While in my attic looking for a place to run new electrical wires I noticed the air vent coming through the roof down to the upstairs bathroom
was broken. To my knowledge this was the only air vent in this system. I looked around to see if the air vent broke off in some adjoining wall but found no trace of that.
This system ( toilet,tub and wash basin) seems to have been in place for many years and it functions just fine , I have never noticed any kind of slow draining or sewer smells. It is almost a straight run from the upstairs toilet to the waste stack in the basement. When I discussed this with a friend he said it must be venting somewhere! However I see no evidence of this. I cannot actually see much of the plumbing in this bathroom because , to create it , they built a wood step up with all the pipes below this wood structure.
So my question is can a drain/waste system function without an outside vent? I know in theory it needs a vent, but are there cases where it could work without one?
Now last year , when creating a new downstairs bathroom, I added an outside vent thinking it was just an adjunct to the old one. However the system above has functioned just fine for at least 15 years before I bought this house.
was broken. To my knowledge this was the only air vent in this system. I looked around to see if the air vent broke off in some adjoining wall but found no trace of that.
This system ( toilet,tub and wash basin) seems to have been in place for many years and it functions just fine , I have never noticed any kind of slow draining or sewer smells. It is almost a straight run from the upstairs toilet to the waste stack in the basement. When I discussed this with a friend he said it must be venting somewhere! However I see no evidence of this. I cannot actually see much of the plumbing in this bathroom because , to create it , they built a wood step up with all the pipes below this wood structure.
So my question is can a drain/waste system function without an outside vent? I know in theory it needs a vent, but are there cases where it could work without one?
Now last year , when creating a new downstairs bathroom, I added an outside vent thinking it was just an adjunct to the old one. However the system above has functioned just fine for at least 15 years before I bought this house.