Plumbers: Is this sink "double trapped"
 

I cannot figure out if the reason the disposal side has a slight odor after a couple hours of being dry is because of the trap setup? Both traps go through the wall conceivably to the a stack. I can check from underneath to see how they are plumbed or is that ok since one trap doesn't feed another? My thought is that the higher trap can create vacuum on the lower trap because they are so close and I don't know if there is a vent or if I need to add an air admittance valve. There is no wall above the sink just an island so there isn't a vent going straight up to the roof for sure but possibly one off to the side (if that would still work?).http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435630849.jpg


AFTERTHOUGHT: If I had to guess the house had a single basin sink at some point and the left drain was the original and the right one is likely looping over and into the left one. Just a guess.

Disposals tend to smell a bit especially if you put a lot of organics through them.

Make sure you are running it long enough, meaning when you think you should turn it off don't.

Fill the sink with hot water and some detergent then run it through.

I regularly run egg shells and coffee grounds through mine. The abrasive helps knock loose build up.

Ice, dish detergent, and some baking soda makes a great cleaner

I don't think we've put anything down that disposer. So definitely don't need to cap one of those and run a straight branch over from disposer into a sanitary tee and then trap?

Even if you dont use it much your dishwasher drains into the top of the disposal. Lots of gunk can collect if you dont run the disposal once in a while, ice helps break up some of the debris.

Water in the trap keeps sewer gas from coming back up the line. If you never use that side of the sink and rarely use the dishwasher, that can cause an odor.

Don't know why you have separate traps. Is it possible that you have a grey water system and the water from that side us diverted elsewhere...or are on a septic system instead of a sewer?

Run some orange peels in the disposal. It is a great way to deodorize a disposal and you get to eat the orange.

Depending on how long that horisontal pipe after the trap runs before it turns down you may have a buildup of grease/food/stuff that needs to be pulled out. It looks like you have pretty good access to the pipe connections/unions, so take it a part, make a tool to reach into the pipe and pull out the stuff. I used a piece of stiff wire and made a hook on the end of it. Push it in the pipe and pull it back out and see what you find.

This same same happened to our sink. Tried everything to get the smell out but in the end I took it all a part and cleaned out. You wouldn't believe the crap I pulled out. HAZMAT should have been called. :eek:

Well Clorox Bleach it is then. Should take care of whatever that is. Glad I don't have to re-plumb the sinks.

My plumber said no egg shells. They don't rot, I had the kitchen drain line cleaned out a year ago, lots of egg shells in the clean out.

Separate traps are code in most of Illinois--they even require a separate, independent trap for a dishwasher. It makes no sense, other than to make the plumbing more complicated and expensive.

Similarly, in the Chicago suburbs, all electrical is required to be in conduit.

Its flat out stupid and a waste (pun).

And about the conduit. You can thank the Union for that one. Seriously.

Oh, I have no doubts about the origins of those codes.

As always...Clorox Bleach was the fix...traps are not getting changed!

Wait...conduit through the walls? How do you fish wires without tearing out the drywall. Lets say adding recess lighting, which is quite common, would require conduit and conduit boxes?

Yes.

if there was vacume in the pipe caused by the sink to suck out the water you would hear it sucking air after the water goes down and it would be a very obvious gurgling

That drain on the right is horses ass anyway. It should have a down pipe and a compression fitting. It looks like it has a pipe to npt adapter that is threaded onto the sink basket. How do you open up the PEE trap on that deal? You can slide the vertical part down.

The right drain is the one that had me laughing the hardest. I love that they just threaded up some PVC to the sink. But it doesn't leak and doesn't smell so she stays.

Iv done much worse than that lol Hey sometimes gotta do what ya gotta do. If it saves 1/2 hour drive to the store to get that one stupid fitting then get it done. plumbers are pretty bad like that