About speedball1 Expertise About me: My Plumbing Expertise: I retired from plumbing after a lifetime in the trade. all phases from service and upkeep to construction, both residential and commercial. I am qualified to do anything in plumbing from fixing a leaky faucet to drafting a set of plans for a commercial shopping center and supervising the construction. My last five years were spent as a trouble shooter for a large plumbing company. I took on all my companys complaints. I have been a expert on the plumbing page at Askme.com. In a field of 200 experts my rating was number one. You may also find me at Answerway.com and AskMe Help Desk.com. This is fun for me and if I can help anybody out that`s iceing on the cake. Degrees & Certifications: As for degrees, I don`t have any. Just a Journeymans ticket, but hey! How about fifty years experience?
Experience Life Experience? Hmmmmmmm! Ran away at 15 and joined a carnival, Navy at 17 Merchant marine at 19 I've had a hellava life.
Question When I release a sinkfull of water from the kitchen sink, the floor drain in the basement bubbles. This only happens if a big slug of water is released from the kitchen sink, not if just the taps are run. Sewer line checks out fine, line from kitchen sink to floor drain seems fine. No other sinks, toilets, tubs etc. are a problem.
Someone at the office suggested my stack vent may be plugged. I got up on the roof and the one which is closest to the kitchen sink is full of pine needles.
My questions are: does this seem like the problem? Can I attempt to clear the vent or is this best left to a pro?
There doesn't seem to be any way to open up the vent from inside the house so I could just force the needles out into a bucket or something. Is the usual method just working through the jam with a snake and forcing everying into the drainage pipes. I would hate to make things worse.
Any help would be most appreciated. Thanks.
Answer Hi Vonn, Vents are installed to relieve the suction caused by draining water. If a vent is blocked the system will vent itself through a trap. The sound you hear is air being pulled through the trap of the floor drain. I would take a coathanger and put a hook in it and try to pull as much of the pine needles back out as I could. If that don't clear it you will have to snake it out from the roof. Take a garden hose up there to flush the vent out and force the debris out into the main. After you clear the vent, purchase some screening and hose clamps the same size as your vents and cover them. In my area of Florida we have lots of pines, this isn't the first service call I got because of them. Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply. Tom
