How To Clean A Sewer Vent Pipe

Do you have plumbing problems considering of a clogged vent? Observe out how to diagnose and set up plumbing vent problems here.

When your plumbing vent pipe is clogged, you put yourself and your loved ones at risk.

You'll probable know it'southward clogged if in that location'south a gurgling sink or foul odors within your house. Left unchecked, sewer gasses can seep into your dwelling house to cause sickness or even lead to explosions.

Read these tips to learn how to clean and articulate a plumbing vent.

What is a Plumbing Vent?

When h2o runs down your drains or toilets, information technology can fill the piping and create a vacuum. The plumbing vent lets air to a higher place your roof enter the pipage. The air pressure level then equalizes and keeps a vacuum from forming.

Water and waste product will again freely menses downwards into your sewer line or septic arrangement.

A plumbing vent or "stack" as the pros telephone call it, runs from your plumbing through your attic to the top of your roof.

It'southward best to have your plumbing vent atop your roof to permit baneful fumes go out your home above olfactory organ level.

P-traps & 'Cheaters'

In older homes, a vent may also be located under a kitchen or bathroom cabinet at a level above the p-trap.

Like the plumbing vent, a p-trap prevents odorous gas from seeping up through a toilet, sink or floor drain. It'due south the U-shaped piece of pipe below your sinks and behind the toilets.

While relying solely on a p-trap isn't platonic, it does commonly keep a vacuum from forming.

If you don't see a plumbing vent poke upwards through your roof covering, an interior vent or "cheater" vent may have been installed. A "cheater" is a one-mode vent installed after the trap on the drain line of a toilet or sink. Edifice codes often foreclose its use because of ineffectiveness.

Is Your Vent Clogged?

In that location are several means to tell if your plumbing vent is clogged. Even if in that location'southward not a complete blockage, if you notice whatsoever of the following, inspect your plumbing vent pipe or contact a professional person to assess the situation.

When you affluent your toilet, practise y'all hear sounds from your bathtub or sinks?
Do you observe a rotten egg smell in your bath or kitchen?
Do your kitchen or bathroom sinks gurgle when they bleed?

How to Make clean and Clear Your Vent

Climb onto your roof. If it's as well steep or slippery due to weather, telephone call a professional.
Accept an assistant flush a toilet while you hold your hand over the vent. If y'all don't feel suction, the line is blocked further down.
Apply a plumber's serpent of electricians fish record to unclog the stoppage.
If you can't entirely remove the clog with your "snake," apply a garden hose to flush out remaining debris.
Accept your assistant flush the toilet over again while you hold your mitt over the vent to feel for suction.

If you even so have issues, contact a professional.

Clear Vent from Inside

If climbing onto your roof is "below your pay grade," you lot tin also clear a vent from inside your attic. You need plenty room to access your vent pipe, which must exist PVC, not bandage fe.

PVC is the white plastic piping commonly used for plumbing and drainage. PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride, and it's a common replacement for metal piping.

Locate the department of your vent above your bathroom or kitchen. Cutting away a large plenty piece of the PVC pipe to run a plumbing snake downward. A hacksaw makes quick work of the piping.

Run the snake downward until you find the clog. If the blockage is wet leaves or an fauna, it'south possible the clog is to a higher place you. If so, just run the snake upward.

To repair the vent's PVC pipe, you can use rubber or PVC couplings with cement to span the part you removed. The vent is oftentimes loosely attached to the roof with a flexible rubber gasket so information technology can be shifted up or downwardly to make this re-fit easier.

Continue Your Vent Clear

If your plumbing vent pipe gets chock-full regularly, there may be other factors involved.

Clear Debris

If tree branches hang over your roof, trim them dorsum. When wet leaves and other debris become stuck within your vent pipage, it doesn't take long before there'south nowhere for the air to go.

Keep Out Vermin

Birds, rats, chipmunks and squirrels may enter your plumbing vents. Whether they get stuck, build a nest or leave unwanted past-products, information technology'southward very possible they'll cake your vent.

Improper Vent Cap

It may seem similar a good thought to cap your vents to go on animals and leaves out. But the wrong vent cap can actually create the problem you want to avoid. In cold weather climates, a vent cap can create an water ice barrier atop your vent.

Vent Pipe Too Modest

If regular maintenance like pest control and tree-trimming withal aren't enough to continue your lines clear, your vent pipe may not exist big enough for all of the drains running to it. Y'all may need a wider stack.

In some areas, plumbing codes call for a 4-inch-broad pipe to handle a kitchen and multiple bathrooms. If all of your plumbing runs through a unmarried 2-inch stack, information technology may non be enough to vent all your fixtures properly.

Upgrading your stack requires a professional to assure the upgrade meets local code.

Don't Put Yourself at Take a chance

Don't permit a clogged plumbing vent put your family unit at risk. Peculiarly when the solution is so uncomplicated.

Only follow the steps above to clean and articulate a plumbing vent and your troubles should disappear directly down the drain.

Don't put yourself at risk if there's a more significant problem or if scrambling beyond your roof seems dangerous. Call the qualified professionals at Eyman at (402) 731-2727 to handle your plumbing bug.