How You Should Handle an Unused Bathroom

Most of us don’t have enough bathrooms in the house. With kids & family members there are usually never enough bathrooms in the house. But what happens when the kids move out and a particular bathroom does not get used often? We get a lot of calls for sewer smells in customers homes. They call a Longwood plumber and they find the customer is not using a bathroom which causes problems. Here are some things to do if you have a bathroom that does not get used that often:
  1. The main thing is to run water in the sink, shower and flush the toilet at least once a week. This will keep the traps full. A trap that has evaporated will let sewer gas into your home causing odor.
  • What is a trap? Every plumbing fixture has a trap and if you look under your sink you will see an example of a trap. The pipe goes up and down and looks like a ‘p’. That is why it is called a p-trap. Your toilets have integral traps molded into the toilet. Every plumbing fixture should have a trap by code. A traps main purpose is to create a water seal to prevent methane gas from entering your home.
2.  Another important thing to do is if  your home has a single hand shower valve turn the valve on from cold to hot .
  • Let the hot water reach the particular shower that is not used and shut it off. Why do you have to do this?  Well single handle shower valves have an anti-scald balancing cartridge inside them and if they are not used for a long period of time the pin will get stuck in either the hot or cold position causing you to lose your hot or cold water to your shower.
If you have a bathroom that is not being used, try these steps to prevent you from having to call a plumber and save you the cost of plumbing repairs to that bathroom. If you are having a plumbing issue, please give us a call in Longwood, Florida at 407-588-1736.
Trap Diagram
Trap Diagram
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