Author Topic: Plumbing/venting question (Read 351 times)

Suzie68 · « **on:** December, 31, 2008, 01:41:06 PM »

I'm finishing a bathroom in my basement and was wondering. I really don't want to drill thru the front of my house for a few different reasons, and was thinking that the plumbling venting for the up stairs bath is right above this bath. Could I hook a shower exhaust fan to this so it vents out the roof?

Jon

daveSanborn · « **Reply #1 on:** December, 31, 2008, 03:38:20 PM »

Hmmm... it's a little different, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't.

How are you venting the plumbing in the basement? Could you just tie into that pipe?

Suzie68 · « **Reply #2 on:** December, 31, 2008, 05:04:05 PM »

Quote from: daveSanborn on December, 31, 2008, 03:38:20 PM

Hmmm... it's a little different, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't.

How are you venting the plumbing in the basement? Could you just tie into that pipe?

It was roughed in so I just added the fixtures.

blue65coupe · « **Reply #3 on:** January, 01, 2009, 05:43:28 AM »

Sounds like you'll be running 2 into 1...correct? I see no reason it wouldn't work but you'll probably get some "backflow" when one fan is being used and the other is not.

Suzie68 · « **Reply #4 on:** January, 01, 2009, 06:39:37 AM »

Quote from: blue65coupe on January, 01, 2009, 05:43:28 AM

Sounds like you'll be running 2 into 1...correct? I see no reason it wouldn't work but you'll probably get some "backflow" when one fan is being used and the other is not.

I don't think you are understanding what I meant.

I am wondering if you can tap into your tub/sink/toilet vent that runs through the roof, and hook a shower exhaust fan to it?

blue65coupe · « **Reply #5 on:** January, 01, 2009, 08:24:58 AM »

I think I understand. You're talking your vent for "exhaust". What I'm wondering is if one bath vent is pushing air out, will you get some of that "air" going into the other bath? If you have a pair of headers on your car and they merge together before the muffler, and you unhook one of the headers from the manifold, will you get exhaust coming out of the unhooked header (where it would bolt to the manifold) from the other "hooked up" header?

Here ya go. IIUC what you are attempting. If you crap in one bath, is there a chance you'll smell it in the other?

JeffTepper · « **Reply #6 on:** January, 03, 2009, 08:31:24 AM »

So that we are on the same page here, you want to install an exhaust fan in the basement shower to vent the humid air out of that bathroom and connect it to the plumbing vent stack for the existing upstairs bath, correct?

If correct, that is not a good idea. One of the things the vent stack does is vent the methane gas that builds up in the drain pipes out the roof where it disapates into the outside air. Consider that the methane gas can also travel down the vent to the basement shower if you connect the shower exhaust to the same vent pipe. Beyond the smell of methane, the next time you turn on the shower exhaust fan in the basement, the spark from the fan motor could ignite the methane making for a serious and perhaps deadly mess.

Look for another way to exhaust the humid air from your basement shower.