Why would air be coming out of my drain in the shower? I have been having a problem with these bugs and I?
Question:think they are fruit flies, but I am trying to see if they are coming from the drains in my house so I put clear packing tape over the holes to see if there are going to be any bugs on the tape in the morning, but there is air coming from the drain in the shower. What causes this? I don't think I have ever felt it before...anywhere I have lived, but it was a pretty strong breeze of air coming up from there? Please let me know if you have ever experienced this before.
Answers:
Many possibilities.
1 Either the shower was not installed properly, (no P trap)
2 The P trap is cracked and the water leaked out,
3 The shower is not used and it dried out,
4 you have extreme winds and need to install a diffuser cover over your vent, (screen and cap type)
5 your vent is blocked and the other drains sucked the P trap dry.
Poor some water in the drain, and listen. If it gurgles, it is the vent. Shine a flash light in it and look. If you do not see water, it could be no P trap. If you do see water, go back later and look again. If it is gone, you have a crack or leak in the trap.
Go on the roof over the bathroom and look for the vent. Shine a light down it. Look for a blockage.
You might need to call a professional to fix this situation.
wash it
I believe that is the vent for the drains. Drain line should have a vent run to the roof. May be it is windy outside so you feel the air blowing in.
You should not feel air coming out of any drain. Between the drain opening and the drain pipe there is supposed to be a trap, commonly called a P trap for its shape, that holds water to keep sewer gases from getting into the house - they can be both noxious and flamible. The purpose of the vent to the roof is to provide air so the water flowing down the does not suck the trap empty. I would assume the shower is not being used much - you need to run some water into it. There is a possibility that the vent above this drain is blocked, which would suck the water out, then air from another vent could blow back through the now empty sewer pipes.
Put some water in the drain quickly. There is supposed to be a trap in the drain to provide a water seal so that sewer gases do not back up through the drain. It sounds like your trap dried out from lack of use.
One likely problem could be that you're vent pipe that goes up through the roof is pluged. I fixed mine by myself by taking my hose up there and pushing it down till it stopped then turning on the water and the blockage was broken up. It was simple and cost me nothing. Maybe this could work for you.
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