on 5/25/2008 8:53 AM DerbyDad03 said the following:
On May 25, 7:38 am, buffalobill wrote:

On May 24, 9:11 pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:






My basement toilet has started to erupt as a bubble of air blows water
up and out. As far as we can tell it happens on a random basis. We'll
lift the lid and the underside will be all wet. My daughter was
walking through the basement and heard - well, she heard whatever
sound a large under water bubble would make.

Let me describe the drain and vent set-up:

First: This toilet has been installed for as long as I have lived in
the house (25+ years) and has never bubbled before. Nothing has
changed as far as the venting or drains. The toilet flushes fine and
all other fixtures drain normally.

Second: This bathroom is in the corner of the house where all the
drains meet under the slab just before leaving the house. The toilet,
shower and sink in this bathroom are the last set of fixtures before
the drains leave the house. The toilet is before the shower and sink
which wye into the main sewer pipe about 3 feet from the exterior
wall. There is a clean-out just inside the exterior wall under the
sink.

Third: My house has only one vent - the soil stack, which is in the
opposite corner from the bathroom. No fixture in the house has it's
own vent, and never has. Right or wrong, this has never been an issue.
All fixtures have always drained properly.

So, based on the information above, can someone explain why my toilet
has suddenly started erupting like Mount St. Helens?

Thanks!

with some helpers, look down into the vent between the house and the
street sewer and play with your similar flushes and observe; add
garden hose water and some detergent, and plunge it with a long
handled trap plunger. observe and compare.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


look down into the vent between the house and the street sewer

I'm not sure what you are suggesting. What "vent between the house and
the street sewer" are you referring to? If you are talking about the
clean-out, it's at a 45 and all you can't see more than a few inches.

plunge it with a long handled trap plunger

Plunge what?



I believe he meant to climb on the roof and observe (and listen) at the
vent stack while someone in the house flushes the toilets.
The garden hose down the vent may flush out any blockages in the vent
stack (leaves, nests, etc.).
I don't know what a trap plunger is, but I suppose that it would work
like a toilet plunger, that is, applying air pressure to push blockages
out if the garden hose water didn't flush them out.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
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