We must have a partial clog in our plumbing, but we cannot determine where. We’ve been living in our house for 24 years; the house itself is about 100 years old. Even before we started experiencing our current problem w/ our first-floor sinks a little over a year ago, our powder-room sink would gurgle a little if a big pot of water was dumped down the kitchen sink. The two sinks are approx 12 feet apart, but the pipes join together in the basement before draining into the main stack. A different plumber had once said that the powder-room fixtures aren’t vented properly (we’ve discovered over the years that a number of things in this house weren’t done right. Also, it is very likely this powder room was installed sometime after the initial construction), and maybe the kitchen sink also isn’t vented properly. In the last 14 months, it doesn’t take much water to cause the gurgling, and the noise can be prolonged. In addition, if we run the water in the powder-room sink for “a little bit too long,” it gurgles in that sink; and if we run the water a lot in that sink, the kitchen sink gurgles.
A little over a year ago, in order to diagnose the problem, two times a plumber halfway filled the kitchen sink, totally filled the powder-room sink, and let them drain out. He first thought our problem was due to a clog in the kitchen drain line, but the second time he did this, he felt a clog was in the vent stack. He suggested putting an AAV on the kitchen sink. Over the next couple of days, my husband tried to reach the head plumber to discuss it more, but in the interim the problem seemed to have resolved. Somehow quickly draining gallons of water down the sink stopped the gurgling, so he stopped trying to call this plumber. Unfortunately, this “fix” wasn’t permanent. After 6 weeks or so, the gurgling started up again, and over the next number of months, the gurgling was happening more frequently and was of longer duration. Last August, my husband and I mimicked what the plumber did, and again it gave us a respite from the problem, but it was more short lived than the first time and before we did it a third time a couple of weeks ago, the powder-room sink could gurgle for 25 seconds when using a small amount of water in the kitchen sink.
Before we did the dumping of water this third time, we ran cold water into both sinks for 15 minutes straight -- a couple of times, the powder-room sink would start filling with water, but both times it quickly emptied. Each time we halfway-filled the kitchen sink, it drained in about 30 seconds and had good sucking action at the end.
My husband seems to think that the first-floor fixtures are not vented at all above the first floor, that they only connect to the vent stack in the basement. He thinks that the 4 foot cast iron pipe in the basement (outlined in green), which is the drain line for the second-floor fixtures, acts as venting for the first-floor fixtures. Can this possibly be true? (By the way, the upstairs fixtures seem to be operating normally.) I’m wondering if there is a vent pipe between the kitchen sink and the 2nd floor, and it is somehow partially clogged, but my husband doubts this. (If it were partially clogged, would the kitchen sink have drained so well?)
If such a vent pipe was there and was partially clogged, could all the issues we have been having (the gurgling, the imperfect draining in the powder-room sink when the kitchen sink was being run simultaneously) be attributed to that? How about if the powder-room drain line is partially clogged -- is that a reasonable deduction from what is going on? How can the dumping of water help things for a while?
Our plumber will only come if we want snaking done, but we don’t know where the problem is, and we are concerned that snaking the powder-room drain pipe will push the clog to the piece of pvc that joins the two drain pipes or the small copper piece that leads to the 4 inch pipe or damage that piece.
We would very much appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
A little over a year ago, in order to diagnose the problem, two times a plumber halfway filled the kitchen sink, totally filled the powder-room sink, and let them drain out. He first thought our problem was due to a clog in the kitchen drain line, but the second time he did this, he felt a clog was in the vent stack. He suggested putting an AAV on the kitchen sink. Over the next couple of days, my husband tried to reach the head plumber to discuss it more, but in the interim the problem seemed to have resolved. Somehow quickly draining gallons of water down the sink stopped the gurgling, so he stopped trying to call this plumber. Unfortunately, this “fix” wasn’t permanent. After 6 weeks or so, the gurgling started up again, and over the next number of months, the gurgling was happening more frequently and was of longer duration. Last August, my husband and I mimicked what the plumber did, and again it gave us a respite from the problem, but it was more short lived than the first time and before we did it a third time a couple of weeks ago, the powder-room sink could gurgle for 25 seconds when using a small amount of water in the kitchen sink.
Before we did the dumping of water this third time, we ran cold water into both sinks for 15 minutes straight -- a couple of times, the powder-room sink would start filling with water, but both times it quickly emptied. Each time we halfway-filled the kitchen sink, it drained in about 30 seconds and had good sucking action at the end.
My husband seems to think that the first-floor fixtures are not vented at all above the first floor, that they only connect to the vent stack in the basement. He thinks that the 4 foot cast iron pipe in the basement (outlined in green), which is the drain line for the second-floor fixtures, acts as venting for the first-floor fixtures. Can this possibly be true? (By the way, the upstairs fixtures seem to be operating normally.) I’m wondering if there is a vent pipe between the kitchen sink and the 2nd floor, and it is somehow partially clogged, but my husband doubts this. (If it were partially clogged, would the kitchen sink have drained so well?)
If such a vent pipe was there and was partially clogged, could all the issues we have been having (the gurgling, the imperfect draining in the powder-room sink when the kitchen sink was being run simultaneously) be attributed to that? How about if the powder-room drain line is partially clogged -- is that a reasonable deduction from what is going on? How can the dumping of water help things for a while?
Our plumber will only come if we want snaking done, but we don’t know where the problem is, and we are concerned that snaking the powder-room drain pipe will push the clog to the piece of pvc that joins the two drain pipes or the small copper piece that leads to the 4 inch pipe or damage that piece.
We would very much appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
