Slendide Washer/Dryer Drain

I'm going to be installing a Splendide WD2100XC Washer Dryer. I'm thinking about tying the drain into the drain for our sink in the head vs. adding another thru-hull. The sink has a 1 1/4 ID drain and exits the boat about 2' under the water line. The W/D unit will be ~2' above the waterline.

I'm concerned that I won't get enough draining capacity while the washer is dumping water.

Does anyone have experience draining this type of unit and under similar circumstances?

Thanks much.

If the sink wasn't in the line, the weight of the water would push out the flooded drain. But what may happen, if it drains too slowly, the sink may fill. The Splendide being a compact washer has a small pump compared to full size washer. So it may work. If you put a check valve between the sink and Y, hair may hold the check valve open.
My washer drain exits above the water line because the po used an existing thru hull.

I have installed one in a previous boat. I would install another through hull above the waterline. I would be concerned about the volume of water being discharged that far below the waterline would backup due to the water pressure.

I really don't like below water drains. What bothers me about this application is that you likely won't be there when the washer pumps overboard. If the drain is plugged by growth or the seacock is accidentally closed, when you use the sink, you would see it back up and you would stop. Your Splendide dumps about 11 gallons of water per load. It would be a big mess to clean up if it backed up through the sink.

Ted

Our Splendide drains above the waterline thus I have seen the volume of water that comes out. Our head sink drains above the waterline and I have seen that it outputs much less.

I would be concerned that at best you would fill the sink, at worst it would overflow.

What size drain thruhull does the splendide call for, and is it larger or smaller than the sink drain? How high above the WL is the sink?

Drain it into the sink, the sink volume will work as a buffer .

My opinion? Separate thru-hull above the water line. That is how mine is installed. No chance to overload an existing thru-hull or water backing up into the sink.

FF said:

Drain it into the sink, the sink volume will work as a buffer .

Click to expand...

Timing would be everything. You don't want to wash using the hot cycle same time you give the 2 month old a sponge bath in the sink.

Ours drain is a separate thru hull above the water line. It still " gets me " every time I'm on the dock and see the washer pumping overboard thinking a bilge pump has for some reason come on.

I think you would be fine "Tee" it off to the sink drain. Better yet, maybe a "Y" fitting. If it works, no additional holes in your boat. If it doesn't work, you can always remove the Tee and repair the hose. Fewer thru hulls means less chance for leaks of the bad kind.


I do not have any thru holes on ASD. I have two pipes on both sides of the boat that drain it all to the stern of the boat.

BTW I have a vented XC2100. Not a bad unit, so long as you are aware of the time it takes to dry. Remember it is only 110 AC versus 220 AC as in your house unit. The only down side is on the unit I have experienced was lint. The dryer produces lint and dumps it into the vent. There is no lint screen. My vent line blocked this past summer and I had to run a brush down the vent line to unblock it.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

I think you would be fine "Tee" it off to the sink drain. Better yet, maybe a "Y" fitting. If it works, no additional holes in your boat. If it doesn't work, you can always remove the Tee and repair the hose...

Click to expand...

That would work or you could install a dishwasher branch tail piece. They’re less than $10 at any hardware store.

Larry M said:

That would work or you could install a dishwasher branch tail piece. They’re less than $10 at any hardware store.

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Yeah, but how many of those type of drains do you see on a boat? Normally it is a 1" hose from the sink to the thru-hull. No trap.

As I think back to the Splendide installation on my old Grand Banks, the drain was tee'd into the deck drains, and emptied just above the water line. I never had any backups. I don't recall the hose size.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

Yeah, but how many of those type of drains do you see on a boat?

None. I was just adding to your post.

Normally it is a 1" hose from the sink to the thru-hull. No trap.

Click to expand...

We have a trap out sink and we did on our last boat. Our galley double sink is 1.5”.

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

BTW I have a vented XC2100. Not a bad unit, so long as you are aware of the time it takes to dry. Remember it is only 110 AC versus 220 AC as in your house unit. The only down side is on the unit I have experienced was lint. The dryer produces lint and dumps it into the vent. There is no lint screen. My vent line blocked this past summer and I had to run a brush down the vent line to unblock it.

Click to expand...

The vented Splendide does not have a lint filter. Then lint is supposed to go overboard with the drain water, not thru the vent line. We've been using that model for 6 years with no lint appearing at the vent outlet.

twistedtree said:

What size drain thruhull does the splendide call for, and is it larger or smaller than the sink drain? How high above the WL is the sink?

Click to expand...

Splendide specs at least a 1 1/4" drain so that's why I was thinking about tying into the sink drain. The bottom of the sink however is only ~5" above the WL. If installing a 'T' or 'Y', it would have to be under the WL.

Given that and the other input from others here (Thanks), I'm going to go with a new thru-hull. One thing that really got me thinking about this is a warning in the Splendide installation guide that says to keep an adequate air gap between the standpipe exit and water to avoid siphoning. I think I would be pushing the capacity to drain through the sink and if it didn't keep up siphoning would prove to be very, very bad.

