My wife and I just replaced the vanity in our bathroom. To fit the new sink, we had to cut some new PVC. Here's a picture.
All the plumbing works, without leaks, except that it will not drain completely out of the sink. After the sink stops draining, there is still about 1/2 inch of water standing in the sink.
All of the pipes that look horizontal are almost exactly horizontal. Did we not include enough of a downward slope? If so, how would we do that?
Best Answer
This might not be the answer, but for reference here is a problem that can occur if the plumbing is not installed properly.
If you look at Fig. 3, this is what a proper drain looks like. You'll notice the orange line represents the water level in the system, the water levels out in the trap preventing sewer gases from entering the sink drain.
In Fig. 1, you can see what will happen if the drain line has to go up before meeting the main drain line. Again the orange line represents the water level in the system, and as you can see the water level is much higher in the drain.
Fig. 2 shows what could happen if the sink was installed lower than the rise in the drain line. The water would never fully drain from the sink, since it would require extra pressure in the system to push the water up the drain.
I wouldn't guess this is the issue in this case; since as you can see, if you opened the trap in this case you would have more water drain than what is typically in the trap.
In a perfect world Fig.1 and 2 would never pass inspection, but as we all know not all plumbing is properly installed and/or inspected. So this could possibly be the case in this situation (given the plumbing was installed by an amateur plumber), but it is doubtful. It would be more likely caused by a clog in the line.