# Gurgeling sound in Tub Drain????



## painter213 (Nov 2, 2008)

Hello Plumbers!! I need to ask a question if I can please. I stay over at the Sandblasting section a lot. Before I call a plumber out I would like to see what answers I get here first if I may. For some time our Tub/Shower drain was draining real slow. I cleaned it out with a cable drain cleaner and used some strong drain cleaner and it still drained real slow. The drain line is only about 8-9 ft. long and then it goes into the main drain in the basement. The Tub/Shower drain is right next to the basement stairs and I noticed that the drain line looked like it was draining uphill. Meaning it looked like it was lower in elevation at the drain and was higher where it connected to the main drain line. I put a level on it and sure enough it was running uphill pretty bad. So I cut the PVC line above the Pee trap and cut about a 2" section out and reconnected it so the drain ran down hill. The tub drains good now, but now everytime there is water being run in the kitchen down the sink drain, you can hear water gurgling in the Tub/Shower drain now. I'm not sure that it started it right after I done this or not since I work out of town and after I done this I left for five months for a job in PA. Any ideas out there what it might be? Could it be draining downhill too much? Any help would be appreciated. We do not have good reliable plumbers aroung here either, so I really do not trust a lot of them here. Our county is really lax on requiring things such as permits, license and credintals so you probably know the type of work that is performed. Thanks for any help that you can give.


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## Tom M (Jan 3, 2007)

Not a plumber but I think six foot is your limted with out a vent. Lack of vent will surely slow a drain and gurgle.


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## painter213 (Nov 2, 2008)

It's vented at the tub at the lever for the tub drain handle. That is where I pushed the cable drain cleaner down at.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

It sounds like it's either pulling or pushing air through your trap. A few problems could be improper venting, blocked venting, improper pipe sizing and improperly installed waste pipes. Venting is a simple but sometimes awkward issue to fix. See If the bath/tub is on the same stack but at a lower point than the kitchen sink then when the water from the sink empties down the stack it causes a positive pressure that can push air out through your traps lower down and if the vent to atmosphere is tee'd from the kitchen sink waste then the air has nowhere to go after the water passes that tee. An extra vent to atmosphere near your bath/tub may fix this but these are all if's and but's and sometimes not an easy fix. Check the traps to see if they are being sucked dry or bubbling up water when you empty that kitchen sink. If it's not either of these then we can go from there.


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

painter213 said:


> It's vented at the tub at the lever for the tub drain handle. That is where I pushed the cable drain cleaner down at.


That is not a vent.


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## painter213 (Nov 2, 2008)

Your right that is the overflow. My Bad. I said I was not a plumber. I deal with coatings. The vent line is on the main drain line where the toilet is connected to. The house was built in 1974 also. Guess I will try one of the local plumber guys around here. Might have to pay him with some MEK for some Huffing though.


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## Squench (Dec 23, 2006)

Hey painter, don't go paying a plumber if you don't have to...um and I'm only saying that because you don't live in Dallas. :whistling
If the problem just started, it's probably not an issue with improper venting, as it would have been improper all along. You didn't say where the kit sink drain is connected to the system. If this problem just started after you made your adjustment to the fall on your tub drain, I can only discern that the kitchen sink is dumping into the same lateral 2" and it is siphoning the tub trap. OR, the previous backfall in the pipe had standing water that was fighting the pressure created by the sink flowing, and now that it is clear, is allowing the tub trap to gurgle. I say before you call a plumber, undo what you did, and see if it gurgles? at very least put a only 1/8 bubble fall on the pipe, and see what that does.
Ahh, the joys of home ownership...Good Luck!


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