Thread: p-trap

Does someone have a nice , understandable explanation of what is the function of a p-trap? I stumbled over my thoughts this morning when asked! No one has ever asked that before!!

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The trap holds the water which keeps sewer gas out of the house. That is why (among other reasons) there is water in the toilet.

John,
What Jim said.

This may be helpful for an elementaryunderstanding of how it all fits together.

Plumbing your new home - How does that work?

Good diagrams and explanation Thom, but I used less words.

What do I win?

Jim

I agree. And I'm sure that if you could have found your crayons you would have included drawings.

Anyone notice in that link that the clothes washer drain did not have a trap, and the height looks such that it is too high to have a trap under the floor? Or is that just my eyes acting up again?

It's not your eyes. I wrote one up last year. The AHJ came about an hour after I left and green tagged the plumbing rough in.

Marshall's elementary diagrams of an plumbing drainage system are elementary incorrect.