My washer drains into the laundry sink and I have one of the fine wire mesh filters over it. The filter fits on the end of the drain hose like a sock. You can find them at hardware stores, and Walgreen's. You could probably use that and stick the whole thing down into the pipe. You would need to check it regularly because when the mesh gets full of lint water will overflow out around it.

Thanks jerrod6. I didn't know something like that was available. I asked at Home Depot and they had no idea. That's why I came here. We have a Walgreens down the road, so I'll take a look.

and tie the drain hose to the standpipe. You wouldn't want it to pop out on it's own one day...

I've seen mixed reviews from plumbers on the effectiveness of the mesh filters. I figure they can't hurt and are quite cheap. Also my drain itself (in the laundry tub) catches quite a bit too so I pick big wads out of there quite often.

My washer drains into the laundry sink and I use a mesh filter. It lasts about 3 weeks and then it is full. Wash a few loads of towels,flannels or thick cotton and it won't last that long. This tells me there is a lot of lint in the water, and I don't want it in my drain.

Uh-oh. Rugs? Bathroom rugs? We've got plenty of those. Flannel sheets and thick, fluffy towels too.

melbeach, I have the same system as you and have not had a single problem....now I wonder.

My Mom always had a 'knee high' attached to her washer in the utility sink. Once it got a run in it, it was cast to the washroom to become the next lint catcher.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I finally got around to buying one of the mesh filters that jerrod6 mentioned. They had them at Walgreens. It was easy to miss, as the package is small. They came rolled up - two to a pack, along with two lock ties.

I took a couple pictures. The first is pre-use. Since my tube doesn't have any kind of a lip, I was sure that this thing would come flying off the second water started rushing thru. So I used both of the ties that came with it. The second pic shows the water rushing thru. I was surprised it stayed put and was pretty solid.

Just to be safe, I started with a load of regular clothes. There was no lint captured to speak of. Just a few specs. So I washed the rugs next. The third pic shows what it captured. Not bad! That was a full load of rugs in an extra large washer. The rugs were washed one month prior. I have two cats. I shook the rugs out before throwing them in.

Disclaimer: Even though the ties held put, I'm still not 100% comfortable with this. If this did slip off, it would all end up loose in my drain system. I'm not sure how far it would get and if it would cause permanent clogs. I'm keeping a close eye on it! A lip on the end of the pipe would really be nice. I'm going to look into that - or some other way of making this thing more secure.

I'll probably empty this every couple of months. I see no reason why I can't just reuse it. I'll have to buy a pack of the lock ties. I'll probably put a million on there at once to be safe.

Did Roto-Rooter fix a clog caused by lint, or did he just give you some helpful advice? If the latter, the last picture confirms my feeling that the filter is unnecessary, and isn't worth the risk of it falling into the standpipe.

I'm not sure what the clog was. He said it was real far down, like 70 feet if I remember. While he was working the clog, I remembered the rugs and brought it up. At that point, he said that's probably what the clog was and that rug lint is probably the largest contributor to clogs that he sees.

I should add something else to the story. The previous owners ran an animal shelter at the house. They never spent a dime on upkeep. It was scary! There was hair everywhere. It's clear that they washed a lot of rugs and hairy animal stuff in the oversized washer. On the outside of the house, opposite the washer, there is an overflow pipe coming out of the wall. Before my clog, the washer water would drain out this pipe. I thought it was strange, but it didn't surprise me. Once I had the clog fixed, the water stopped draining out this pipe. So then a light bulb went off in my head. Instead of paying Roto Rooter $100 to come clear the drain, they banged a hole in the wall and rerouted the water through a new pipe. And then never got it fixed. Nice!

With all that being said, I think I'm walking a fine line. I get your point though about the standpipe. Digging that up would be a much bigger expense than another $100 on Roto Rooter. So maybe I just need to think of something different - like a giant funnel with a screen. The lint in the picture is enough to fill that filter up after about eight loads. When that stuff is going down the drainpipes, wouldn't it eventually get stuck somewhere along the way before 70 feet?

Thanks!
-Melbeach

Oops, I forgot to mention that the house is very old and has metal pipes.

70 feet down sounds like it's outside the house, in the main sewer pipe that carries all the wastes from the house. Some of that stuff (e.g. what's flushed down the toilets) is far more challenging than a little lint dispersed in gallons of water. Properly installed plumbing, in good shape, should carry everything away, and not let it get stuck in the pipes. And if the plumbing isn't in good shape, filtering out a bit of lint isn't going to solve the problem.

Bottom line, I'm really skeptical about what he told you. Ask in the Plumbing Forum and see what they think.

Yeah, I didn't even think about the bathroom waste. You're right, that little bit of lint is nothing compared. Thanks!

We never bothered with the mesh filters. We've always used the ends of nylon stockings. Water can get through but nothing else.

My drains into a pipe I tried putting a limp catch her on it but it just keeps overflowing and squirting out the top of the pipe help please

Your drain is clogged.

I had my drain cleaned out by a plumber $760 worth of plumber And I put a wire mesh on the end of the pipe that goes into the drain pipe from the washing machine and it seems like every other load I have to clean that out it gets loaded down with Lynn and other debris

Ahh, so. Seems the accessory mesh lint-catcher isn't workable for you. They're intended for situations in which the washer drains into a sink or laundry tub, not into a standpipe, and it'd be a rather large problem if it slipped off the drain hose into the standpipe.