Roof Breather Pipe

A full sized vent is a primary vent where the drain line transitions at some point and becomes the vent pipe that exits the roof.

Roof breather pipe.

Standard aluminum vent portals plus insulation breathers and vents are used to prevent moisture vapor from becoming trapped in the roof system equalizing air pressure reducing the risks of ballooning blow off deteriorating insulation and separating deck seams. A drainpipe attached to the p trap goes into an opening in the wall. In most cases the vent pipe exits through the roof. When the vent pipe is clogged it shows up within your home in a variety of ways from ghost flushing from your toilet to a sink that won t drain properly.

Why plumbing air vents are important. Vent pipes penetrate all the way through the roof in several locations of the house and each one needs to be maintained to keep water out. The vent stack is the pipe leading to the main roof vent. Other vent pipes that are smaller may connect to this full sized vent and that s perfectly fine.

In many an older home this drain pipe is perhaps 4 inches in diameter and stays that size all the way through the roof. The vent system those plumbing pipes that stick out of your roof may be clogged instead. See below for a shopping list and tools subscribe to. Your vent pipe can become clogged from a variety of things.

Vent pipe leaks during heavy rain can occur if you have cracks in your vent pipe boot or flashing. Through the stack sewer gases are carried up to the roof through vent lines. Drain pipes take the wastewater to the soil stack. Above the roof plumbing vent height.

The typical vent system consists of a network of pipes that connect to every drain p trap and extend via a main stack that pokes through the roof just above the main bathroom. It channels the exhaust gases to the vent and helps maintain proper atmospheric pressure in the waste system. Venting is critical to the operation of a residential or commercial plumbing system. Vent pipes should extend to outdoors above the building roof and should terminate vertically not less than 6 above the roof surface nor more than 24 and must be at least 12 from any vertical surface such as a nearby sidewall.

This old house general contractor tom silva shows how to create a watertight seal around a vent pipe. Look for a black pipe that is about three inches in diameter made of cast iron or pvc. Behind the wall where you can t see a vent line and drainpipe lead to a soil stack which is the control center of the wastewater system.