kitchen sink conundrum...

[benjamin_wooten]

Hi everybody! I am in a bit of a self-made pickle, created by my own lack-of-planning. I am hoping some of you might be able to help me out...

We've been remodeling our home for over a year now, and I am just about to put the new kitchen sink in. The original sink was a two bowl affair, as is its replacement. We removed the first sink very early on in the project. I meant to take pictures of the plumbing situation in the original sink cabinet, but apparently forgot (or, at best, can no longer find the pictures on my computer).

What I am facing is shown in the attached photo. The water lines make sense, but what confuses me are the two separate 2 1/2" pipes going into the slab.

I remember cutting and capping both of those pipes when tearing out the old kitchen. I thought, however, that the two-bowl sink had its drains joined with a y-connector, and that they went down a single drain.

The two separate pipes suggest otherwise?

I am in NS, Canada. I am not certain exactly how code compliant the house was when it was built (it did have permits pulled with the city, so it must have passed some level of inspection) but would it be common practice to have each drain from a two-bowl sink go all the way down to a main drain pipe in the slab, without first joining together in a common y-connector?

I don't remember there being two p-traps under the sink, either. I am certain my memory is flawed somehow... maybe if this is a common setup, somebody can clue me in.

I can't believe I didn't take photos

P.S. The skew of the pipes in the photo, relative to the cabinet carcass, is a result of the original sink having been installed at a 45-degree angle on a pre-existing cabinet peninsula, while the current sink sits square in a new cabinet island)

 

[CT-18]

It may have been island vented. You can look up venting for island sink. They come off the top of the drain and go back and tie into the horizontal drain below.

 

[Mr_David]

If this looks like what you removed, then remove the caps and look inside to see if one of them a tee for the relief vent that goes over to the wall.

Good luck,

 

[Matt30]

If you plumb it as per David's picture, you will be fine. Only difference here in NS is we require line clean outs on both drain and vent, not sanitary tees with clean outs in the end. This is so you can snake the vent loop if need be.

 

[benjamin_wooten]

Thanks everybody, this is all very helpful. I do seem to remember something along the lines of what David posted.

From just popping the caps, I cannot tell which one was the vent pipe vs. which is the main drain pipe. Again, my memory tells me the pipe with the water lines strapped to it is the drain... I think that was done, actually, to mark it as such.

Knowing I could be wrong about that, however, is there any other trick to determine for sure which is which?

Matt, you don't live/work around the Head of St. Margaret's Bay/Tantallon area, do you?

 

[Matt30]

If you have access to look at the drainage underneath, or know the direction of flow, there will be two wyes connected to the drain. The one furthest down the drain line is your vent, and the drain is behind it.

And yes, born and raised and back living in good old Tantallon

 

[benjamin_wooten]

Excellent. I do know where the main drain is headed, and the flow direction goes from front-to-back of that cabinet carcass. So the one with the water lines attached to it must be the water drain.

Matt, that's pretty funny that I would run into you here... world is smaller than expected. We live in the Head of St. Margaret's Bay, just across the road and up the hill from Billy Joe's Automotive on Station Rd. (if you know the area here along St. Margaret's Bay Rd.).

Are you still in business as a plumber?

 

[Matt30]

You're in head of the bay, well I'm just across the water in Glen Haven. Indian point road to be exact. Small world indeed! It's rare someone from my province posts here (I was the only member to my knowledge), pretty funny someone in such a small community joins!

I'm still working as a plumber, long way to go before retirement (I'm 30). I don't work for myself though, I work for a company in Fall River.

When you tackle your project, give us updates and we will help you out. John at Redmonds Hardware should be able to gear you up with all your fittings.

 

[CT-18]

Matt not to get off subject but do those guys ever find anything valuable on Oak Island. That show drives me crazy now for 4 years and nothing.

 

[frodo]

Matt not to get off subject but do those guys ever find anything valuable on Oak Island. That show drives me crazy now for 4 years and nothing.

I was thinking the same thing

 

[benjamin_wooten]

You're in head of the bay, well I'm just across the water in Glen Haven. Indian point road to be exact. Small world indeed! It's rare someone from my province posts here (I was the only member to my knowledge), pretty funny someone in such a small community joins!

I'm still working as a plumber, long way to go before retirement (I'm 30). I don't work for myself though, I work for a company in Fall River.

When you tackle your project, give us updates and we will help you out. John at Redmonds Hardware should be able to gear you up with all your fittings.

Yes! I bug John all the time. I work part time for Lee Valley Tools, also, and John is always popping in there in his Home Hardware truck. I go over to Glen Haven sometimes, right across from White Sails Bakery. There's a father/son who have been fabricating some steel cleats for our stairs... Tantallon Metal Works, great guys.

As for Oak Island, I get such a charge out of that story! I don't think anybody has found anything there... except a few unlucky divers died over the years, caught inside a tunnel with the water going the wrong way.

 

[Matt30]

Matt not to get off subject but do those guys ever find anything valuable on Oak Island. That show drives me crazy now for 4 years and nothing.

I think the most valuable thing to come off oak island is the TV show

I have been hearing all about that place since I was a little kid. No big news I can ever recall.

 

[Mr_David]

Oak Island!! I've seen that show a few times but not really sure what it's about.

Don't really understand how some pirates buried some treasure deep in an underwater cavern below a swamp. I guess you have to know the whole back story on that one.

 

[benjamin_wooten]

Quick followup question before I glue the island vent loop together... Matt, you mentioned we needed in-line cleanouts on both the drain and vent side of the bend (not sanitary t's).

Would 45 degree y's with cleanout caps work (photo attached)?

If so, I understand the bottom of the y should point down with the flow of the drain pipe, but what about the vent pipe? Is there a "flow" direction for that vent loop with which I should align the y?

:edit: It seems so odd that they would require a cleanout for an air pipe. if I had to snake the vent on the kitchen sink, I cringe to imagine how badly the septic system must have failed...

 

[Matt30]

In that application, you want sanitary tees with cleanouts on the branch, or a line clean out. This will allow you to snake up the vent and down the drain if need be. You want access to snaking the vent in case of a back up and gunk plugs up the vent pipe