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Is it better to have a washing machine drain into a laundry tub vs directly into a drain pipe in the wall? I've always used a laundry tub with a lint sock & catch lots of lint, replacing the sock frequently. If it goes directly to wall drain, wouldn't it get clogged with lint? How would you clean it out in the wall? Asking for someone moving into a new home with hook up directly in wall, instead of a laundry tub.

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Lint in drainwater should not clog pipes - it will just be carried along with the water.

Whether it's bad for something further down the line (such as your septic field) will vary depending on things like whether there even is a septic field at the house in question, whether the tank has a filter before the drain field, etc. Generally not an issue if going into a public sewer.

A laundry sink has uses, but is now uncommon as it also takes up extra space. In houses with limited drain capacity, the holding function of a laundry sink can take the high-speed washer output and let it into the drains more slowly without overflows. That's rarely a problem in "modern" house plumbing that's designed to a code which expects washer drains to accommodate typical washer output flows, but can be a big factor in keeping a laundry sink in an older house with less robust plumbing.

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    I agree. The reason you put a lint strainer in a laundry sink was because you had a drain with cross bars, which would catch strings, hair and lint and eventually clog up. In going direct to a drain line, you don't have that same potential to form clogs. The argument FOR going into a laundry tub though is if you might someday want to capture "grey water" for recycling during some future drought.
    – JRaef
    Apr 12, 2019 at 0:31
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If you have room for a tub, then it is easier to drain the washing machine into it. The air gap means that the machine will drain freely.

Otherwise you need to be more careful how you connect it to the pipe itself, such as angles, levels and vents.

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  • Any drain plumbing that's remotely functional will have the proper slope to allow the plumbing to drain properly. If not, it's immediately obvious as the water will back up and flow the wrong way. Even unvented plumbing will accommodate a washer draining - my house was unvented for the first 10 years or so that I lived in it...
    – FreeMan
    Nov 7, 2023 at 12:30

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