OT: drains

This is slightly off topic but the people on Woodworking who post here are very knowledgeable, so I thought i would asked my question here

We live in a house that is 3 years old. The one sink in the upstairs bath room drains very slow some time. I have checked it out and there are not clogs.

It seems like it develops a bubble between the edge of the drain and the plunger. If I fiddle with the plunger the drain burps and everything works well.

Is there some way to prevent this bubble from forming?

Reply to
Keith Nuttle
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Keith Nuttle wrote in news:ji1eku$ovb$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

Sounds like the vent might be obstructed; head up onto the roof with a flashlight and have a look. If air can't get into the drain, water can't get out.

Reply to
Doug Miller

Not a plumber - but have done a lot of "handy man" type work. Agree with Miller. Sounds very much like vent problems. A vent allows air into the drain system - otherwise the water will drain very slowly. It can also effect the commode.

How often does it slow down? I would guess (if it is the vent) it will drain good for a few times straight and then act up for a while. Then repeat.

Of course - you say the house is 3 years old. Has it done this ever since it was built? If so it could be a fault in the plumbing design.

When your on the roof you may find it (don't know where you are) iced over. You also may not see anything at all. I personally would try a snake down it if I didn't see an obvious reason.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Joel

flashlight and have a look. If

Bingo! The very first thing to check.

Here's an excellent link for the how's and why's of venting, and how talk about it when sussing out the problem with a plumber, if needed.

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Reply to
Swingman

OP: I should have added this is on a double bathroom sink, so since one always works and the other gets the bubble, my guess is it is not a venting problem.

I slows down nearly every time you add water to the sink. Once the drain burps it works like a charm as long as you run water into the sink. As I said the other half of the double sink always works.

I have only owned the house about 7 months and it has done this since I moved in.

Reply to
Keith Nuttle

The sink has a standard plunger that when you raise the rod on the top of the sink allows the plunger to go down into the drain in the bottom of the sink to close it.

With out the plunger, the sink always takes all of the water I can put into it.

When the bubble forms, you can get it our by moving the plunger. The bubble seems to form between the plunger and the lip which it sits down into.

This in only one half of the double sink in the bathroom the other side works well.

Reply to
Keith Nuttle

How about, in the interest of not wasting other people's time ... and since there might be other vital bits of information being left to an afterthought ... how about taking a picture of the plumbing (clearly showing the connections of both sinks to the p-trap, and which is which), and post it somewhere it can be viewed.

Reply to
Swingman

Maybe:

Fill both sides and then release them together. If both don't work then? I would still think it is a vent.

If the bad side still won't drain but the good side does, may be the plunger. I dislike some of those. It is like they don't get out of the way enough and (as you say) a bubble seems to form that blocks the water. Try removing it. One some they pop out, on some you turn it and lift out, on some I don't know.

Could be a slow drain (not clogged but closed up enough to slow it down). How is it piped? Does each side have a trap or share a common trap? If they share it then of course a clog is less likely.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Joel

I have taken the trap off and checked the pipe. There appears to be nothing in the pipe. After reassembling, the drain flowed as it should without the plunger.

When you wiggle the plunger you can see the air bubbles come out.

Reply to
Keith Nuttle

Sounds like the "vent" is clogged.

Reply to
Leon

"Mike Marlow" wrote in news:d68c6$4f447422$4b75eb81$ snipped-for-privacy@ALLTEL.NET:

IMNSHO, it's the plunger. If it doesn't raise much, not enough water flows down to generate a siphon of sorts. Adjust the plunger to go up a little more and the sink will drain properly. I have the same problem with our single sink in this 80-odd year old house (probably a mid-50's redo of the bathroom). The darn plunger always slides off the lifting mechanism just a little and then it drains oh so slowly.

Reply to
Han

Until your last sentence, I was thinking that the vent might be obstructed...not enough air for the water to leave the basin easily. Might still be that, hard to know without seeing how the drain is set up.

Reply to
dadiOH

There is some venting through the overflow on bathroom sinks Check that the hole is not stopped up and that water will actually go down the overflow.

Reply to
Gerald Ross

Keith Nuttle wrote in news:ji1qcq$kjd$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

That's exactly why I'm completely sure that it IS a venting problem.

Reply to
Doug Miller

With more and more necessary information added with each new OP post, this now indeed appears to be the source of the problem.

Reply to
Swingman

Keith Nuttle wrote in news:ji1qcq$kjd$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

No idea how this is run... but have you put a level on the drain pipes and made sure everything under the sink is running down?

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

What's wrong with you, Swingy? Injecting logic into a rec.woodworking discussion on plumbing? What were you _thinking_?

P.S: Whenever I call a RotoRooter man, I ask first: Do you clean out all the vents and lines in the house for that $70 price? They usually do and I do have them get up on the roof to do 'em all. I have also put screens over the vents (twisted wire holding them on so it's easy to remove/reinstall) to keep insects and debris out. The redwood is the worst debris dropper.

(This is after I've tried my 25-footer to no avail.)

-- Every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. -- Albert Einstein

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Reminds of someone asking for internet help in getting their car started, foregoing to mention the fact there's no engine.

Until you know ALL the pertinent factors, there will be nothing but noise and irrelevant bullshit.

Hey ... that does sound kinda like rec.woodworking, now that you mention it. :)

Reply to
Swingman

In the six months we have owned this house, I had tried most of the things that had been suggest by the people who responded to my question about my burping drain. I want to thank everyone who responded.

However the winner is Michael Joel who suggested the sink overflow that is an integrated into the sink body was plugged. When I read his response I knew that was the only thing I had not thought of. I immediately went up stairs and ran water into the sink until it was above the overflow hole. Guess what IT WAS PLUGGED.

I took the thing apart again and ran a wire into the exit for the overflow and cleaned it out. The drain is now working perfectly.

Thank you Joel for the suggestion.

PS I checked the other sinks and to insure the overflows were working on them and found no other problems. It is better to find out now than when the overflow fails.

Reply to
Keith Nuttle

I want to apologize to Gerald Ross who actually made the suggestion about the sink overflow, I followed the wrong line to see who made the actual suggestion.

I also want to thank Gerald Ross for the tip that solved my problem

I also want to thank Joel and all of the others who helped me solve the mystery of the burping drain.

Reply to
Keith Nuttle

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