Slow Draining Vessel Sink

wtomich

Just installed new vessel sink, new trap, new drain line, sink drains very slowly. Drain is non pop up no overflow. When drain is disconnected with just tail piece and trap connected emptying into bucket drain is extremely slow. Any suggestions.

gitnerdun

Try A Different Type Of Drain. Maybe A Lift And Turn.

Double-A

Was it slow from the moment you installed it or did you get called back on it?

Have you dropped the trap and looked for a blockage?

This one is a real stumper...

What type of drain is installed? You say non pop-up and non-overflow. Is there a screen or grid that is covered with some plastic perhaps?

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wtomich

It is slow from the moment it was installed. Tried a mushroom type fixed drain without overflow, and tried a open grid without overflow. Both drained slowly. It seems to be an air issue prior to reaching the trap. Is there a way to admit air into the system prior to the trap.

boman47k

No plumber but have to ask. Vented proprerly??

neolitic

Don't ask, but sometimes there might be a couple of "extra" compression washers stuffed into a semi-cast trap--right from the factory!
For some people, this could take 2 or 3 hours to discover.

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wtomich

no semi cast trap, all pvc. The venting on the line is fine. The sink empties into a 3" vented drain. Shower and toilet all empty into same 3" line and have no problem draining. Once I loosen trap (still not connected, just draining into bucket) enough to allow air in, drain drains great. Once everything is tightend back up (still draining into bucket) drain creeps to a crawl.

Great White

Sounds very similar to "vapor lock". Makes total sense to me not having an overflow which provides some venting. I had a regular sink at a job site which had the same symptoms. We took the trap off, clean, we snaked the drain line, clean. One of my cowarkers picked up a plunger and and plunged the sink drain, low and behold a slug of something came shooting out of the overflow hole. Fixed.

The only thing I can come up with is a studor type valve installed ahead of the trap to help vent.

Forum?

Mike Finley

Sounds to me like a typical vessel sink.

Everyone we install is just like that. It seems to be the nature of the beast by the way those special vessel sink drains are constructed.

Ron The Plumber

Grid strainers are always a problem, those little holes the water flows through can and will create air bubbles in them, causing it to drain slow, try this, when it's draining slow, run finger over the holes in the strainer, your finger will break the bubble making it drain better, see what happen, if this works there is your problem.

smellslike$tome

You and Mike are dead on on this one. Vessel sink grid drains trap air bubbles every time. Don't know why. Don't know how to fix it short of replacing it with a pop up. Sometimes if you can plan for it and position the vessel so that the faucet discharges directly on top of the strainer (works best with wall mount faucet) it will disrupt the air bubbles and flow better but even this does not always work and sometimes it's just not practical because it leaves the vessel too far out of symmetry with the vanity top. It's much easier to simply use a different type of drain assembly.

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KillerToiletSpider

Pull the grid drain out and replace it with one of these.

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firemike

I agree with Mike, everyone I've ever installed seems to drain slow just like yours. Everyone else is right, it's just something to do with the way the air bubbles are trapped underneath the grid.

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troubleseeker

Same here. After the plumbers install, I always shut down the supply stops until the faucet does not overtake the drain rate. No one usually knows any different, and if customer does happen to comment on flow rate, I will either tell them what I have done and why or curse those "new flow restricted faucets", depending on the customer.

paradisoplumbin

I just had this with a customer of mine. Tryed some different things before correcting. Promblem: water draining very slow from sink, almost standing. Lavs are a new install by counter people. Original lavs drained fine. Tryed grid drain, no good. Put standard pop up drain in without pop up just to check, water drained great. Found vessel drain at The Home Depot by Pegasus that had a very high removable cap without stopper, allowed enough water and air combo to drain very good, with cap on.
Paradiso Plumbing Inc.