Why vent pipe is important

A blocked vent can create a vacuum, and you will no longer hear a gurgling in your drains or might even start to smell sewer gases. Any homeowner can clear typical clogs, but when they become recurring problems or near impossible to fix yourself, then something might be wrong with your plumbing vent.

In those unfortunate situations, call the professionals at Sunrise Heating and Plumbing at By providing exceptional customer service, our staff can handle any problem.

Request a Free Estimate. The Importance of a Plumbing Vent. This is what makes the plumbing vent system so important, and it is used for all water fixtures in your home or office building.

One of the main parts of the plumbing system is the plumbing vent--also known as a vent stack. The plumbing vent helps to regulate the air pressure in your plumbing system.

Drain pipes work to physically remove water and sewage from your home or building, and plumbing vents remove the gas and odor of that water and sewage while the plumbing vent pipes supply fresh air into the plumbing system and help the water flow smoothly through the drain pipes. Although the plumbing vents aid in water drainage, no water actually runs through them--they essentially just carry air into the drainage system.

Structurally, the plumbing vent is a vertical pipe that runs through the roof of your home or building and is attached to a drain line. It is also the pipe that leads to the main roof vent. The plumbing vent pipes are located on the roof, away from windows and air conditioning units, so that the fumes can easily dissipate. Although the drain and vent systems complete two different functions, they both work simultaneously to create one plumbing system.

The drainage pipe carries water to the structure and sewage away from the structure. The vent pipe helps to provide the drain system with the movement to carry and remove water and waste. Without the vent system, the drainage system would not be able to effectively transport water and sewage to and from your structure.

The air suction that takes the water or sewage away each time that you flush a toilet or drain a sink, is directly provided by the vent system. As it has been established, every plumbing system within a built structure requires vent piping to ensure the gases are properly dispersed outside of the building into the air.

Your MEP Mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineer will work with your architect to allow for the space needed for the vent piping as well as identify where in the building it will be located. When in the design process, every component of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems must be planned out and mapped out to ensure nothing interacts with each other or conflicts with each other.

Your MEP engineer will utilize the tools they have available to design a system that works for your project. Commercial projects are infinitely more complex than residential projects and require plans, permits, and more from the municipalities you are intending to build in.

Hiring and retaining qualified engineers will help you successfully navigate your project and achieve successful completion. While it is obvious that this in and of itself would not be an ideal situation, there are a multitude of other problems that could arise. Additionally, you may hear gurgling sounds coming from your drains, see standing water in your sink or bathtub, or notice a slow drain in the bathroom or kitchen sink. Additionally, these vents help to bring oxygen in to the plumbing system which helps the breaking down of waste products more quickly and efficiently.

The whole premise behind how plumbing vents work is that your plumbing requires neutral air pressure or else the waste will not move through the pipe. If the air pressure is very poor, then you might find that sewer gas may circulate back into your home and you may have a foul odor in the house. This is obviously an abridged version of how plumbing vents work, and if you would like more information you can ask one of our professional plumbers the next time you call.

As part of the new regulations in compliance with building codes, you are required to have a plumbing vent and a trap for every fixture in the home that requires plumbing, for example, toilets, bathtubs or sinks.

If one is not installed correctly, you may find that there is poor ventilation in the house and a backtracking of sewer gases into the home. If any of your plumbing fixtures have a particularly foul odor coming from them, regardless of being cleaned, you might have a problem with your plumbing vents. Additionally, any drain that makes a gurgling, bubbling or sucking noise could be an indication of inadequate air pressure.