUOTE]

I googled up a picture of the Fernco coupling and it looks like it would just extend the standpipe. That sounds like it would work but the drain is in a box type gizmo. There is nowhere to connect the coupling to the standpipe. The standpipe is flush with the drain opening. This plumbing is really getting to me. I find myself thinking about it all the time...and it's not my house. Could I extend the drain by just fluxing the pipe and putting an extention on it? If not that we may have to raise the whole standpipe (my husband will love that) although it looks to be as high as mine. But I don't have a new washer. I understand now that the new washers have more powerful pumps. Somebody needs to go back to the way it was! My son said he would go up on the roof and snake the vent pipe. Hope that helps but I'm not betting on it.

Ohhh. You have one of those combination shut-off valve and drainhole plastic boxes in the wall, right?

They do make a different type of 'bushing' that you can plug a 1 inch? plastic discharge end into and then push the bushing into the 1 1/2 inch drain. The part that pushes in has this Christmas tree like step down (barbs) on them to help it stay down in the pipe.

You might be able to try that. But can't guarantee that would not send the discharge pipe flying back out of the hole under an extreme back pressure situation. You could try and see though and closely monitor such a thing and stand right there when it discharges, ready to quickly kill the power, if need be.

Obviously though, it be nice if you could more correctly fix the situation. But in case this is hard to do, you could try what I suggest. You may even be able to experiment first by packing a damp rag tight around the discharge hose and gap of the drainhole and hold tight as you discharge the washer and see what happens then.

Oh this is getting worse by the day! I was just talking to my husband about raising the whole box. Do you think that would work? It would be alot of tearing out but my husband and I have done some repairs in the house we are in so we could do it. I would hate to go through all that and still have a backup. I wonder what other people do in this situation. To make it worse, my son's house is partly on a slab. I'm not sure if the washer drain is in the slab or the crawl. I'll do alot of things but crawling under a house is where I draw the line.

Raising it isn't going to do anything to cure a slow drain. But I'm curious what led you to think that it might. (I'm envisioning the guy who says his car doesn't start, to want to change tires. :))

You are going to have to get someone who will at least trace this line and even crawl in crawl spaces if need be. I'd be more than willing to help if you were a neighbor, as I have made a career of being under trailers and in all kinds of confined areas that would give many people claustrophobia. And 'crawl' is not the word in many cases; 'bellying it' is.

[QUOTE=ecman51`;1279987]Raising it isn't going to do anything to cure a slow drain. But I'm curious what led you to think that it might. (I'm envisioning the guy who says his car doesn't start, to want to change tires. :))

Yeah. After I posted that I thought it was dumb. I guess I was thinking it would give the water more room. Ha. Maybe it's time to just change the tires.:D

I guess we'll start at the vent pipe and pray that's the cause.
Thanks. I'll keep you posted.

If it was the vent pipe holding back on it, I'd imagine that if you were to perform a test where you poured water down the drain, possibly through a hose, that as the water ran through the stand pipe, you would hear a "glub, glub" sound of water trying to be pulled out of the trap. If not, I would not be betting on the vent pipe as the problem

Otherwise I hope the vent pipe is safe for you to get to.

Whenever I stop the machine as soon as it backs up, there is a sound in the pipe when the water goes back down. After that, I can drain some more water. It takes about 4 times to empty the washer on full load. I bought a snake today and this weekend I will get my oldest son to go up on the roof and see if the vent pipe has something in it. I talked with a guy at Lowes and he said that happened to him. I'm hoping it's our problem but I'm not betting on it. I think we're going to have to tear out the drywall and see what's going on inside there. Do you think if we increased the size of the drain pipe from the top of the drain to as low to the floor as we can go(fitting the pieces together) it would help? The Lowes guy said today's homes use a 3" drain instead of the old 1 1/2 or 2". I'd love to know the number of people that are having trouble with this after buying a new machine. Some of those machines cost over $1500. If enough people complained I'll bet the washer makers would do something different, like have machines for new homes and those for old homes. Like the difference in a Van and a Sports Car.

Around here, most our stand pipes are 1 1/2 inches without problem. But if it is old galvanized, that usually gets rust and more scuz to cling inside, especially at joints. And normally these 1 1/2 inch pipes are relatively close to the 4 inch stack. Long 1 1/2 inch horizontal runs may pose more foa problem.

Also around here, vents can frost shut under the right circumstances in cold weather. Oddly though, not every place does.

Hope your roof vent is not in some real high precarious location.

Drain has been snaked out as far as we could: 20 feet. We filled the washer with super level. The clothes washed and the washer drained fine. It then filled with rinse water and began to drain. It backed up. To me, that elimated the vent problem because seems to me it would have backed up right away. Now this tells me there is something going on farther down the drain. I don't know the anatomy of a washer box in the yard but I'm wondering if there are some roots in the box or the lines causing it to take up room in the box. Some water would go in there but when it got to a certain point there would be no more room for any more water. Next step is go to the county and find out where the washer box is and dig it up.

Years ago after I bought this house, I found my 'grease trap' with pointy 3' probe. Grease trap downline from kitchen sink and upstream of septic. Had soapy clinkers and other gunk in there.