Kitchen Drain S Trap - Problem

Here's a good example of an S trap drain underneath the kitchen sink. As you can see in the picture above, the drain isn't going into a vented plumbing waste drain pipe.

In a situation like this, other plumbing fixtures like wash machines and bathroom usage can suck the water out of the kitchen sink trap, leaving you with sewer gasses seeping into your kitchen. Let me try to explain what happens when a kitchen drain, drains into unvented waste pipe.

When ever someone flushes the toilet and the water runs through the rest of the waste pipes, on its way to the sewer and it passes by the kitchen waste pipe drain, that connects to the toilet waste pipe drain, it can create enough pressure to suck all of the water out of the kitchen trap.

That might not have been the best explanation, but all drain pipes need to drain into a vented waste pipe to eliminate sewer gasses from seeping into your kitchen.

Home Repair Tip: You need to install a vertical vent pipe that runs all the way to and through the roof. This might be a difficult job for anyone who doesn't have enough plumbing experience.

If you want more information and would like to tackle this project on your own, I suggest that you go down to your local library and check out the few books or purchase some plumbing books online.

If you have a kitchen S drain, there's a good chance that you have them in your bathroom and through out other parts of your house. If this is the case, you might need to redo the entire plumbing waste system in your home.