What Does It Mean When You Flush Toilet And Bathtub Gurgles?

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Okay, you noticed that whenever you flush the toilet, your bathtub gurgles, and you want to know the actual cause of this problem? Apparently, the problem is from the plumbing installation done in your home.

This may not seem a serious issue initially, but over time, it becomes a serious issue that needs attention.

So, what does it mean when you flush the toilet and the bathtub gurgles? It simply means that plumbing installation was not done properly; hence, there is so much air in the drain; it is the air that makes your bathtub gurgle.

What Causes Bathtub Gurgling?

The simple answer is “AIR.” When too much air is stuck in the drain, it pulls resistance to water going down the drain; thus, causing the drain to gurgle.

Apparently, the amount of air in the drain is what determines how noisy the gurgling noise would sound.

There are many ways air could find itself into your drain. It could be due to clogs, exposed vents, and other possible reasons. Normally, asides from the air, there is nothing else that could cause your bathtub to gurgle.

However, sometimes, the issue is from the plumbing installation done in your home. If the plumber did a poor job, issues like this are quite sure to happen.

What Does It Mean When You Flush The Toilet And The Bathtub Gurgles?

What Does It Mean When You Flush The Toilet And The Bathtub Gurgles

Sometimes, you’d hear homeowners complain of hearing a gurgling sound from their bathtub drain each time they flush the toilet.

However, they don’t hear such sounds while showering; and so, the situation is pretty questionable.

Well, the fact here is that air is needed to push water down the drain when you flush the toilet or pour water into the bathtub. However, air can also affect how water passes the drain if the air is coming from the front.

What does this mean? Normally, while installing pipes, the plumber installs a vent pipe to allow air into the inspection chamber.

Typically, the bathtub drain and toilet drain are the same height above the sewer pipe; thus, the vent may be partially blocked.

More so, if the vent is not properly pitched, or made to go higher, it could be blocked by the extensive height of the drain pipes, which could be the cause of the gurgling sound.

Here’s actually what happens when you flush your toilet and the bathroom drain gurgles. The rush of water into the sewer would push back air into the bathtub drain, and this is what causes the gurgling noise.

Well, there are ways to fix this; the first way to fix that is by extending the vent pipes – to go higher than the sewer pipes. This solution may not work in some cases, but it is one of the known ways to mitigate the solution.

How To Fix Gurgling Bathtub Drain

The plumbing vent may be clogged for one reason or the other; so, one of the ways to fix the gurgling sound you hear when flushing the toilet is to clear any clog on the vent pipe.

Well, unclogging plumbing pipes may be quite technical, so you may need to call a professional plumber to do that for you. Fixing it yourself could cause other plumbing problems, which would typically cost more.

However, once the air is well-controlled within the plumbing issue, the issue should be solved.

If you parked into an apartment and started experiencing this issue, notify whoever is in charge of the building before proceeding with the repair and fixing.

What More?

In summary, for the question, “what does it mean when you flush the toilet and the bathtub gurgles?”

The issue here is mainly about the air and water relationship; once the air is provided with a channel to go through, hopefully, the gurgling issue would be solved.

We’d recommend you call a professional plumber to help in fixing the issue. More so, as an additional tip, ensure that your toilet drain is not clogged. If your toilet drain is clogged, this kind of problem is sure to happen.

That said, check your drains, the vent pipe, and other plumbing connections within the house. Hopefully, this article helped for the purpose.

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