My husband and I are in the process of purchasing an 8 year old house and had the inspection a few days ago. The inspector filled the spa tub and when it drained there was a gurgling noise coming from the shower drain about 8 feet away (no water backfilled into the shower, just a gurgling noise). The inspector advised us to have a licensed plumber look at the situation. Upon questioning the sellers they told us the following: They heard a gurgling sound at the time they purchased the house. They asked the builders about the noise. The builders told them it was just the angle of the pipes and could not be changed. My husband and I do not know much about plumbing and don't feel that this is a major issue. We don't plan to use the tub a lot and can live with a gurgling noise. Please let me know if this is something I should be concerned with. Thanks for your advise!
Gurgling noise when tub drains
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Jadnashua
Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
It sounds like there is a venting problem. If the pipe to vent it exists, it is plugged. The danger is that it can suck the standing water out of the trap, which exposes the room to a direct connection to sewer gases. Don't know enough, it could be something else.
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Geniescience
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it can be serious. Sewer gases are serious matter.
david
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gurgle
Must be a "rocket scientist" inspector. The shower drain was dry because it had not been used for a while and you were hearing the tub water draining. I have it happen many times. Sometimes I will go into a customer's house and flush the toilet and hear the sound in an unused shower or tub. Then I run some water in that fixture and tell the homeowner to be sure to put water into the drain periodically.
Must be a "rocket scientist" inspector. The shower drain was dry because it had not been used for a while and you were hearing the tub water draining. I have it happen many times. Sometimes I will go into a customer's house and flush the toilet and hear the sound in an unused shower or tub. Then I run some water in that fixture and tell the homeowner to be sure to put water into the drain periodically.
Geniescience
Homeowner
diagnosis only good when true, which may be 99.9% of all cases sight unseen.
Reading more carefully the original post, we see that the sellors have revealed a "pipe angle" problem, which they themselves were told by the builder "could not be changed" -- in other words, was extra work that the builder didn't want to do.
This is a big deal. It could be far worse than water having evaporated from an unused drain. Your vendor has now revealed it to you. The vendor has said the angle of the pipes. I hope experienced plumbers can help you understand the implications.
If the pipes are not slanted at a gentle constant slope to enable drain water to move out smoothly after a P trap, you may have a situation where your pipes are angled so that they suck the P trap out. Not good. The pipes are then a second P trap sucking the seal out of the first one. This is worth looking into. I saw another post here about a similar problem last year. Pipes not being run (sloped) the right way means that the pipes themselves act as a second very large P trap which then sucks the first one dry, and in so doing, a gurgling noise is the "symptom", the clue, the key to the problem.
If a new vent were added in one key place the gurgling might stop but the slope of the drain would not be corrected, so that is not a solution.
Nothing I have written above should be taken as a definitive answer. I have read "slope" and "cannot fix" and "gurgling" and I have offered my analysis.
david
Reading more carefully the original post, we see that the sellors have revealed a "pipe angle" problem, which they themselves were told by the builder "could not be changed" -- in other words, was extra work that the builder didn't want to do.
This is a big deal. It could be far worse than water having evaporated from an unused drain. Your vendor has now revealed it to you. The vendor has said the angle of the pipes. I hope experienced plumbers can help you understand the implications.
If the pipes are not slanted at a gentle constant slope to enable drain water to move out smoothly after a P trap, you may have a situation where your pipes are angled so that they suck the P trap out. Not good. The pipes are then a second P trap sucking the seal out of the first one. This is worth looking into. I saw another post here about a similar problem last year. Pipes not being run (sloped) the right way means that the pipes themselves act as a second very large P trap which then sucks the first one dry, and in so doing, a gurgling noise is the "symptom", the clue, the key to the problem.
If a new vent were added in one key place the gurgling might stop but the slope of the drain would not be corrected, so that is not a solution.
Nothing I have written above should be taken as a definitive answer. I have read "slope" and "cannot fix" and "gurgling" and I have offered my analysis.
david
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