"extra" holes in sink?

I have a fairly new Kohler pedestal sink and it has two holes on the bottom under the bowl where water is leaking. Why are they there and why is water coming out of them? Thanks for your help.

holes

what two holes?

plumber1 said:

what two holes?

Click to expand...

There are two holes, one on each underside of the sink basin, near the back. Water is coming out of the one on the right side.

Looked at my pedestal sink... it's got what appears to be some sort of "knockouts" on either side of the faucet water supply holes.... looks like they would leak from the overflow if the water got that high - and if they were knocked out.... Don't know what they're for..... but wonder if yours got knocked out by mistake....

leaks

The holes could be for any number of purposes, probably none that you would use them for. If they leak the sink is defective.

leaking at bottom of pedestal sink

I had this same problem. The extra holes are air-vents for the overflow cavity, and/or manufacturing venting. In this cavity there is a pedestal with a hole at the top, which will allow water to overflow into the base of the sink, where these extra holes exist. What it means is that your sink is not draining quickly enough, and if the water level build-up, to be above the secondary overflow, it will drain out of the bottom holes, onto the floor. Only solution is to clean-out your p-trap, and your plunger. This problem is commonly caused by hair in the plunger, or a semi-plugged p-trap.

I call BS. hj is correct - sink is defective if water flows out on to floor. I have installed hundreds of Kohler and hundreds more of other brands of pedestal sinks and know nonsense when I read it. Whoever told esdguru08 this BS was either lying or does not have the slightest idea what they are talking about.

quote; Whoever told esdguru08 this BS was either lying or does not have the slightest idea what they are talking about.

Oh, they knew what they were talking about, it just sounds like they successfully "dazzled him with their brilliance" so they did not have to resort to "baffling him with their B.S.". As long as he did not make them replace the sink, they were successful, and everyone else made a profit on the sale of the sink, instead of having to scrap it.

I have one hole at the bottom of the bowl of my pedestal sink also, and when I went to clear it the other day, after a few plunges I had water sloshing onto my floor too, which led me to this forum. Since the posts here don't seem to address the problem completely, I thought I'd ask again: what in the world is this hole for? The water that drained from it looked clean, like it was coming from my overflow opening and not from the drain I was plunging, but either way, it doesn't make any sense that there should be a hole there letting anything drain onto the floor. I'd kinda like to plug it up, maybe with a piece of cork, but I wanted to check with you experts first. Thanks.

Porcelain needs to go into a kiln to fire it, it is, afterall, made of clay (a special kind, but still clay). That super high heat will cause any air to expand, enough to shatter things if there were no vents.

What happens when you plunge it, all bets are off. If it were to leak during normal operations, then I'd get worried.

ldmrs said:

I have a fairly new Kohler pedestal sink and it has two holes on the bottom under the bowl where water is leaking. Why are they there and why is water coming out of them? Thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

What was the solution to this problem in the end? Mine is doing the same thing. I was assuming that the sink must have been cracked until I looked and saw the overflow was coming right out of the large holes in the back at the bottom of the sink and pouring out on my floor.

There must be a clog in your drain for the water to build up enough to come out that hole. I just found 2 similar holes at the back of my vessel sink yesterday when I plunged the sink, and the water all came out those holes onto the floor. What I know so far is that the overflow hole leads to a cavity between the top and bottom of the sink, where water feeds into openings in the drain pipe, and then goes down the drain. In my case, the holes at the back of my sink connect to that cavity. So when I plunged, the water went out the holes in the drain stem, into the cavity, and out the holes in the back of the sink. I took the sink out, and there is no significant clog in the overflow or through the p-trap, so today I will check for a clog beyond the wall. The sink has been draining slowly, which is why I plunged. Also, in taking the sink apart, I found black gunk on the stopper and pipes. This is bacteria that gathers on soap scum, etc, probably another symptom of a clog, and should be cleaned. Be careful if you plunge, because the water might all come out that hole.