Toilet and Sink drain problem........

[skywatch99]

Hi all,

This house is 15 years old and this week the cloakroom sink has been draining slowly. Then, the cloakroom toilet started to fill up when flushed and drain slowly.

I did everything I could to remove a blockage with little success.

Next to the toilet is a wooden 'enclosure'. Removing the top of this reveals an AAV (not heard of them before).

Now, when I take the top off the AAV the toilet flushes normally. Screw the top on again and the bowl fills up and drains slow.

The air entry on the AAV is clear (I can put severl fingers in it) and the valve is freely moving.

How can I test the AAV ?

Any ideas on what the problem might really be?

Thanks for reading and thinking about it!

Andrew.

 

[Nige F]

Drain blocked somewhere down the line - if you`re lucky it`ll be covered by your local water authority

 

[petertheplumber12]

I believe it is called a dergo, And it's sole purpose is to stop smell coming back up into the property, building regs and all that. so it is a one way valve made of rubber. It also stop water being sucked out of the bowl by breaking the siphon action that can occur. Does understanding how it works make it any easier to sort out problem. If not go the building section and they may offer more help.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

As Nige said, you've a blocked drain somewhere. AAV is an Air Admittance Valve, does what it says on the tin, and allows air into the pipework when the pipework is under negative pressure.

If the drain is blocked, the water cannot displace the air in the drain, so the water backs up. Removing the AAV gives the air chance to escape back upwards, hence toilet will drain 'normally'. The flush is actually getting as far as the backed up water behind the blockage and not much further.

Need to lift manhole covers and try and work out where the problem is. Plunging toilet, chucking chemicals in will have little effect if the blockage is miles away down the drain. (Please warn anyone who may come to look at it if chemicals have been used, they're nasty!)

If probelm is in a shared drain, i.e. you and at least one other property uses it, then Water Authority should clear it for free. If it's a private drain, (just your property using it) then down to you to get it sorted i'm afraid.

 

[Charnwood]

I believe it is called a dergo, And it's sole purpose is to stop smell coming back up into the property,

It's called a DUrgo (http://www.durgo.com/) and its purposeS are to allow air into the soil/waste system (AAV = Air Admittance Valve) to alleviate vaccuuming and to stop foul air escaping into the property.

 

[HERTS P&D]

Get it jetted out!



Andy

 

[skywatch99]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my problem.

With the very cold weather I decided to leave it until it gets warmer to rod the sewers out.

I can't work out why it only affected the one room when all others were OK, but then, I don't profess to know anything about underground pipework.

As it happens, the fault eventually cleared by itself and all has been well for the last few days, so hopefully it will stay that way!

Cheers and Merry Christmas to you all.

Skywatch.

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

It can affect just 'one room' if the drain is blocked between that room and a point where it joins up with another drain. Example: An inspection chamber can have up to 5 inlets. Not all may be used but one may serve a downstairs WC, another the upstairs WC/bathroom, and a 3rd an ensuite. If the pipe became blocked between the chamber and the downstairs WC then only the downstairs WC would be affected.

It may be the weight of water behind the blockage could have caused it to shift, but I would keep an eye on the situation. If problems return then it will need looking at, longer it's left the worse the job to sort it out..... Whilst it appears to be working ok, now might be the time to lift any manhole covers whilst getting an assistant to flush WC's/run taps and ascertain what goes where. If you are unfamiliar with drainage, rodding from a full pit is not only unpleasant but can be difficult.

Been out before to rescue people who were rodding in completely the wrong direction - away from the blockage, or have lost half their rods down the drain.....