Plumbing has many unusual components that are not easy to identify for the average homeowner. Many parts and pieces do more than move the water throughout your house. A wet vent is an essential addition to the your home’s pipes that drains water and vents one or more pipes together. These vents keep smell and gas from waste out of your house.
How Many Plumbed Items Use Wet Vents?
Wet vents can have multiple items hooked up to them. There are a few rules for installing wet vents that also regulate how many pipes and household items you can attach to the vent. Wet vents may be connected to:
- Toilets
- Bathtubs
- Showers
- Floor drains
- Sinks
Wet vents typically have a trap arm near the vent coupling. The trap is attached at an angle and is used to keep debris from clogging the pipes. The wet vent is often placed right next to the bottom of the trap.
While wet vents can be connected to multiple items, those items don’t have to all be in the same room. However, they must be on the same floor. Also, if the wet vent is attached to a toilet line, the vent must be installed so that the toilet is lower than all the other fixtures on that vent. The toilet also has to be the last fixture on the plumbing line for that vent. However, you can use more than one vent per floor.
Size Requirements for Wet Vents
Wet vents must attach to the drain line at a 45-degree angle. The vents can be as long as you need them to be, and every fixture in a bathroom must have a vent. Using wet vents to combine venting and draining requirements can save a lot of space, but given that you need to vent each fixture and the plumbing has to work around a variety of angles to connect to the fixtures, there will be some practical size requirements for what lengths the vents should be.
Most wet vents are between two and three inches in diameter. Typically, people will measure the unit load requirements for that pipe area and choose a pipe diameter in half-inch increments between two and three inches.
The wet vents do not have a maximum length, technically, other than practical building constraints. Sections of plastic piping require a pipe supporter per four feet of horizontal piping. Most building codes have a minimum vent length to prevent hydraulic problems. Your specific size requirements will be based on the available building space considering these other constraints.
Local plumbing codes differ from place to place, and it is important that any plumbing work is inspected. Additional requirements may vary locally, so it can be a good idea to check the local plumbing codes before planning any projects.
Why Use Wet Vents?
If you tried to put a dry vent in for every fixture that needs a vent, you’d end up with a lot of extra pipes! Wet vents save a lot of space by attaching multiple fixtures to each wet vent and by allowing for drainage using the same space.
Without a wet vent, you would almost certainly have methane gas leaking into the house from the sewer line. You’d also have slow drainage, gurgling noises, and major odor problems inside the building. Wet vents are an essential component in bathrooms, and it’s often advisable to vent other plumbed fixtures in the home as well.
Wet vents can save people lots of time, money, and plumbing problems. While some systems do rely primarily on dry vents, wet vents are worth it. They can be made of plastic or copper components. Copper components will have some soldering involved as you install everything. Different fixture combinations will have different vent setups and pipe sizes. With generous pipe sizes and careful adherence to local codes, a wet vent will keep your pipes running smoothly and odor-free for many years.
Smedley Service has provided service in the Layton, UT area for over 75 years. We provide services in pipe repair, tankless water heaters, backflow testing, water heater repair, and water heater replacement. We also provide indoor air quality services, AC repair, AC installation, AC maintenance, furnace repair, boiler repair, boiler replacement, furnace maintenance, and furnace replacement. Contact Smedley Service today for more information!
