Clog Free Vent Pipes

Hi Tim,
If the vent pipes are clogged,what do I do to unclogg them?

We just ran a snake line down our vent pipes, found multiple clogs (or was pushing them down and breaking them out), then ran water down the vent pipes with a hose. We are on a septic system and when we went to drain our partially filled tub, it still drained out of the caulking of the bottom of the toilet! It actually was worse that time than any others. Did we not get the clog all the way or is there any idea?

Laura,
Correct. The clog is now in the Wet part of the drain piping.

When showering, the toilet bubbles up. The toilet (new) flushes very slowly in only one bathroom. How can I fix this?

Cal,
Call a drain-cleaning service. You have a major clog in your drain pipes.

I have a tri-level house. My wife put caulking aroung the overflow drain on the upstairs tub. For the fist time in two years we had water come through our basement sink,toilet and shower drain. The caulk has been removed but we can't drain the tub still without gargleing and overflow. Is this a vent problem? Please HELP!

Mike,
It sounds like a clog either in the drain line or maybe the vent line. Might be time to call a drain-cleaning company.

I have a problem when I do laundry I get dizzy and light headed what could the problem be. We were in a tornado in 1996 and in 2001 I started to have this problem no one can find out why. We do not have natural gas in the house we have an all electric home. The roof was partly torn off the house and we have had problems since.

James,
Is there a broken plumbing vent pipe up in the attic? You might be a victim of methane gas poisoning.

Every AM I smell sewer gas from bathroom sink.

Hello,
I too have read all comments. we are having issues when we run our dishwasher it sends a foul smell into our basement. We have only 1 drain in the basement by the furnace, I have poured water down there (it did not help, How much total should I pour?) I had my hubby go on the roof yesterday and check our vent pipe but nothing is blocking that. I did not see anything in these articles about dishwashers. Please help, my stomach can't take it anymore :)

I live in a 18 unit complex. 3 problems here in all bottom apts. Toilet: when any tenants above me flush their toilet every day, I get discolored water that bubbles up enough to splash on seat, not very nice when you are sitting on the toilet. Sink: when they drain their sinks above me soap suds bubble up in sink Bathtub: occasionally this bubbles back up also We have all asked plumbers, nobody knows why

Hi, Just want to thank you for your expert advice when answering these questions. My problem has been solved thanks to you ty again. Mark...

We have been having a problem with the drain in the laundry room floor. every time we wash clothes the drain backs up. not sure why, please give us your input.

We have had our plumbing rodded out, don't have gurgeling sounds in the toilet, sinks drain fine but we still get sewer gas odor. Especially at night it seems to be worse maybe because more windows are closed.

Do you think we have a Vent Stack clogged or cracked somewhere?

We have the same problem as Melissa. Whenever I do laundry, the basement drain in the floor overflows. Can anyone tell me what needs to be done? Melissa, did you find out a solution to your problem??

I have a 2 story house and both bath tubs upstairs are draining slow and now I have water dripping under one of the bath tubs through to the downstairs living room. The toilet also drains slow in one of the bathrooms and I tried to plunger it but was afraid to flush again for fear it would drip downstairs again. Could this be a vent problem or more like a clogged drain.

Hello,

We have a sewer smell in our home when all the windows are closed. The smell comes from the kitchen sink mostly. We have radiant heat in the home. The problem has only started over the past winter. Any ideas with what might be causing this problem ?
Thanks,
Mel

I have a split bedroom single story home, 7 years old. Generally, only the master bath is used and occasionally the guest bathroom toilet.
When I shower the toilet gurgles and then the toilet doesn't want to flush. From your posts, I'm guessing a vent problem. Have city sewer and water, no well. Please help. There is no odor or leakage that I can tell. Thank you. Jayne

We are having a problem when flushing our toilet it doesn't go down all the time and when we shower it gurgles is this becuase of our vent pipe could be clogged??? also when we try to plunge the toilet it starts to back up into the bathtub and we are septic.
Nicole

My home is about 45 years old and is a single level. About every 3 to 4 months I have to snake the vent pipes. Why would it clog so much and how can I keep from cloging up so often?
Thanks

just recently within the last 2 weeks we had our septic system totally replaced and are now experiencing a strange noise within the venting that sounds not like a gurgle from any drain, but is more like a "glub glub" and can be heard quite easily from outside coming from the vent stack thru the roof. This noise can also be heard inside the house but cannot be directly linked to any one area or fixture, although since installation of the new septic system, the water in the toilet bowl does this fluctuation thing where it rises and falls like waves. Any ideas?

