Question about appliances/carpentry, or, How Stupid Is What I Just Did?

[Dangerously Amused]

My mom just bought a new dryer after her old one broke to the point where repairing it would cost more than buying a new one. The new dryer was delivered today. The new dryer is bigger than the old one, and had to be set about ten inches away from the wall because it is right in front of where the silver accordian tube thingie (exhaust?) in the back meets the wall. Anyway, the laundry room is pretty small so I looked the the washer and figured that if I could move it about eight inches to the left, where it would snug up against the -- hells, what do you call those things, utility sinks? -- that thing, then I could shift the dryer to the left too, and also closer to the wall.

The problem came when I was trying to move the washer. Now I have moved my own washer and dryer on several occasions, like when I was painting the basement floor or cleaning behind them, and never had a problem; just made sure that the hoses were all attached they way they should be and she ran like a champ.

But when I went to move mom's washer, I found it had a shallow metal pan underneath it. No problem, I thought, I'll just move the pan too. So I had the washer tipped off the pan and was trying to kick the pan to where I needed it, but it seemed like it was stuck on something. So I got down close to it and discovered that there was a hole in the center of the pan... that goes all the way down through the floor! :wtf: And the hole is somehow attached to the floor. :wtf: And also it smells like a miniature latrine, but I digress.

So I moved the washer to where it is now sitting mostly on the shallow metal pan (there are a few inches along one side that are not), and moved the dryer next to it, where it fits into the available room space better. I just ran a small load of laundry through the washer, with no catastrophic effect. So...

Should /can I keep the washer where it is? Or do I need to move it back to where it is totally on top of the shallow pan?

Also, where the hell does that hole in the ground go? :scared:

Thanks!

[crispini]

1. Very interesting.

Sounds like a very old school washer with some kind of drip pan? Very weird. Never heard of that.

I'd put it back. You never know what might happen.

[Dangerously Amused]

5. " You never know what might happen"

I know, right? It's like a tiny, stinky portal to Laundry Hell, or something. :scared:

Wait! OMG! That's probably where all the socks go!!!!!1!

[trof]

2. Never heard of a washer hook up like that.

The drain usually comes out the back into a drain pipe.
Don't know what you have there.
Never had a pan under the washer.

[Dangerously Amused]

10. I've seen large plastic "washer pans" at the hardware store.

And from the looks of them I figured they were to put under the washer to protect the flooring in case the washer had a leak, or something. But none of them had a hole in the middle.

[GOPisEvil]

3. Is there a plastic hose from the rear of the washer to a drain hole in the wall?

If not, I suspect the metal pan is the drain mechanism for the washer, and you should probably put the washer back. The hole probably goes into the waste water system.

Or the bowels of hell.

:hi:

[Dangerously Amused]

6. That's the weird thing.

It has a hose that hooks over the side of (and empties into) the utility sink. Just like my washer at home. The only other hoses are the hot and cold water hoses.

[GOPisEvil]

8. Then I suspect the metal pan is the emergency drain.

Sort of like a drain pan installed under a water heater.

As someone else suggested, the smell is probably off-gasses from the sewer. Those could be dangerous, I suppose. Might not hurt to have that looked into.

[Dangerously Amused]

12. Yeah, that was a good suggestion. I will pour some diluted bleach down there.

Funny thing is I never noticed the smell before now.

Hey, say "hi" to your BFF! :hi:

[GOPisEvil]

14. Oh, I'll say "hi" alright.

O8)

[Kali]

4. it might be an emergency overflow drain and the reason it smells

is that probably there have never been any emergency overflows - the trap is dry and sewer smells are coming back into the room. You might try adding some water (and maybe a little bleach to kill the smell) and see what happens. Did the bottom of the pan have any moisture after you test ran a load of laundry?

[Dangerously Amused]

7. I think you're right, some sort of emergency overflow drain.

And no, there was no water in the pan after the load of laundry. Good idea about the bleach too, I'm going to do that. Thanks!

[Kali]

11. sounds like a great idea - I wish I had one.

we are on very low pressure gravity water here and so I have to fill the washer with a separate hose and I am always overflowing the thing. A drain for that would be excellent! Oh well at least the laundry porch gets mopped regularly - can't say that about the rest of this dump:rofl:

[Blue Diadem]

9. It sounds like a drip pan in case the washer leaked.

We use one under our washer and under our water heater but we didn't put in any drainage holes. We put them in because we have moisture from water trickles in our basement and they help prevent rust on the appliance feet.

http://www.mustee.com/durapan.shtml

[Dangerously Amused]

13. Well, there is rust on the bottom of the washer,

so maybe dad installed that years ago (when he was still alive) to address the problem, but never told anyone what he was doing and why. Which would be very typical of him, there are still electrical switches in the house that he installed and we have no idea what they're hooked up to. The drain thing leading to god-knows-where though is kind of freaky.

[Blue Diadem]

15. The line probably runs to either the sewer

or leachfield and like someone said up thread, the drain dries out and lets sewer gas come through. If your mom doesn't feel the drain is necessary, you might be able to find a cap the same size as the opening at a home improvement store.

The unknown light switches are always a blast. Have you checked to see if they are wired or were they just a "dummy" switch put in to fill in an old box that was no longer needed?