Bathroom Venting Question

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smith1158

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I've been having problems with sewer gases in bathroom and I think putting a vent would work. Can you guys please help? I've been trying to upload a picture, but its too big. I'll try again later if you guys can't help w/o one. I have everything going into the house from this one stack where there is a vent. Then there is the 2 sinks from that one pipe coming into the house. the drain for the toilet and shower continue outside of the house until they come in. I'm getting sewer gases in the bathroom and I think putting a vent outside the bathroom will solve it. There is definitely a Ptrap on the every fixture. My question is will adding a vent at the place in the pic below fix the problem?

vent question.gif
 
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Jimbo

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The only function of a vent is to prevent the trap on a fixture from being siphoned dry. The dry trap is how sewer gas would get into the house. If the toilet bowl has water in it, then it is not dry. For a sink or shower, you can look straight down and see water...that is water IN the trap. A tub you can't see....you can test with your nose, then pour a quart of water in slowly and see if the smell goes away.
 

hj

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YOU don't know what the problem is so you are guessing, and we are not there to see what the problem is so we cannot help you. It is NOT likely to be a vent issue, unless the plumbing was done by a DIYer, homeowner, or handyman.
 

Cacher_Chick

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It's awfully hard to give any advice on your problem without knowing how your existing drains are plumbed. If the house was built properly, each one of the fixtures is vented.
We need to see how the existing drains and vents are installed.
 
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smith1158

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Well, We just finished our garage into an efficiency. The rough in was installed by a guy I thought was a plumber when I hired him, but turns out he's more of a GC and ended up running the drains himself, so that's why I'm questioning if the vents were properly installed. I don't always get sewer gases, only some of the time that's why I thought maybe something was causing the water from the P-trap to get siphoned out and let the gases in, you're right i was guessing it was lack of a vent on the bathroom since there is only the one vent where all of the drain pipes meet and it's so far away from the toilet and shower drains. If you don't think it's a vent issue then I guess it's just back to the drawing board and research what other causes it could be. thanks guys for your time and help. :D
 

smith1158

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is it possible it's the ring around the toilet? I installed the toilet myself and didn't rock it down when I installed it. If not, then I might just have to live with the smell every once in a while.
 

Cacher_Chick

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It could be the wax ring.
Like Jim stated, you can look in the traps of the other fixtures to see if they are full of water when the smell occurs.

I've also seen hack jobs where the vents were terminated in the wall or attic instead of being ran through the roof. If you did not have a plumbing permit & inspection done at the time of construction, the probability of an improper installation goes up greatly.
 
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plumber66

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is it possible it's the ring around the toilet? I installed the toilet myself and didn't rock it down when I installed it. If not, then I might just have to live with the smell every once in a while.

if your wax ring is bad it can cause sewar gas smell check to see if you have water comming from around the base of the w.c. as it attatches to the floor sometimes you can just place toilet paper on the floor around the toilet base and see if the paper soaks anything up. If this is not the problem try eliminating each fixture by visual inspection if ok then blue tape the drain shut and move to the next drain. this will prove each fixture. don't overlook a dead rodent as the problem.
 
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