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Dan in Maryland · Joined: 27 May 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Maryland

I have a two story home with a below ground level basement. In the basement is a small kitchen, laundry room, and rough-in for a bathroom. Whenever the kitchen or upper floor bathroom fixtures are drained, the basement kitchen drain gurgles and coughs up debris into the sink. I've taken apart the trap and drain system under the basement sink and cleaned them out thorougly, but the problem still exists.

With the trap still off, I emptied the upper floor kitchen sink and noticed that soap suds and water had gurgled up through the drain, indicating that the system isn't totally blocked. The basement laundry room washer drains fine and it's within 10 feet of the kitchen drain. Nothing comes back to the washer drain, just the kitchen sink.

Any ideas?

thescruff · Moderator Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 4483 Location: Bath

Sounds like you need a vent or air admitance valve on the higher level soil pipe. Cool

Could also be a partially block drain, soil pipe not large enough or just bad design. Confused

Allow air to enter the pipe at a higher level by temporarily removing the trap from an appliance on the top floor, and check back with the results.