My condo has a closet design for a washing machine/dryer set up and I want to make sure everything is wired correctly

It has connections for hot and cold water on the wall. It also has two other hookups that I'm trying to identify.

One hookup is beside the water valves but is larger around than most pipes I've seen(maybe 1.5"-2" across) and has a draft of cold air that smells of laundry. Is this for the water drain from the washer or is the vent for the dryer?

Another connection is about 0.5" above the floor and has a more typical hose connection. Is this the water drain or is for draining spilled water?

Photos here: Water Connection Taps and connection Fitted Pipe. That connection has a screw fitting and would likely connect well to a garden hose. lower connection

  • 1
    Could you add a photo? – Niall C. Mar 7 '13 at 1:14
  • I'll get some tonight. – Mark Robinson Mar 7 '13 at 1:18
  • Photos of connectors added. – Mark Robinson Mar 7 '13 at 5:40
  • The upper hole is definitely your drain, but it's difficult to tell what the one near the floor is for. If I had to guess, I'd say it's either an emergency drain (The washer would sit in a water tight "pan", and this hole allows any water in the pan to drain away. Though it seems backwards for that i.e. it should be an innie not an outie.), or maybe it's a gas line (in which case I hope it's shut off somewhere, or the house is filling with gas). Can you see what the lower pipe looks like on the other side of the wall? – Tester101 Mar 7 '13 at 12:11
  • 3
    The lower hole is internally threaded for a short piece of threaded PVC adapter, which then is connected to a rubber washered adapter that would be connected to the side of the pan as described by @tester101. The Oatey pan I recently put in had a 1" PVC adapter. – HerrBag Mar 7 '13 at 14:42

The top hole is indeed used for the washer drain.

enter image description here

The lower pipe is used to drain a washing machine pan.

enter image description here

If the washer leaks this pipe allows the water to drain away safely, instead of flooding the laundry area.


Photos would be helpful but the odds are very high that the outlet near the water valves is the drain for the washer. The other connection near the floor also has a high probability of being the vent for the dryer. I say this because it matches my setup. Also the vents for most dryers are located near the bottom of the unit. I would check with other condo owners in your development to make sure.

  • That's interesting because the connection near the floor is quite small, maybe 1" diameter. Everything I've seen about this has much larger ducting. – Mark Robinson Mar 7 '13 at 5:39

Your Answer

