Hey All,

Getting ready to replace my kitchen sink, disposal, and faucet. Upon looking under the sink I discovered the dishwasher has it's own drain pipe??? It is independent of the sink drain.

It goes like this...
The clear dishwasher drain pipe/tube runs up to the air gap. A black tube (similar to what is used with washing machine drains) runs from the air gap to the dedicated drain.

This is a three story condo with the kitchen being on the middle floor. It was built in 1995. I have had no trouble with the current set up but want to make sure everything is done correctly with the new installations. I would rather change things now if necessary while I have everything apart.

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

Not exactly sure of what the existing piping looks like or if it's piped in according to code but if you set it up like the illustration below, you can't go wrong.

You could always cap off/plug the present location of where the DW drain connects.



e-plumber
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"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002

Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

Dedicated drain? Is this before a dedicated trap? Can you post a picture of this? Right now the left fielder is in between the shortstop and third baseman.

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Here are the pics. This is how the plumbing is now, should I change the configuration to the traditional through the disposal method and cap off the extra drain? What would be a reason for plumbing it this way?






Edited 1 times.

I would leave the drains AS IS with one exception if the original installers used a double fixture TEE and placed both ABS & PVC into the common tee, it could in the future cause problems, there is a way to find out either cut the wall open above the cleanout at the same height as the piping that enters the wall and see just how everything was connected. Or buy a Rigid See Snake drill a couple of 1" holes one on each side and look at the connection. It would be lower on the TO DO LIST than replacing the PB waterlines,valves and supplies.

PlumbCat TM 2003


Plumbermandan

that would not pass in massachusetts. the trap needs a cleanout on the bottom. also, how is the PVC and ABS joined together?

I don't like the DW rubber hose/trap connection either...

e-plumber
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002

Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

Leave well enough alone and don't go looking for problems. The PVC on the right side is probably just a slip nut and PVC tubular drainage which is perfectly proper everywhere except MA. It looks like a system that will work just fine and there are no installation problems that are visible, and probably none inside the wall either.

it is perfectly legal this way although it is not optimal efficiency as far as the disposal goes. i'll bet that the disposal was at one time pipe to that trap and the DW drain went into the disposal

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PLUMBERS "Protecting The Health Of The Nation"

the trap on the left is an exposed, glue up trap and as such must have a cleanout plug on the bottom. how do you clean it in the rest of the country?

cut the trap off and install a trap adapter and then a slip joint trap goes back

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PLUMBERS "Protecting The Health Of The Nation"

...Not legal in areas around here, (no slip fittings after the trap seal).

An L.A. trap would work or a trap with a C.O. on the bottom.



e-plumber
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The society which scorns excellence in Plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an
exalted activity will have neither good Plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water." -
John William Gardner 10/8/1912 - 2/16/2002

Repair your leaking Plumbing fixtures ASAP [www.theplumber.com]
This slow drip will waste 7+ gallons of water per day.

"the trap on the left is an exposed, glue up trap and as such must have a cleanout plug on the bottom. how do you clean it in the rest of the country?"

Same way you do a tub drain... Push the snake through.

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Since 1995 (3 years before Google started) PlumbingSupply.com has been THE best plumbing supplier on the web. Please visit our sponsor [www.PlumbingSupply.com]

come on redwood.
you know the difference between a tub trap overhead in a basement and a second floor tub trap buried in the ceiling.
so, you are telling me that if an overhead tub trap in a basement had a cleanout on the bottom, you would snake it from the overflow?
the point i'm making is that any exposed trap must have a cleanout on the bottom. or, as pictured above, it must be removable.
i don't make the laws in mass, sal does...
any doubt about who runs this state, look at the casino debacle..

Thank you all so much for contributing here...

Given that I'm more confused now than when I started
Would it be better all around to just cap off this extra drain and run the dishwasher through the disposal?

If you snake it from the overflow, you can have water in the tub to wash the drain when you get it clear. If there is a cleanout in the trap you have to use it or the snake will just get stuck in it coming down from the overflow.

There is no benefit to doing that. Just leave it the way it is unless it causes you problems. Don't get bogged down by hyperbole and rhetoric.



Edited 1 times.

brandytb, since it is just moving a hose and tightening a hose clamp, i would move it. remember to cap the top of the (what will be) unused trap. the benifit of moving the hose to the disposer is that any food particles that come from the dishwasher discharge will stay in the disposer for future grinding. there is a knockout inside the disposer nipple. gotta gently tap it with a screwdriver and hammer to knock it looose. it will fall inside the disposer. shut off the power and reach inside to retrieve the plastic piece. about the size of a nickel.
of course, as hj said, if you leave it the way it is, it will work just fine.
hj, are you intimating that my responses are hyperbolic and rhetorical?
oh well, what do you expect from a d-backs/suns fan??

It would only be hyperbolic if it were assymptotic to the Y axis, and had a mirror image twin.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.