Plumbing Question

I’m getting some sewer smells in the bathroom and I’m trying to see if this is something I can fix. It’s fairly obvious the odor is coming from under our bathroom vanity, which is a double sink vanity. Looking online there are several resources to use to trouble shoot and I’m working through those suggestions. In order,

Making sure there is water in each P-trap
Clearing any clogs in drains

Of the drains in the bathroom, the shower is used daily and shows no signs of being clogged. The tub is seldom used and probably hasn’t seen water in over a year, each sink is used several times a day. So I ran water into the tub in case the P-trap was dry. I poured drain cleaner in each of the sink drains. I also pulled the cap off the holding tank and checked the level. All seemed fine out there.

One thing I noticed is the smell is coming from the side of the vanity with a vent pipe that leads to a small device “Mini-Vent” by Studor. I don’t find much in way of troubleshooting this device on internet. Do these things go bad? Do they need replacing. Our home is now 16 years old and all this equipment is original.

Any other suggestions or thoughts on the Mini-Vent as source of the issue?

TIA!!

Eric

Make sure your vent pipe didn’t freeze over during the cold snap.

Dutchboy wrote:

Make sure your vent pipe didn’t freeze over during the cold snap.

that’s what happens to mine and then when you flush it sucks water out of traps

Cougareye –
“Mini vents” or “air vents” can malfunction with a clogged drain or vent somewhere in the system. Maybe something froze up during the cold snap.

FYI – They are not legal in MN even though the IRC recognizes them.

Ive heard rubber gasket in those vents dry and go bad. Should of never been used in the first place. Cut open the wall and install a vent pipe from the sink to another vent or out the roof.

My soil pipe was froze over until yesterday. Every time the toilet was flushed the tub drain gurgled . Now that it has warmed up it’s all back to normal

I had the same thing were the smell seem to be coming from under the sink. It was really coming from the toilet. I replaced the bees wax and the smell went away. I think it just built up it enclosed spaces and the smell get stronger. Good on your hunt!!!

I would recommend NOT using the drain cleaner. Take the pipes apart and clean them, then reassemble. My wife has long hair – unreal how much of it finds its way into the drain.

2nd on the wax seal for the toilet too!

Scott

I will never use a wax ring again.

This is 100X better.

http://www.fluidmaster.com/products/toilet/toilet-seals/7530-better-than-wax-wax-free-seal/

Maybe 100x the cost of a wax ring but no way better. Only time on of thoses is in my plumbing truck is when its been removed from a customers home. My thought is if a wax ring is difficult to use you are in over your head. Call the plumber.

Mike W wrote:

Maybe 100x the cost of a wax ring but no way better. Only time on of thoses is in my plumbing truck is when its been removed from a customers home. My thought is if a wax ring is difficult to use you are in over your head. Call the plumber.

Funny, when I was a job Sup and PEX first came out every plumber I knew ripped on it.

Now those same plumbers you couldn’t take it away from them.

When a new and better product comes out, you really need to embrace it.

Remember,
Plumbers used to rip on PVC/ABS DWV lines also when they first came out.

plumbing is easy, all you have to know is sh-t runs down hill– payday is on Friday and don’t chew your fingernails

grizzly wrote:

plumbing is easy, all you have to know is sh-t runs down hill– payday is on Friday and don’t chew your fingernails

And your banker knows your name

Eelpoutguy wrote:

When a new and better product comes out, you really need to embrace it.

Remember,
Plumbers used to rip on PVC/ABS DWV lines also when they first came out.

Still do

I love PVC/ABS. Make good money fixing broken plastic pipes. Make good money replacing cast iron and steel to but those pipes are mostly very old and worn out.

Mike W wrote:

I love PVC/ABS. Make good money fixing broken plastic pipes. Make good money replacing cast iron and steel to but those pipes are mostly very old and worn out.

Much like old plumbers

Mike W wrote:

I love PVC/ABS. Make good money fixing broken plastic pipes. Make good money replacing cast iron and steel to but those pipes are mostly very old and worn out.

Exactly,
cast iron and galvy are thing of the past, just like wax.

While I’m one of the old standard/yet I’ll except new ways if I can see “REAL” improvement, I will yield to this item that that EPG has introduced to me, even though I have yet to try it. It does look promising.

7530 – BETTER THAN WAX™ Wax-Free Seal

I thought it first was going to be the sponge type of product, or an other one that I tried and was discarded.

I first believe that a failed toilet seal, is a water closet that has movement when planting the arse upon! Substantiate thous foundation and the “Throne” becomes secure, hopefully it will not need to be overthrown!

Well anyway this is a very heavy subject for some of us. A rather deep subject for the rest of us that might know a thing or two, about a thing or two, about that.

Now back to the OP, being in WI your air admittance valve is perfectly legal and yes they do go bad. You can pull it out and test it, hold it vertically and try to blow through it from the bottom up (you shouldn’t be able to) sometimes the diaphragm will stick open (dead sewer fly?) try and wash it out with warm water. If that doesn’t fix it just replace it.

Eric,
Our vent on the roof at the cabin seems to get froze up every few winters. Especially when it is cold or snowing hard. Once that happens, we start to smell sewer gas by some of our drains. We have to stick something down the vent pipe on the roof to get it unplugged. It normally plugs at the top of the vent. Most of the time we can see snow covered on the top of the vent. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if the smell is sewer gas or one of my stinky ass buddies.

Bzz,
If your vent through the roof is plastic you can cut it at a 45 degree angle which gives you more area and it may not freeze up as much

nailswi wrote:

You can pull it out and test it, hold it vertically and try to blow through it from the bottom up

Maybe Legal in the land of Sconnie, but it is a highly unreliable device.

And I would highly recommend that blowing into a device used to vent sewer gas is unhealthy.

I get a odor from the overflow hole in the sink up near the top. Only happens about once a year but stinky. I’ve always ended it by slowly pouring drain cleaner into that overflow hole. That has worked for me. I am not a plumber.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

Bzz,
If your vent through the roof is plastic you can cut it at a 45 degree angle which gives you more area and it may not freeze up as much

Thanks EPG. I may have to give that a try this spring when I can get on the roof. I’ve also had someone recommend painting the white pipe black may help.

while you are up there try spraying down the vent pipe with wd40 or something similar. Works great on trolling motor shafts, might work on vents to.

It seems we have quite a diverse opinion here among those within the trades.

To all of those that have solved the issues in the past.

I sincerely hope that those in the future will deal with the issues in the future, with the ZEAL of those in the past, to do the right thing.

Agree?

jeff_huberty wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>nailswi wrote:</div>
You can pull it out and test it, hold it vertically and try to blow through it from the bottom up

Maybe Legal in the land of Sconnie, but it is a highly unreliable device.

And I would highly recommend that blowing into a device used to vent sewer gas is unhealthy.

You obviously don’t know much about these devices. They were tested for several years before they gained code acceptance. Every one I install is tested before installation. Very, very low failure rate right out of the package. In the 20+ years they have been legal here I have seen fewer than 5 fail years after installation. The AAV also has to be removed for testing so there is certainly no harm in blowing air through it.

Sewer gas leaking into homes from that tpye of device is very common. Venting sewer gas to outside atmosphere is far more reliable.
That is why it is not an approved device in many plumbing codes.

Air admittance valves

This is a good article to read and watch.