The air vent in our house dribbles now and then. I’ve pulled off the top and looked for obstructions, and found none. Made sure the line to the disposal is draining OK and the disposal is not full of debris to cause a back up. But occasionally, anyway, a bit of water (and perhaps more than a bit) will dribble out the air gap on the sink rim. I’ve put a towel behind it to keep it from spreading all over the counter behind the sink but obviously that is simply a workaround.
What should I be checking to try to solve the problem?
Replies
Check the drain your dishwasher discharges into (Kitchen sink drain line) for obstruction. If the waste water is having problems getting through it will come up the air vent and out the air gap. Your kitchen sink may be draining slow as well. This can happen so slowly over time that you might not notice. Say heaven forbid, you were putting Grease Grease Grease or Grease/Fat down the drain. (Rice, pasta and other things that swell in water are bad too). Hope this helped.
Is the 7/8" hose to the disposal slightly kinked/flattened by a too tight bend? It could drain readily in a small test, but it might not be able to carry water at the rate the dishwasher delivers it, especially when bits of food are included in the flow.
So I "fixed" the problem by wrapping a paper towel around the vent, using it as a little dam to route the dribbles back into the sink. This works very well to keep the countertop dry, but looks like heck, esp. when the water is a little green or yellow and stains the paper towel. It has dried into the shape it should be so there's no huge incentive to change it, aside from looks.
I finally could not stand looking at it and decided to tackle the problem, got my fishwire for electrical work, and ran it down the 2 foot pipe to the disposer. Didn't find a "smoking gun" of a clog, but since then, no dribbles. I guess there was some gunk or something that was just enough to slow the water down and back it up into the vent.
So it was what losh said. Only took me 2 months to get around to it.
The cobbler's kids walk around barefoot syndrome, for sure.
Edited 1/27/2009 12:15 am ET by geoffhazel
"Didn't find a "smoking gun" of a clog, but since then, no dribbles."Sounds like the end of the fish tape must have pushed something on through to the disposer.By the way, if you do find the hose flattened from too tight a curve, you can put a hose clamp on the flattened spot to bring it back to round.BruceT