I've been reading about the proper way to vent a utility sink in the
basement. After looking at the existing plumbing I discovered that a
first floor bath and kitchen sink share a single (wet) vent. Only the
bath sink has a dry vent. I bought this house (new construction) in
1992. All the plumbing books say that every fixture must have its own
vent, yet clearly this is not the case and it passed city inspection.
Since this configuration has not had any problems since 1992, I'd say
it works just fine but not to code. Is this a common occurrence? Are
there any perfect plumbing systems?

Phisherman wrote:
I've been reading about the proper way to vent a utility sink in the
basement. After looking at the existing plumbing I discovered that a
first floor bath and kitchen sink share a single (wet) vent. Only the
bath sink has a dry vent. I bought this house (new construction) in
1992. All the plumbing books say that every fixture must have its own
vent, yet clearly this is not the case and it passed city inspection.
Since this configuration has not had any problems since 1992, I'd say
it works just fine but not to code. Is this a common occurrence? Are
there any perfect plumbing systems?

The answer may lie in the fact that the US does
not have one single recognized plumbing code;
accepted practice varies across the country.
And even locally, there may be exceptions to
the published code(s).

So it's hard to say. But as you noted,
wet vents have pretty much gone the way
of the horse and buggy.

Jim

On Dec 12, 8:39 pm, Phisherman wrote:
I've been reading about the proper way to vent a utility sink in the
basement. After looking at the existing plumbing I discovered that a
first floor bath and kitchen sink share a single (wet) vent. Only the
bath sink has a dry vent. I bought this house (new construction) in
1992. All the plumbing books say that every fixture must have its own
vent, yet clearly this is not the case and it passed city inspection.
Since this configuration has not had any problems since 1992, I'd say
it works just fine but not to code. Is this a common occurrence? Are
there any perfect plumbing systems?

I am doing a major addition on my house right now, and the plumber has
wet vented at least one fixture, possibly two.

How many plumbing books do you own, since you make the statement "all
the plumbing books say..."?

Here's a discussion and some of the rules for wet venting from Terry
Love's site:

http://www.terrylove.com/forums/arch....php/t-47.html

JK

On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 19:03:01 -0800 (PST), Big_Jake
wrote:

On Dec 12, 8:39 pm, Phisherman wrote:
I've been reading about the proper way to vent a utility sink in the
basement. After looking at the existing plumbing I discovered that a
first floor bath and kitchen sink share a single (wet) vent. Only the
bath sink has a dry vent. I bought this house (new construction) in
1992. All the plumbing books say that every fixture must have its own
vent, yet clearly this is not the case and it passed city inspection.
Since this configuration has not had any problems since 1992, I'd say
it works just fine but not to code. Is this a common occurrence? Are
there any perfect plumbing systems?

I am doing a major addition on my house right now, and the plumber has
wet vented at least one fixture, possibly two.

How many plumbing books do you own, since you make the statement "all
the plumbing books say..."?

Here's a discussion and some of the rules for wet venting from Terry
Love's site:

http://www.terrylove.com/forums/arch....php/t-47.html

JK


I don't own any plumbing books. I read parts of a plumbing code
reference book in the local library and checked out 4 how-to books
that are 2003 or later. I also found (like Speedy Jim pointed out)
that plumbing is not nearly as standardized as electrical code. Thanks
for the link!

On Dec 12, 9:39 pm, Phisherman wrote:
I've been reading about the proper way to vent a utility sink in the
basement.

An air admittance valve is a simple way to do it. Check out Oatey's
site for info.

R