How to Disconnect a Laundry Tub

  • 1-2 hours
  • Beginner
  • 15-50
What You'll Need
Wrench
Bucket
Pipe Cap
What You'll Need
Wrench
Bucket
Pipe Cap

The use of laundry tub is becoming less and less common. The cost of removing the tub is not substantial. You can easily disconnect a laundry tub yourself without getting into the troubles of calling professionals.

Step 1: Turn Off the Water Supply

To avoid a mess, you must turn off the water supply to the taps of the tub. You might do so by switching off the supply to those pipes alone or if you’re unable to do so, then closing the main water supply. Usually taps are located underneath the sink and enclosed by a cupboard. Make sure you are turning them in the right direction to close them rather than completely opening them up.

Step 2: Remove Pipe Connections

You can now use a wrench to loosen the bolts on pipe connections from the tap to the pipe outlet. Despite closing the water supply, some water still stay in the pipes. Therefore, you should let it run out into a bucket placed below the loosened fittings. This will allow you to avoid a major clean up later.

Step 3: Disconnect the Washing Machine

Make sure that the electricity supply to the machine is switched off before you attempt to disconnect it from the tub. Then use a wrench or pliers to loosen the hose connections from the machine. While doing so, you should be vigilant not to damage the hose and should follow similar routine of draining the standing water in the pipes into an empty bucket placed below. Now that the pipe and hose connections have been removed, you should also disconnect the p-traps. This will finally allow you to be able to remove the tub from its fitting.

Step 4: Disconnect the Drain

Laundry tubs usually have dual connections: there is one that serves as an inlet from the water supply and one that serves as an outlet to the drain. After removing the inlet connections, you should now disconnect the pipes leading to the sewer located at the bottom of the tub. Due to rusting over a period of time, you should choose a wrench suiting the size of the pipe to loosen the connections.

Step 4: Remove the Tub

With all the connections dismantled, you are now prepared to remove the tub from its fitting. Use a screwdriver to loosen the screws fixing the tub in its place. Now you can pull the tub out of its fitting. You should be cautioned that tubs made of ceramics can be quite heavy and you may need a helping hand to carry them.

Step 5: Cap all Openings

Once you have removed the tub, you should ensure that all the pipe openings are capped. Also, pipes from the water supply can start dripping once the water supply is opened from the main. Therefore, use pipe caps to seal all openings and ensure that they are firmly in place to sustain the test of time.