Can this Vent Be Saved?
We recently discovered that someone long ago severed and capped every plumbing vent in the house. Not a single fixture in the house is vented. It’s smelly. Can a licensed plumber legally fix (reconnect) the existing vents? We wouldn’t be changing a thing, but the old vents are not to current code. They go to…
We recently discovered that someone long ago severed and capped every plumbing vent in the house. Not a single fixture in the house is vented. It’s smelly.
Can a licensed plumber legally fix (reconnect) the existing vents? We wouldn’t be changing a thing, but the old vents are not to current code. They go to the roof, but they are not eight inches off the floor.
Another question: If we reconnect the vents, will we create a new problem? For example, might some sewage spill over into the vents? The vents seem to be air tight, though, so I don’t know if this would matter.
Also, most of the vents and waste are lead. This is a two-family residential building.
Hi Erik —
How are you? Thanks so much for this info. House is almost done, though of course now we’re at that stage where we’ve discovered we’ve done everything wrong but it’s too late to fix it, ha ha. 🙂
Would you believe — the vents aren’t smelling, it was a toilet with a broken seal. Most of the fixtures are pretty close to the main stack so we’re not worrying about them any more. But we did rehabilitate a vent on the opposite side of the house that goes to a kitchen sink. It’s working fine. But, incredibly, years ago it must have connected to the vent to the mudroom toilet, which your guys capped off. Some day we want to get that going again. That’s going to be tricky.
Hope you’re well.
Mopar, if the lead vents were disconnected to begin with, they were probably rotting away. Sanitary vent piping can see a lot of condensation and scale causing the pipe to rot and clog. Since the vents were connected so low to the waste outlet of the fixture, if there was a backup, it probably backed up and leaked out of the hole in the lead. Code states that vents need to connect at least 6″ above the flood level rim of the highest fixture to avoid this problem. The previous owner cut them off instead of fixing them because it was easier and cheaper. You can reconnect them, but you may find that there are more problems than it’s worth. I would suggest to at least connect to the existing vent stack, but don’t use the branches. Once you touch that old lead, all bets are off!!
How is everything in the new house going?
Well — in case anyone should read this in the future, the answer is the plumbers can legally fix anything that was legal when it was installed — as long as they’re not moving any fixtures.
Thanks, Largecamel. As far as I know there’s nothing wrong with our existing vent stack. The issue is the little vent pipes that go from the fixtures to the vent stack. I’m wondering if a plumber can legally reconnect them as they are, rather than replacing them with new vents that meet current code. There is no room to put in new vents that meet current code.
A plumber can reconnect the plumbing fixtures to the existing vent stack. BUT, why bother, let him run a new vent stack next to the existing one since this is a very big job as it is.
They will have to rip apart your bathroom(s)and kitchen to do this correctly. And yes you will need a permit too.
Our seals are not broken. It’s smelly anyway.
Our seals are not broken. It’s smelly anyway.
I just want to add to my last comment that because the venting prevents back-ups it also prevents sewer gas from breaking the water seal in the drain elbows and entering the house. So vents really do both things, they prevent backups and prevent odors from escaping into the house. They are a crucial part of a house’s plumbing system.
this is a conversation you should be having with a licensed plumber. If your plumbing is not vented it means that when you use one fixture the waste water could pour out the drain of another fixture. The vents are there to equalize pressure not for the elimination of odors. It is very very bizarre that all the vents were capped, there is probably more to the story. You need to have a professional come over and really see what the situation is.