DIYPlumber
New Member
Hello - I am new to the site and have a rather perplexing problem that has been plaguing me for 12 years now since we moved into this house. I apologize if this is long, but I feel it’s important that you see the entire picture because I had several plumbers look into this over the years.
My powder room toilet bubbles ONLY when the upstairs toilet directly above it is flushed. No other time will it bubble. This toilet is at the end of the sewer line.I have had the air vent cleaned, sewer line checked with a camera and a new toilet installed 2 years ago. There are no blockages in the system and everything flushes or goes down as expected. Just recently a plumber installed a mini vent between powder room sink and main sewer line thinking this was the answer - but no luck. My house was built in the 1950s with 1 roof vent and I have public sewer. I have no other clogg issues.
Sometime back as I was replacing the p trap on the sink just outside the powder room toilet I noticed when the trap was removed, the powder room toilet did not bubble. However I did feel a strong air flow coming out of the open trap when the upstairs toilet was flushed. Thinking it was a fluke, I reattached the trap and flushed the upstairs toilet again and the powder room toilet below bubbled. Just to be sure, I opened the trap and it did not bubble. I would permanently disconnect the sink trap but we do use it and the washer drains into this same drain pipe.
Any thoughts on my problem? I've seen these anti-vacuum traps from McAlpine (UK based company) but not sure exactly what it does or if it will release air from the trap to relieve some pressure. Then there is the issue of sewer odor if I do that. Any suggestions or ideas are much appreciated.
Thank you for your replies in advance.
DIYPlumber
My powder room toilet bubbles ONLY when the upstairs toilet directly above it is flushed. No other time will it bubble. This toilet is at the end of the sewer line.I have had the air vent cleaned, sewer line checked with a camera and a new toilet installed 2 years ago. There are no blockages in the system and everything flushes or goes down as expected. Just recently a plumber installed a mini vent between powder room sink and main sewer line thinking this was the answer - but no luck. My house was built in the 1950s with 1 roof vent and I have public sewer. I have no other clogg issues.
Sometime back as I was replacing the p trap on the sink just outside the powder room toilet I noticed when the trap was removed, the powder room toilet did not bubble. However I did feel a strong air flow coming out of the open trap when the upstairs toilet was flushed. Thinking it was a fluke, I reattached the trap and flushed the upstairs toilet again and the powder room toilet below bubbled. Just to be sure, I opened the trap and it did not bubble. I would permanently disconnect the sink trap but we do use it and the washer drains into this same drain pipe.
Any thoughts on my problem? I've seen these anti-vacuum traps from McAlpine (UK based company) but not sure exactly what it does or if it will release air from the trap to relieve some pressure. Then there is the issue of sewer odor if I do that. Any suggestions or ideas are much appreciated.
Thank you for your replies in advance.
DIYPlumber
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