I have been having the weirdest problems with my sewer of late. In the past week, both my toilets on separate ends of my home drain very slowly while every thing else from my showers, kitchen sink and washer drain normally. I ran a 75ft snake down my main sewer line today and encountered nothing in the way of a clog, yet afterwards there was a low gurgling in one of my showers and toilets. Also, each morning everything seems fine, yet after a short shower, both my toilets act up again. All my sinks run normally and there is no backup of water in my showers either which really has me stumped as to what the problem might be.

I'm beginning to believe I may have one or more clogged vents, but before I climb on the roof I thought I would see if anyone out there has ever had this type of problem?

Any help or suggestions would be most certainly appreciated!

Hi, we live in a 1904 two story frame house, during the summer after some strong rains the sewer in our basement backed up, nothing very major. A plumber came and snaked the line all the way to the street. Today it became extremely cold, not much rain and ice, but it has backed up a little again. The main problem is a sewer gas smell throughout the house, if is strongest upstairs. Any suggestions?

I am having similair problems but slightly different. The toilet on the first floor gurgles when we run water from the washer in the basement or run the shower upstairs. After awhile the water will run completely out of the toilet on the first floor and it sounds like it is sucking air in. Also, if we run the shower and the washer at the same time the washer will not drain completly, leaving about 4 inches of water in it after it is done. Do you think this is a clog in the vent pipe or the main line?

we have 1 pvc vent line in our home our home is 31 years old...we get an aweful sewer smell through out our home only when it rains whats the problem? thank you diane

How Long should my 4" sewer vent pipe be above the roof of my house?

Thanks,

Our vents are frozen and now clogged. Usually we climb up and poke a stick thru the ice to clear them. The roof is to icey so I'm afraid to do that now. Will it hurt to wait until the ice melts on it's own (it might be a week)? The toilets "vent" through the sinks in our bathrooms when this happens. Thanks.

Hi
My sewer vent on the roof is blocked with ice.
I am wondering how I can unblock it? How can I prevent this from happening again? The temps here have dropped to -20 in the nights.
Thanks
Larry

Hi Tim,

I am seeking help with a sewer smell coming from my return vents and the air from the unit stinls of sewage.. I am submitting on this page because we have had a plumber and drain guy out. The last thing I was told was that the p trap on the furnace was dry and that I should put water into the trap during the winter, and that the condensate pump will fill the trap in the summer. The only thing is the smell is worse in the summer, and oddly enough had no smell this winter until the thaw. Per instructions I have filled the p trap, but I smell a slight hint of the sewer gas smell. I questioned the drain guy, and asked should the vent pipe be checked for blockage and he said no. He seemed to believe the p trap dryness was the issue. If the smell continues should we check the vent pipes? Do you have any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Rod

We just bought our house, it was build in 1999. The plumbing seems fine in all the sinks and toilets but the pressure is horrible in both showers and bathtubs. Could this be a vent issue? I don't think it is the shower heads because the tubs get about half the pressure they should.

My toilets have gurgled when the washing machine drains and when you shower for some time. Now everything on that end of the house is clogged. The toilets won't flush and the water won't run out of the tub. At one point when I tried to plunge the toilet closest to the septic tank the toilet on the far end had water coming out around the bottom. Is this more serious than a clogged vent?

Is it possible that the vent stack is incorrectly installed. We have a single stack in our home.
The kitchen enters the attic, travels abput 20 feet with an irregular rise of about 15 inches. From there it meets up with another vent from the bathrooms. The joints are only pushed together and poorly taped together. Will this prevnt the toilets from flushing correctly?

