What sucked my traps dry?

[DerbyDad03]

main house trap vent?

Never heard of that. I'd be surprised if I even had one.

What should I be looking for?

[bob haller]

Every home around here has a trap just outside the permiter of the foundtion....

its 4 inches around here and has a vent too,

they frequently get lost over the years. around here the sewer company requires its located and functionally any time a home is sold. along with a dye test to confirm there are no illegal connections like downspout to sanitary sewer.......

ask a neighbor who has lived near you a long time, thats how i found mine.... they also knew where the doorbell wires were buried too. a previous occupant had removed the actual doorbell..... and buried the wires in drywall mud 5 minutes looking at their doorbell explained it all.

the neighbors who lived nearby forever can be very informative

[DerbyDad03]

I'll address your points in reverse order:

I'm one of the longest tenured residents in my immediate area. The little old ladies that have been here longer probably won't be much help. In addition, every house in my neighborhood is of a different style and different age, with my 56 YO house being one of the newer ones. I doubt that any other house is laid out, plumbing wise, the same as mine.

But that's all moot anyway, since I don't have any trap outside the house perimeter. I've snaked my own line enough times and have had it scoped, so I know that there is no trap after the drain leaves the house.

There is a cleanout on the other side of the basement where the main stack comes down through the house, but that's just a cleanout on the cast iron pipe just before it goes under the slab. I'm sure that I don't have a "main house trap vent" or even a "main house trap".

[Steve Barker]

a good wind storm can get the water "bounced" out of a toilet. from blowing across the roof stack. have wind that day?

[DerbyDad03]

That was addressed earlier in the thread.

There was barely a breeze the day it happened and over the years we've had days with major wind events that did not impact the traps.

As I mentioned earlier, I looked at the man hole cover the other night and the seam around it was extremely clean, leading me to believe that the man hole had been opened and sewer work had been done.

Unless it happens again, I'm assuming that that was the cause and not worrying about it.

Thanks!

[TimR]

I'm wondering if there's another way to reduce pressure in the main sewer r= elative to your drain lines.

What if they flushed the line with a large volume of water? The sewers I'v= e had open have usually had a small amount of the line actually full of wat= er, just a small flow at the bottom, and your line dumps in well above that= . But if they were flushing with lots of water, the moving water might ris= e above your inlet, and pull your water out with it.

Not sure this happens but seems like it might be possible. =20

[David75]

replying to Evan, David75 wrote: I checked on a house yesterday. It had a sewer gas smell in basement. I don’t think the basement fixtures are vented properly?walls are up ?how can I tell if shower or vanity is vented properly?or what would cause traps to be sucked dry?other than a venting issue?

[dpb]

If unoccupied, evaporation.

[trader_4]

Or never filled. He said "walls are up", which may imply it's new construction? Or the traps could be fine and there could be a vent line that was never connected.

[Anonymous]

Right. Some years ago I had a 2 houses with a floor drains in an unfinished basement. Every so often would need to pour water into them due to evaporation