Plumbing – have a vent stack if none of the fixtures are vented

drain-waste-ventplumbing

As far as I can tell, none of my plumbing fixtures are vented. I have a double-sink in the kitchen, but no vent pipe. My washroom (photo here) similarly has an s-trap. Same thing on my washing machine and drain basin (photo).

I can see a large black pipe poking out of my roof, just about where the drain lines are going into the floor. So I assume I have a main vent stack, but what does it do in my case? Why do I have a main vent stack if none of my fixtures are vented?

If it helps to identify typical construction methods, my house is about 80 years old and located in Toronto, Canada.

Best Answer

Your system is almost certainly vented. Plumbing vents provide a path for sewer gases to escape so they don't bubble up through the P traps into your house under pressure (the sewer gases will expand and exert greater than atmospheric pressure), and the vents also keep water pressure from siphoning your traps dry, which would create an easy natural path for sewer gases to infiltrate your home.

So the comment about "wet venting" is right on target. As long as the combination of pipe diameter, the slope of the pipe and the distance between the trap and the vent ensure that the pipe doesn't run full of water (creating a siphon), a single downstream vent can be just fine.