LESLIE: Jack in Texas is calling in with a plumbing question. What can we do for you today?
JACK: Hi. I have a home that’s about 13 or 14 years old now and I have an upstairs bathroom that is an extra bathroom and it has two sinks in it.
TOM: OK.
JACK: And there seems to be a lot of suction on one of those sinks and I don’t know how to stop it from doing that.
TOM: So it drains particularly well; is that what you’re saying?
JACK: It drains well but there’s constant air being pulled down in it and because there’s constant air being pulled down in it there seems to be a – it dries out and then there’s like a growth in there and then it clogs it all up again.
TOM: Yeah. Well …
JACK: So it can’t keep water in the …
TOM: It won’t keep water in the trap?
JACK: Correct, in the trap.
TOM: Well, was the trap formed correctly? Does it look like a normal p trap under the sink?
JACK: Yes, sir. And then it feeds off from one sink to the other.
TOM: Right. And is the p trap after both sinks?
JACK: No, sir. I believe it’s just one trap.
TOM: And so it’s after both sink drains.
JACK: Yes, sir.
TOM: And if you fill that up with water do you still think you have the suction problem?
JACK: I do because it seems like even with the plug down it eventually just sucks it right out of there.
TOM: That’s very unusual. Well, one thing you could do is you could make the trap deeper and it would hold more water and it would be less likely to be able to drain out if the – if the trap is very shallow, that could account for what’s happening here. So that might be a matter of just extending the trap so it becomes deeper and holds more water.
JACK: OK, well I will give that a try.
TOM: Alright.
JACK: I appreciate that.
TOM: You’re welcome, Jack. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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