That Pesky P Trap

That is a good explanation.  I  knew it was there but now I know how to explain it .

After I read your posts I always feel much smarter! :)  Thank you.

Very important information. I've understood this for a long time but you explained it so well.

And all this time I thought it was a safety catch for women's wedding rings when they take them off to wash the dishes :)

This is why in the desert, we need to flush toilets and run water in sinks in unoccupied homes and apartments about monthly.  Otherwise the water in the traps evaporates and the resulting fragrance lacks appeal to buyers. 

Interesting. I had no idea what a P trap did.  Definately want to make sure that the gases don't get back into the home.  Thanks for the post.

I always thought the p-trap was to create a water barrier to keep rats and snakes and werewolves from sneaking into the house.

Hergert, amazing how a little curve in a pipe can keep harful gasses from escaping. Thanks for the explanation.

Thank you for the post. I did not know the purpose of the P trap either.

A client of mine asked me about this. Now I have a blog post to direct them to! Thanks for the great info.

I think the use of your thermal image just but 2 and 2 together for alot of people and I am going to use the same should I ever have to explain . Thanks! ( J )

Nothing worse than a dried out P trap in a vacant house. That kind of starts the inspection off on a rotten note. Nice picture BTW. 

It's great to know about the P trap. If you recognize that this is the cause of an awful smell in a vacant house, you might be able to get a good deal. Others fear the small and avoid it. You can recognize it and know that just a little water down the drains will solve the "problem".

     Brilliant!  I once went to photograph a multi-million dollar house that had a foul sewer type odor through out.  I remember my dad explaining this to me and running the water, shower, and flushing toilets weekly when I went on vacation.  I used a screwdriver in my car to open the water valve near the street and we started running water.  I received a thank you card and few other nice things from the realtor in exchange for additional business.  It was another one of those ghee whiz moments. 

Excellent post! It's amazing how many parts of our homes we don't understand--thanks for shedding light on an important one.

Kevin, good explanation defining the purpose of the P trap. I always called it a J trap though.

Kevin:

Although I like John Juarez'(#10) explanation as well, yours is amazing.  I have to tell this to everyone I know.  I know most people don't even know what a ptrap is.  Thanks for the info.

You are making us so smart!  I did not know the purpose of a P trap before your post.

Kevin -- You have done an excellent job of explaining the purpose, working of the P trap - and using the thermal image just cemented the explanation.