Need help : Washing machine drain spewing suds

[tercel89]

We have had a new washing machine for a little over 1 year. Speed Queen brand . No problems at all. Now all of a sudden when the machine drains out the water , there is suds coming out of the area where the drain pipe goes into the house drain pipe. We are using barely any detergent at all. Only 1 and half table spoon. Still getting suds spewing out the back. I got a plumber that I trust and he used a camera with a cable and ran it into the drain pipes from all areas of the house and nothing is cracked or clogged. I opened the "clean-out" valve that I call it and watch the drain water come out from the house drain and flow perfectly fine. So the suds thing has us all confused. I cant seem to figure out why it suds up so much. We have tried other detergents too. Same thing. Any helpful information is appreciated. I'll put a picture of the area I'm talking about below.  

 

Edited December 5 by tercel89

[gregintenn]

Never ran into that. You don't suppose somebody put some Mr. Bubble in your laundry detergent do you? Laundry detergent usually doesn't foam up all that much. 

[FUJIMO]

My goto would be ventilation but since your plumber buddy scoped everything out that rules that out. How long ago did it start ? Assuming your on city water any changes with where they get their water or what they treat it with ? Ruling out where its going my next stop would be whats being used ( soap and water ) and since you swapped out soap only thing left is the water.

[RED333]

Just a WAG, there is some detergent that has built up in the drain line in the machine. So it gets wet and suds when the machine pumps out. Try running a empty loads with hot water and see if it starts to clear.

Edited December 5 by RED333
Beacuse I can

[tercel89]

I just did a load of clothes on the "Heavy Duty" cycle and there was no suds coming out the back ! My wife said that she has always used the "Eco Wash" setting which makes me think it uses less water and might build up soap. I think I'll run an empty load on hot water and a little bit of vinegar. Maybe it will cut any soap build up. 

[DHF]

Looks like a couple people with Speed Queens have had an issue like this.  This guys video may give you some info to try and diagnose/resolve. Seems that the machines pumping out a lot of air during the end of a spin cycle after most of the water is gone causes this issue.  He starts to explain this at about 3 minutes into the video.  Ties into what tercel89 just posted, as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vevgJseIL0

Reddit post with issue, as well.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Appliances/comments/18sws10/speed_queen_suds_coming_from_drain_pipehelp/

 

[deerslayer]

1 hour ago, tercel89 said:

I just did a load of clothes on the "Heavy Duty" cycle and there was no suds coming out the back ! My wife said that she has always used the "Eco Wash" setting which makes me think it uses less water and might build up soap. I think I'll run an empty load on hot water and a little bit of vinegar. Maybe it will cut any soap build up. 

Speed Queen?

We recently got a Speed Queen and had the same issue.  I researched it and decided to stop using the ECO setting.  Something about using less water on final rinse.  No more suds.  Now we use Permanent Press or Heavy Duty.  

Edited December 5 by deerslayer

[peejman]

I'm also suspicious of the vent. The water going down the drain is pushing air in the pipes, which is supposed to escape out the vent. When the vent is clogged, the air follows the path of least resistance, which is back up the pipe in your case. 

My in-laws washer wasn't vented correctly so it would gurgle in their adjacent kitchen sink every time it drained.  They never believed me that it was wrong  until they had their kitchen remodeled and the plumber said, yeah that's wrong, and fixed it. 

Get a big stock pot full of boiling water and pour it down that drain with a funnel. That'll help clean the pipes.

[tercel89]

3 minutes ago, deerslayer said:

Speed Queen?

We recently got a Speed Queen and had the same issue.  I researched it and decided to stop using the ECO setting.  Something about using less water on final rinse.  No more suds.  Now we use Permanent Press or Heavy Duty.  

Yes Speed Queen. 

[tercel89]

The vent is clear and so are all the drain pipes in the house. 

[deerslayer]

49 minutes ago, tercel89 said:

The vent is clear and so are all the drain pipes in the house. 

Ditch ECO mode and I bet your troubles go away.  

[tercel89]

Thanks to all for the help. I have ran out of dirty clothes to test it on. I did run an empty load with just water and vinegar in it. I hope this cleaned any old soap that may be stuck into crevices and such. Plus I think the Heavy Duty cycle worked well and no suds possible because it uses more water. Maybe because the "Eco" cycle has such a low water amount and it can't dilute the detergent as well. 

Edited December 6 by tercel89