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How hard is it to move washer/dryer from an upstairs room to the basement? What hookups would we need, etc?

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    Gas or electric dryer?
    – Tester101
    Dec 27, 2010 at 17:46

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Chris is right, but let me add. You really want BOTH and hot and cold water feed. If you leave off the hot water and don't cap the input, cold water may escape out the hot water feed port through the mix valve (if so equipped) when the machine is set to warm. Besides, your wife will be upset when she tries to bleach whites with no hot water!! You will need to install a drain with a trap for the waste water to pump into. As long as you have a drain line close by to tap into that is not more than a couple of feet higher than the top of the washer, you can use that. The machines today can usually raise water a couple of feet above the machine, but not much more than that. You will need to install a 15 amp, 120 VAC line with receptacle for the washer and a 30 amp, 220 VAC dryer outlet connected directly to your breaker box equipped with the matching double pole 30amp breaker. Last is the dryer vent to the outdoors. BTW, years ago my wife made me take the washer/dryer out of the basement and install them in a utility closet on the second floor closer to the bedrooms. No more lugging laundry up and down stairs.

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    +1 for the wife wanting the washer/dryer closer to the clothes. Same thing happened to us... make sure you consider this before moving them to the basement.
    – Jeff Widmer
    Dec 28, 2010 at 1:13
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You need water and power going in and drainage/air vent going out.

If the washer is just cold fill, or can be used as just cold fill, then you just need cold water. If not you'll need to run a (properly insulated) hot pipe down there too. If the washer has a hot water inlet you'll need to connect that to the cold fill too - you can get a Y connector to split the cold feed into two.

The drainage might be a problem. You'll need to check that the drains are lower than the basement floor. Otherwise your waste water won't have anywhere to go.

The exhaust vent for the dryer shouldn't be a problem as you can run the pipe upwards if necessary to an outside wall. You might have to buy a new/extension for it though.

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    If you decide to go cold only, I would suggest splitting the cold feed and attaching it to both the hot and the cold inlets. This will prevent damaging the washer if hot is accidentally selected.
    – Chris Cudmore
    Aug 20, 2012 at 15:03
  • @ChrisCudmore - Good point. I think I meant to add a note about making sure both water inlets were connected.
    – ChrisF ♦
    Aug 20, 2012 at 15:10
  • For drainage, the drains don't actually have to be lower than the basement floor -- most washers don't drain out of the bottom, they have a drainage pump and can be attached to a hose. In my house, the washer drains to a pipe whose opening is about a foot higher than the top of the washer.
    – Shimon Rura
    Aug 20, 2012 at 19:13

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