Connecting a washing machine (or dishwasher) up to existing plumbing should be quite straight forward. Tips and advice on the subject are linked to in this article - but before rushing off there is an important and serious issue regarding misconnections that you should read about - even if you never have, or never intend to connect anything up yourself.

Have you any misconnections?

What is a misconnection?

This is when any pipe carrying waste water is connected to a surface water drainage system instead of the main sewage system. ( see diagram - plumbing misconnections )

There are normally two different types of drains connected to a house -

1. The main (foul water) drain which leads to the water treatment and sewage works
2. The surface water drains, which are designed to carry only uncontaminated rainwater from the guttering on our houses and garages

1: Everything inside the home that needs pumping out of the house should be connected to this system. The sink, washing machine, dishwasher, toilet and bath should all drain into the main pipe that goes to the sewage treatment plant where chemicals and contaminants are removed.

2: This water goes directly to a local river, stream or soak away. Water from any source other than rain will pollute and contaminate our rivers.

Helpful diagrams - plumbing misconnections | plumbing misconnections 2

You may not have heard of misconnections, but you need to check if you are inadvertently part of the problem because ..

Someone else may have connected some part of your waste water plumbing from the washing machine, dishwasher, toilet, bath or sink incorrectly in the past. Many homeowners do not realise that they, themselves, may be contributing daily to the pollution of rivers and streams in their own area.

Regardless of who did it, whether it was accidental or through negligence, the householder is responsible for putting it right. Leaving the misconnection will contribute to serious environmental damage of our rivers and streams.

Water companies are taking this issue very seriously. Wrong connections are not only harmful to the environment but they are illegal. In most cases it will be a simple matter to reconnect to your dirty water drain. Get the advice and services of a good qualified plumber.

Other misconnections

Surprisingly, a misconnection the other way round, where rainwater from roofs is allowed to run into the sewage system because the guttering fall pipe is incorrectly connected to the main sewage pipe can also cause problems. During heavy rain it can overload the wastewater network and can result in the flooding of land and/or properties.

Other related articles

Is your washing machine or dishwasher connected to the plumbing properly? Are you sure? (My Whitegoodshelp Blog article on the subject)

Tips on how to connect up a washing machine (to existing plumbing)

Once you understand how to make sure you don't make a misconnection and you've checked that the existing plumbing you want to connect your appliance to is not misconnected then here are the tips on how to install a washing machine