I have a problem in an upper bathroom in my home.
Once in awhile I GET A PUTRID URINE SMELL IN THE BATHROOM.
I HAVE HAD THE TOILET WAX RING REPLACED AND THE TOILET HAS BEEN CAULKED ROUND THE BOTTOM.I 'AM NOT SURE IF IT IS COMING FROM TOILET OR UP FROM THE SHOWER DRAIN .
ANY THOUGHTS ON WHAT IS CAUSING IT

Dear Tim,
I have 2 problems.
1. I have a very slow draining bath tub on the second floor.drains ar clear no clogs???

2. Is there any way to get rid of the odor in the sump. It really gets bad in the summer

Thanks
Jill

My upstairs sink is clogged. I plunged, snaked (but maybe not far enough) and the sink is still clogged. When I snaked I put everything back together and the sink backed up very quickly. I feel the amount of drain that I snaked would have taken much longer to fill and back up. the drain vent is one of those capped deals that's sealed in the wall. It doesn't go through the roof. The toilet and tub, in the same bathroom, drain fine. Could my problem be a clogged vent and if so, how do I check or fix it without cutting into the drywall?

the trailer I rent was remodled and the vent pipe was put in the bathroom closet with the hotwater heater the vent is only four or five inches tall. I thought that the vent pipe is suppose to go outside of the house and be much taller to be affective.

I've read all the comments. Our vent pipe behind the tub is full of water and our tub will not drain. Someone installed new fixtures and cut off the vent pipe, so it is about 4 feet high. Must it go through the roof?

Help! What must be done to clean out the water? Tried running a hose & small snake through it. Nothing hapened.

My toilet flushes competely one time, but doesn't flush the next. It alternates each time. When it does flush completely the bowl is fills completely, but the next time the bowl doesn't fill completely. I've checked the tank and the tank fills the same each time. Any idea what the problem could be?

Our vent pipe stops in the attic... could this be the problem?

I read all of the above and the smell does not come from the shower but after we have a shower the gas odour is in the basement. No odour after flushing toilet or using sinks only after we shower. This shower is used every day!

We had our septic pumped and immediately after, our sons room began to smell ALOT. We also checked the attic which is above his room and noticed the odor is very strong there as well. It ends up happening mostly in the evening, and eventually it also smells on the lowers house level too. I need to get help asap, as I have many small children here and a disabled husband. Is it due to the very cold temps we have had? or is the tank dry? We did not see any cracks in the vent pipe, but we cannot get to the roof due to ice to check for freesing. Do you have any idea how we can try to thaw the pvc vent pipe from the attic instead? Any help is much appreciated

I have a toilet on the 2nd floor and another one on the ground floor.I have a problem with my ground floor toilet.If I flush the toilet 2 or more times with a gap of about 30 seconds between flushes, the bowl would fill up and water would drain very slowly.If I wait for 5 minutes and flush it again, the toilet would be working fine.The toilet flushes well as long as there's a gap of 5 minutes between flushes. The plumber said that I may have a clogged vent line. Is he correct/How do I fix this?Thanks

Just recently a sewer smell has been entering the house. We've checked the roof vents and they do not seem to be clogged up there. I was wondering if maybe the vent is clogged somewhere further down. The attic part of the vent is frosty looking. Is there anything i can pour down the vents to maybe unfreeze it if that is the problem? The smell has only been happening since the temperature dropped to -25

We have strong sewer odor in bathroom and basement. Is it the roof pipe or a drain problem causing this? Please reply. Thanks.

I live in a brick ranch in lower Michigan. I have a sewer smell in our house it is worse by the back door to the garage and in the basement at one of our sump pumps. I check all the traps in our sunks and showers and toilets, and they all have water, I put food coloring in my sinks and toilets and ran then for about 10-15 minutes to see if I had a sewer line break and is what getting to the tile for the sump pump. My drains in the basement does not connect to our sewer system, just the sump pumps. I have a bathroom in the basement with a sealed pump, no leaks and does not smell. My other sump pump is clean and and clear water and does not smell. I got up on my snowy roof to make sure my vents were not blocked, all 5 look good. I cleaned my sump with bleach and scrubbed the sides, and poured some bleach in the bottom. And STILL a sewer smell in the house. PLEASE HELP!!!!