Expert: speedball1 - 9/29/2004

Question
I have a 6 yr old house.  On a slab.  Washer is upstairs.  The downstairs toilet gurgles when the washer is discharging the water.  I can see air bubbles coming from the toilet.  I also get air bubbles, (not as many) when the toilet is flushed.  When the washer discharges the water and I get the gurgling noise I check the PVC line that takes the water to the sewer and it is flowing out fine.  There is no back up. This toilet is the 1.5 liter flush and is easily "stopped" up.

What is causing this and can anything be done to fix it?  

Thanks
Mark
Lexington, SC

Answer
Good morning Mark,
When water discharges and runs down your pipes it creates a suction.  This is why there are vent pipes to relive the suction and allow the water to run smoothly.  When a vent pipe is blocked, the suction vents through the nearest fixture.  In this case your commode. Your going to have to get on your roof and check the exisiting washer vent.  I have found everything from birds nests to dead critters blocking a vent.  Shine a light down the washer vent and see if you can see anything that may be down there.  If not you will have to run a snake down the vent.  I would recomend renting a Rigid K-60 sewer machine for the job.  Open the 4" cleanout located just outside your house and run the snake out from the roof vent untill you're past the cleanout. Hope this solves your problem, but if it don't, I'm as close as a click.  Good luck and thank you for rating my answer.  Tom