San Diego Plumbers › Plumbing Info › Plumbing Questions › Plumbing System Vents

Question: What is a vent, and what does it do for the plumbing system?

Answer:

A plumbing vent is basically used to "vent" the plumbing system in your home or complex. If you would like to see a plumbing vent, look on your roof, you will see pipes sticking out of the roof aprox 12" high. For every pipe that goes down, one needs to go up. The obvious reason we have vents is that sewer gases need to be vented outside of the dwelling. Not so obvious is what happens if they are not included in the waste and vent design. When liquid goes down a pipe, air needs to follow it. Without the vent pipe, the draining liquid will try to suck air through the P-traps on the plumbing fixtures,(tub, sink, etc.) glurp, glurp! If it manages to do so, you may know it from the "smell" coming from the now dry seal on the P-trap. Without vents, draining one fixture may cause another fixture in the house to back up. A waste and vent system should keep sewer gas out of the dwelling and drain every fixture well.