Sarge Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 I am hoping there is a good plumber who hangs out here. I had a pretty weird event this morning and am looking for professional opinions. I flushed the toilet on the first floor and it drained the water out of the other toilets in the house. (one above and one below). My instincts tell me it should be a vent issue. I can't get it to do it again or I would climb up on the roof and look down the vent stack. All seems fine now. The only other thing I can think of is, what if the first floor and second floor toilet were flushed at exactly the same time. Could that cause a momentary block of the vent? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coordinator Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Sarge, I'm in the trade, but have never encountered what you described. However, I'll take a stab at it. When you flushed the water closet it may have caused a vacum, which can quasi empty the traps. Was there much wind outside at the time? The vent operates off of atmospheric pressure, and that can contribute to what you experienced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifeislarge Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Poltergeist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 FICO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Sarge, I'm in the trade, but have never encountered what you described. However, I'll take a stab at it. When you flushed the water closet it may have caused a vacum, which can quasi empty the traps. Was there much wind outside at the time? The vent operates off of atmospheric pressure, and that can contribute to what you experienced. Actually yes, quite windy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 My father was a plumber for 45 years, done my share of service calls.....FICO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedog Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 House on Indian burial ground? Seriously....what you describe will happen if it's really windy out. My relatives had a beach house growing up in Mass. And it happened in that house, but only on real windy days and from a certain direction. It became a "thing" in the family. Good memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Wind can do it, so can a frozen up vent or a vent plugged by a bird nest, hornet nest, rat, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 My father was a plumber for 45 years, done my share of service calls.....FICO.FICO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitedog Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) F*ck it, carry on. FICO. Infantry term. Edited April 1, 2014 by whitedog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 My father was a plumber for 45 years, done my share of service calls.....FICO.FICO?Forget it, Crap on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) Easy $50...You called, we came...yer paying us $50, whether anything was wrong or not...so thats where FICO comes in.... Edited April 1, 2014 by GrumpyOne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 You need to eat more ruffage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Figured it out after talking to the neighbor and him telling me his did it too. The County was flushing sewers about a block away and they sucked all the shitters dry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Figured it out after talking to the neighbor and him telling me his did it too. The County was flushing sewers about a block away and they sucked all the shitters dry! If your vent stacks are working properly, that should not result in trap clearance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Figured it out after talking to the neighbor and him telling me his did it too. The County was flushing sewers about a block away and they sucked all the shitters dry! I'm not a plumber by any means, but I work for a large county sanitation district. I'm not sure what flushing sewers means. We do clean lines by dragging a bag through them with a large winch. And also by running a water powered sled up the line and then pulling it back while it sprays down the inside of the line. If there was a blockage and the line was filled up it might start to backfill into the residentiall lines. If the county was out there clearing a blockage and suddenly the lines drained, then I could see that. If that's what happened you were pretty close to getting the main line backed up into your house. That's a bummer when it happens. Usually starts coming out of the manhole's before it makes it into a house though. Take care, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Figured it out after talking to the neighbor and him telling me his did it too. The County was flushing sewers about a block away and they sucked all the shitters dry! If your vent stacks are working properly, that should not result in trap clearance. So far I talked to 3 other people who had dry crappers when they got home so I think it must be the line work they were doing. One lady even went and talked to the guys on the truck and they said it happens and that we should all poor water down our basement drains to prevent any possible odors. It was a really big vac truck so I guess anythings possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Figured it out after talking to the neighbor and him telling me his did it too. The County was flushing sewers about a block away and they sucked all the shitters dry! I'm not a plumber by any means, but I work for a large county sanitation district. I'm not sure what flushing sewers means. We do clean lines by dragging a bag through them with a large winch. And also by running a water powered sled up the line and then pulling it back while it sprays down the inside of the line. If there was a blockage and the line was filled up it might start to backfill into the residentiall lines. If the county was out there clearing a blockage and suddenly the lines drained, then I could see that. If that's what happened you were pretty close to getting the main line backed up into your house. That's a bummer when it happens. Usually starts coming out of the manhole's before it makes it into a house though. Take care, Kevin I'm pretty far up the hill. Lot's of houses would be flooded before we have a problem I think. I have seen the truck around our part of town the last few weeks. I think they are doing routine, after the big winter, maintenance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevinj308 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 The vacuum truck usually also runs the jet sled you send up the line. Probably had a plugged main. Glad it didn't make it up into the house!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddler Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 This happened to me. Almost exactly a year ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coordinator Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Regarding the floor drains, it's a good practice to dump your mop water down the floor drains. It works like a trap primer and keeps the traps weir at the correct level and keeps odors from escaping from a dry trap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Regarding the floor drains, it's a good practice to dump your mop water down the floor drains. It works like a trap primer and keeps the traps weir at the correct level and keeps odors from escaping from a dry trap. Maybe back in the 60's. The only mop I own is used to mop the garage out every spring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coordinator Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 You mop your garage? If you do a good job I'll let you mop mine too, but you're going to have to ask nice. :>) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Tap water in a bucket would probably be an allowable substitute !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 You mop your garage? If you do a good job I'll let you mop mine too, but you're going to have to ask nice. :>) Yeah, I mop the salt off the floor after every winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now