Sunday Driver Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 We have a Roca close coupled toilet which has started playing up. After flushing, the level of water in the bowl drops down to the s-bend then starts to gurgle. After about 10-15 seconds, the gurgling stops, but the water level remains the same. Previously, the water level stayed about two inches above the bend. No smells apparent.Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerac Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 The soil pipe into which the toilet discharges should be vented. Has something happened to block this vent, or if it is vented with a one way air admittance valve has it stuck. Either way it sounds as if the plug of water going down the soil pipe is sucking the water out of the trap instead of having air vented in behind it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 Thanks, Jerac.As far as I know, nothing's changed. We did get the occasional gurgle a couple of months ago, then it stopped. It's now happening most of the time. Not being technically minded (loo wise), I think I'll have to get Monsieur Plombier out to have a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Anglia Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 I'd also suggest a stuck air-admittance valve, or a nest in the soil pipe vent, assuming you have one?You might be able to look at both BEFORE calling a plumber, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting........[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted June 14, 2007 Author Share Posted June 14, 2007 Where will I find the air admittance valve? I can't see any visible soil pipe - I've checked outside the house and in the sous-sol. The house was built in 1973 by the previous owner who was a builder (now retired). The guy who owns the local menuiserie who recently fitted new d/g windows for us is his nephew and remembers helping him to build the house originally. Oh, and my plumber is a real treasure - anytime I phone him, he's round in 10 minutes to fix it. Last February, the central heating started misfiring and he came straight round and stripped the burner down and cleaned everything, including fitting a new brass thingy. When he popped in a week later with the bill (and to knock back a few whiskeys) it only cost me 40€.....[:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerac Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 There should be either an open vent or an air admittance valve.An open stack will be outside either through the roof or up past the eaves. It should be capped with a grill or grating or a 'mushroom' to keep out nests and creatures. If you have a fosse then there should be two, one for the fosse and one for the soil stack.Sometimes, to avoid penetrating the roof, an air admittance valve is used. It would be at a level above the highest draining fitting and usually within the roof space. There would be a vertical pipe, usually 100mm but possibly smaller which just ends and is capped with a plastic contraption which has a plastic disk which lifts under negative pressure differential to allow air into the soil stack above and behind the descending flush water.It is not unheard of for the vent pipe to just end within the roof space without a valve. This results in a foul smell.If nothing else has changed in the configuration of your plumbing then I have no doubt that you have either a nest in an open vent pipe or a stuck air admittance valve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 I agrre that it sound like the air admittance valve, something in your posting gave me a sense of deja-vu and now I am a bit red faced!I used a valve adjacent to my WC but didn't know about elevating it (I can see the reasoning) and it is downstream of and much lower than the kitchen sink. Unfortunately it is now effectively buried in the wall as I used a toilette suspendu, I can reach down from the acess cupboard above tpo thwack the valve back into life if needed but doubt that I could replumb it without removeing the false partition, still it has not given a problem to date but could be a bit messy if the soil pipe blocks.SD perhaps the builder of your house tried to be clever like me and hid away the valve? You need to start your search upstream of the toilet and the valve may well only be a 40mm one on a 40mm upstand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Last Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 I suspect I have a similar problem that the soil pipe is not vented as I am getting a lot of gurgling in the system. There is cetainly no pipe up into the roof spaces. We modified the system recently but essentially only changed the plumbed units going into the down pipe, and putting in a shower instead of a bath so I didn't think to add any vents to the old system which seemed to work OK before. My builder who did the basic realignment of the drainage didn't say anything about it either. Is there a picture of one of these air admittance valves anywhere, and what are they called in French so I can ask in my neighbourhood hardware store ?ThankSteve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerac Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 A proprietary name is 'Clapet Durgo'http://www.colena.com/clapet-durgo/index.htmlAnd advice on fitting and functionhttp://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/air_admittance_valves.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Last Posted June 22, 2007 Share Posted June 22, 2007 thank you very much for that!Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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