farty noise in my bathroom !!!!

worried123

I know this sounds mad but there is a sort of loud farty noise coming from my bathroom.  Sorry - this post is openening itself up for a few jokes i know.  It happened this time last year for about 3 days....i was going to get a plumber in but it suddenly just stopped.   There is no connection to running water or flushing the loo....the noise will just happen intermitently....bear with me on this - sometimes several farty noises in succession and then sometimes just intermitently one noise  (i live alone - its nobody else making the noise before you wonder).

I have put Mr Muscle down all sink holes and flushed through and there are no blockages etc....water is running freely and the noise isnt even whilst running water or directly afterwards.....just this sort of loud slightly gratey fart noise (i actualy wondered if somebody insane - well more insane than me typing this question - was messing around with a fart machine...i tried googling about them and it is indeed a similar sound.....put it down the drain or something........it sounds like its coming from around the bathroom...i live in a bungalow so bathroom at ground level....i have checked outside....

So before they come to lock me up, does anybody know what this noise might be and have you ever had this problem in your bathroom.  Are there any plumbers out there who might know...

many thanks..she says cowering.

Alter_ego

House or flat?

plumb1_2

Do you have a extractor, do you have anti-vac traps?

Alderbank

Alter_ego said:

House or flat?

OP says 'I live in a bungalow'

worried123

I have an extractor fan - but its definitely nothing to do with that...even if i turn that off the noise continues.  I do not know waht ant-vac traps are.  I do not have a clue....helpless female in all of this.
it sounds as though the noise is coming from around the bathroom and sometimes under the shower....last year when it happened for 3 days it sounded as though it was coming from underneath the sink.....its really odd.

Bendy_House

Does it happen more when it's windy? (I know...I know...)

Could be the bottle traps, or an air-admittance valve if there isn't a soil vent pipe fitted.

Photo of the OUTSIDE wall where the bathroom is?

FreeBear

Bendy_House said: or an air-admittance valve

Had similar noises from one of these valves - Only happened when the drain got blocked and the water backed up. Now that the drains have been well rodded, no more noise.

worried123

Thanks everyone.  i think i am going to have to get a plumber in - strange how it happened a whole year ago for 3 days and then nothing until yesterday.  I dont think my drains are blocked though as the drain pipe ends high up in the actual drain and can still hear the water splashing down...i really dont think anything is backing up.

what are bottle traps please...

fenwick458

got one of these Air admittance valve?
you'll be able to see, does the soil pipe stick out of the roof or not?

Bendy_House

worried123 said:

Thanks everyone.  i think i am going to have to get a plumber in - strange how it happened a whole year ago for 3 days and then nothing until yesterday.  I dont think my drains are blocked though as the drain pipe ends high up in the actual drain and can still hear the water splashing down...i really dont think anything is backing up.

what are bottle traps please...

Bottle traps (there are other types too) are wot's fitted to the drains in your basin and bath - the part immediately underneath that the waste pipe is attached to. It holds water, and this prevents smells from coming back up - hence the 'trap' part.

Sometimes they can gurgle and glug, but not really fart.

The air-admittance valve - or 'Durgo' - is fitted where it's tricky to have a normal soil vent pipe running up the outside of your house, or where the loo is located well inside, and not close to an outside wall. Usually the large waste 'soil' pipe from your loo goes through a wall, and joins a vertical vent pipe. The, er, contents drop down this pipe, and this can suck in air behind it. The pipe therefore continues UP beyond the loo, and is open above eaves level. Air can get drawn safely in there.

Where you DON'T have one of these vent pipes, a solution is to fit a valve - the Durgo - which is often inside the loo, but usually boxed away out of sight. This has a light flap valve inside it, and when you 'flush', air can be drawn in to follow the contents...

I can imagine this flap can 'fart' at times. Listen out when you flush. It could happen at other times, tho', if the wind is in a certain direction, and there's a down-draught.

But that's only guesswork. But hence me asking if it happens when it's gusty, or the wind is in a certain direction.

Tbh, your plumber might struggle if it isn't making a noise when they're there...

If the noise happens in spates, is there any chance you could record it?

Wyndham

I'd also ask if it happens when it's windy (I know, I know), or if it happens when the wind is coming from a certain direction. It may be that sometimes the wind from the outside gets into the pipe somehow, and makes the noise. We have an extractor fan which rattles when the wind is from the north east (which doesn't happen often), but is silent at other times.

Good luck - these things never make the noise when you get the expert round