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Drain with Air lock?

15289 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  srloren
I have a bathroom drain that drains slow in my upstairs bathroom. It just started for no apparent reason. My first thought was there was a clog. There was debri in the trap and I cleaned that out, I also had debri in the outgoing pipe from the trap to the wall, so I cleaned that. However, it still won't drain which is why I thought it might be an air lock. When I put the plumbing back together the water runs fine as it is suppose to, but if I close the drain to the sink and allow it to fill and release the drain I get a couple of bubbles and then the sink doesn't drain. I can repeat the process of removing the trap and reinstalling it and get the same result. There is an approximately 1 inch diameter pipe that appears to be coming from my AC unit that "T"s into the sink drain tail before the trap. When I blow on the vent tube up in the attic at the AC I hear water in the A/C, but there is no way to blow air through the pipe in the direction of the sink without cutting the pipe. But before I do that, I was hoping someone can give me guidance on my situation. No repairs have been done to plumbing in the last two years. Thanks in advance
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You need to purchase a small 1/4" or 3/16" hand snake from Home Depot and disassemble the trap and if possible remove the trap arm so that you know that the snake goes down the drain instead of up the vent. Also run the plastic barbed cleaner down the over flow to be sure it is clear. The other thing you might check is the vent through the roof to make sure it is not blocked from bird poo or possibly even a nest that would prevent the air from entering the vent. That would cause bubbling too. You have received good advice above and as always, hair is the most frequent culprit in these smaller drains in the bathroom. Good luck
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