Can a vent stack be in an exterior wall?
On the other hand, most of the plumbing stack reparations will require braking down walls i.e. searching for cleanouts. In an ideal condition, all of your house cleanouts are located on the outside, or only have items such as closets or shelves over it.
So, it’s a three-part system: 1 Drain pipes collect the wastewater right from water fixtures. 2 A waste pipe is where all wastewater from the drain pipes meet and then travel to the treatment facility. 3 A vent pipe (plumbing stack) is in charge of distributing air so the water can flow through the main drain pipe without any restriction.
Plumbing vents are often installed on the roof of a house. It is not uncommon for people to wonder if they can install their plumbing vent horizontally, rather than vertically. So is this possible? Vent pipes can have horizontal lines, provided you take caution to ensure they can’t be plugged with water.
Vertical ventilation pipes called vent stacks provide air circulation to any part of the plumbing system. Vent stacks can run parallel with waste pipes to ensure proper ventilation in tall buildings. Sub-vents may be branched together to exit 1 vent stack, allowing for only 1 hole in the roof for ventilation.
You can pass the vent through a wall instead of through the roof, but it must still rise over the roof. Cut into the drain pipe you want to vent with a hacksaw. Extend a length of pipe through the hole that extends at least 12 inches from the outside wall.
A plumbing vent pipe works alongside your drain pipes, except it doesn’t carry water. Instead, it regulates the air in your plumbing system. Also called a vent stack or plumbing air vent, the vent pipe regulates airflow to assure waste and water flows through pipes that drain out of your house.
Plumbing vent pipes are located on roofs, away from windows or air conditioning units, so that the fumes can easily dissipate.
yes you can put either in an exterior wall… although its not good practice due to freezing temps and loss of r-value of the voided area created by pipe…and should be avoided whenever possible.
It is recommended to avoid having water related plumbing located in exterior walls or through unheated attics. It is best to have plumbing fixtures in interior walls. If plumbing is in exterior walls, the pipes should be well insulated. Anything that can be done to keep the pipes warm and from freezing, should be.
Vent pipes must be installed so they stay dry. This means that they should emerge from the top of the drainpipe, either straight vertically or at no less than a 45-degree angle from horizontal, so that water cannot back up into them.
Those vent pipes all come together above the highest fixture and because they must have a source of air and they also contain sewer gases, they must continue to the outside of the house. Because sewer gasses rise out of these pipes they cannot be placed near a window so the roof is the best place for them.
There’s no plumbing issue with a vent pipe in an exterior wall. The issues you may run into are more structural. A 2″ pipe is tight in a 2×4 wall, but doable. Once you get up to the roof, it’s sometimes hard to get through the attic and up through the roof.