I guess the next dilemma is above or below WL. Above is obviously much easier since we wouldn't have to haul out but then you get to view the washer draining. No growth in thru-hull though.
All of the other drains on this boat are below WL.

Some have chimed in that their washer drains are above WL. Is that the 'norm'?

High water exit PROS:
can see if A/C water is running.
no issue with sinking due to defects.
can install/maintain without hauling.
no corrosion
no fouling.

CONS:
can't hide horrible contents. (macerator)
noisy, especially A/C water
visible fitting.
not always possible if gravity drain.
Makes a streak on hull, sometimes.

hmason said:

The vented Splendide does not have a lint filter. Then lint is supposed to go overboard with the drain water, not thru the vent line. We've been using that model for 6 years with no lint appearing at the vent outlet.

Click to expand...

Are you sure you are not confusing the Vented and non-vented models?

Crusty Chief had the non-vented type and the lint was going down with the drain water.

goboatnow said:

Splendide specs at least a 1 1/4" drain so that's why I was thinking about tying into the sink drain. The bottom of the sink however is only ~5" above the WL. If installing a 'T' or 'Y', it would have to be under the WL.

Given that and the other input from others here (Thanks), I'm going to go with a new thru-hull. One thing that really got me thinking about this is a warning in the Splendide installation guide that says to keep an adequate air gap between the standpipe exit and water to avoid siphoning. I think I would be pushing the capacity to drain through the sink and if it didn't keep up siphoning would prove to be very, very bad.

I guess the next dilemma is above or below WL. Above is obviously much easier since we wouldn't have to haul out but then you get to view the washer draining. No growth in thru-hull though.
All of the other drains on this boat are below WL.

Some have chimed in that their washer drains are above WL. Is that the 'norm'?

Click to expand...

You might check the lift height limit of the washer. While I would much prefer an above water discharge, if you install a stand pipe with the top 2' above the water line, that might be sufficient. Also the washer discharge going into a stand pipe would eliminate the back syphon risk.

Ted

goboatnow said:

Splendide specs at least a 1 1/4" drain so that's why I was thinking about tying into the sink drain. The bottom of the sink however is only ~5" above the WL. If installing a 'T' or 'Y', it would have to be under the WL.

Given that and the other input from others here (Thanks), I'm going to go with a new thru-hull. One thing that really got me thinking about this is a warning in the Splendide installation guide that says to keep an adequate air gap between the standpipe exit and water to avoid siphoning. I think I would be pushing the capacity to drain through the sink and if it didn't keep up siphoning would prove to be very, very bad.

I guess the next dilemma is above or below WL. Above is obviously much easier since we wouldn't have to haul out but then you get to view the washer draining. No growth in thru-hull though.
All of the other drains on this boat are below WL.

Some have chimed in that their washer drains are above WL. Is that the 'norm'?

Click to expand...

I looked at our installation and read through the manual. It says an 1.5" "standpipe", not drain. This similar to a household installation. They also show that it can tied in to a sink drain above the trap.

The outlet line on our Splendide is about 3/4" hose. We clamped that in to a 1" hose that discharges above the water line. I figured by discharging above the water line, we wouldn't need a syphon break (standpipe) plus this was the same 1" thru hull that was there for the 20 year old Westinghouse stacked unit when we installed the Spendide over 10 years ago.

I didn't see anywhere in the manual where they reference a marine installation so it's hard to say what is right although we use ours regularly and have never had water back up or flood the inside.

http://www.splendide.com/WD2100XC_IOM3.pdf

Here is a pic of my drain. It is plumbed into the boat drain, with a "Tee" for the washer, then a dishwasher vent on top. It works great!!

We have a Splendide vented machine, it drains into a 1" drain that exits above the waterline. Our boat has no below water discharges other than the holding tank pumpout, I wouldn't want any, and for sure, any that are at the water line should have a vented loop. A thru hull above the w/l isn't that difficult to install, could even be done in the water.

Keep in mind that the siphoning that is referenced in washing machine installs has to do more with the machine than the plumbing it connects to. A washing machine with no siphon break is prone to draining as it fills. The drum drains by gravity or siphon as it fills, so the machine never fills enough to start the cycle.

I would not pipe the washing machine into the sink drain. The pump on the washer moves a significant volume of water. Any obstruction will create a situation where the discharge from the washer could back up inside the cabin. You really want to have that potential?? A dedicated line eliminates that.

Rather than cut corners, do it right. Lots easier to do it right the first time than do do it over.

hmason said:

The vented Splendide does not have a lint filter. Then lint is supposed to go overboard with the drain water, not thru the vent line. We've been using that model for 6 years with no lint appearing at the vent outlet.

Click to expand...

I had bought a new one for the rv a few years back. And while it is true that lint is supposed to drain out with the wash water, the unit still has an issue with lint.

The hot air vent is connected to the drum via a rubber bellows that makes a tight turn between the drum and the back panel. The bellows can get packed with lint and end up shutting down the dry cycle because it blocks exiting air and the control detects it overheating.

Cleaning out that bellows is tough as its really hard to get to.