Drain pan for upstairs washer

[Marc]

Anyone aware of a requirement for a drain pan under an upstairs washing machine?

Marc

[Neal Lewis]

Assuming you mean the second floor over living area. I was required to install one, with an indirect drain line, when i moved my laundry room to the second floor. I don't know a code citation.

[Bill Kibbel]

The IRC does not require a pan or drain for a clothes washer.

I have seen several local amendments that do require it.

[hausdok]

Correct,

No requirement per IRC. Around here, some builders put them in as part of their package, some will do it as an option and some flat out say they aren't going to do it and if the buyer wants one they can put it in after closing at their own cost.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Marc]

Thanks fellas.

Marc

[kurt]

Chicago ordinance indicates there should be a pan9 if a leaking machine would damage interior finishes. It's not a prescriptive "all houses shall have pans" thing.

[Scottpat]

I think it is more of a local thing as Kurt pointed out. I tell folks that they need them but in all reality the washer is not the big worry for leakage; it's the water connections and those cheap rubber hoses! Modern washers just do not leak like they use to be prone to doing, but those rubber hoses burst all the time. I tell my clients to invest $25 for a pair of braided stainless connector hoses for their washer.

[kurt]

Many large high end condos in the city now require the burst proof hoses. (I've been corrected to call them "burst resistant".)

I read somewhere that burst hoses are something like the 4th or 5th highest payout in residential insurance. The proliferation of laundries in condos and at 2nd fls. pushes it up in the statistics.

[hausdok]

Three words

Watts FloodSafe Connectors

They're not only stainless steel braided; they automatically shutoff water flow when they sense a burst hose.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Mike Lamb]

I was hired by a lawyer to do a post repair inspection involving $1M condo in the Trump Tower. Much of the condo needed to be gutted. The washer now has an automatic shut-off system that shuts down the valves when the washer is done with its cycle so to limit stress on the hoses, or it shuts off if moisture is sensed in the pan.

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[Neal Lewis]

That's the Watts Intelliflow. I had to remove mine when I found out it didn't work with washers with digital/push button controls. That was ten years ago, though.

[John Kogel]

Or they could use the brain and a sign like the HO from last week.

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I used this as a cue to advise my clients to replace the rubber hoses. []

Which reminds me. Still got old rubber on our machine. []

[Mike Lamb]

The system in my pics is about $300 for parts. Plus labor. So about $600 - 800 installed.

[palmettoinspect]

I think it is more of a local thing as Kurt pointed out. I tell folks that they need them but in all reality the washer is not the big worry for leakage; it's the water connections and those cheap rubber hoses! Modern washers just do not leak like they use to be prone to doing, but those rubber hoses burst all the time. I tell my clients to invest $25 for a pair of braided stainless connector hoses for their washer.

I must have bad luck as I have had two incidents about one month apart.

We recently had a washer machine that started leaking at the pump under the unit. Flooded the whole laundry and master bathroom next to the laundry. About one month later with our new washer my wife decided to wash the kitchen bar stool cushions (she doesn't quite get the concept of small vs large loads) and stuffed them all in one load. As the washer spun around one of the cushions was sticking up and it splashed water out the lid and flooded the floor almost as much as the leaking pump.

One thing I realized is those little ole plastic drain pans with a washer stuffed in them isn't going to catch much water.

[David Meiland]

You're supposed to drill a hole in the floor and drain the pan into the crawl space or somewhere else where it won't cause so much trouble...

[palmettoinspect]

You're supposed to drill a hole in the floor and drain the pan into the crawl space or somewhere else where it won't cause so much trouble...

I know but kinda hard to do when you are on a slab. I did not have a drain pan under my washer nor do I have one now. I believe it's a good idea to have a drain pan but I don't rely on one even with a drain they're not going to do much. Most of the time the drain is not sealed water tight to the pan anyways.

[David Meiland]

I have pans made by a sheet metal shop, 2" deep, soldered, and use the same PVC outlet with rubber washer that you see on water heater pans. If you pour a 5-gallon bucket of water in it, the water goes out the pipe. On a slab you have to drill through the mudsill, which is a real PITA, or elevate the pan and machine above it.

[palmettoinspect]

I have pans made by a sheet metal shop, 2" deep, soldered, and use the same PVC outlet with rubber washer that you see on water heater pans. If you pour a 5-gallon bucket of water in it, the water goes out the pipe. On a slab you have to drill through the mudsill, which is a real PITA, or elevate the pan and machine above it.

Now thats what im talking about. I see similar pans under water heaters all the time in higher end homes around here. Sometime I will see the entire laundry room tiled and the floor sloped to a floor drain with tile curb/baseboards.

I still wont put one under mine. I recently tiled the laundry room and master bath floors so I dont have to worry about hardwoods anymore. Plus what are the odds of my washer leaking three times? On that note.....BRB going to check the washer!