hey,

over the past few months my bath trap has gotten increasingly noisy when i pull the plug out of the bathroom sink to the point where i wanna smash it up!

I mangaed to get a better fall on the bath/sink waste and the bath runs away quickly enough, as does the sink but the noise is horrendous! I'm thinking i may be due some nasty plumbing issues at this rate. I have thoroughly cleaned the pipes and the kitchen sink has no issues.

I am dealing with a quite tight space and as i have a tiled bathroom floor, anything more involved will involve me taking down the kitchen ceiling which is something i want to avoid!

would an air admittance valve be any use here? if so does anyone know where abouts in the system it needs to go and it's orientation?

cheers all

Liquid Stool, May 2009

hey,

no the gurgling is in the bath trap. There are no blockages between the bath trap and the stack. I've used an unblocker, i've used a special attachment on my pressure washer and i've done the caustic soda bit, about 3 months ago, the gurgling never disappeared :(

Liquid Stool, May 2009

So the sink never used to gurgle but now it does and the gurgling is gradually getting worse.

So it can't possibly be anything to do with the pipe layout - unless the pipes are moving about and gradually making the gurgling get worse - so it's probably something to do with an obstruction in the pipes building up over time. Shaving foam is my guess - gradually accumulating and slowly blocking a pipe - air wanting to come upwards is fighting water wanting to go downwards - the gurgle is the struggle between the two.

Swap to shaving oil (olive oil is fine) and get some caustic soda - wear rubber gloves - mix a small amount up in the sink and pull the plug - do it several times and listen carefully for a change in the gurgling sound. Take care not to use too much caustic soda - if you do it may form a solid plug and block everything - keep the water moving. Keep the solution away from paint skin and eyes - do not attempt to shave with it.

Good luck...

Peccavi, May 2009