Why do I hear gurgling when I flush the toilet?
Plumbing problems are common in residential homes. That’s the overarching conclusion reached in several studies, including one published by Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company. It revealed that over one-third of homeowners in the U.S. required professional plumbing services between 2021 and 2023.
The majority of those service calls were for leaky faucets and pipes, clogged drains, water heater issues, and low water pressure. Noisy toilets were also among the plumbing problems that prompted homeowners to seek the expertise of a licensed plumber. There are several reasons why homeowners hire a professional plumber instead of trying to resolve plumbing problems themselves.
The average homeowner is not as confident in resolving plumbing problems as they are resolving other issues in the home. And that’s substantiated by multiple studies, including one published by the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors. It revealed that many homeowners cite a lack of expertise, safety concerns, or the risk of causing more damage as the basis for feeling less confident about fixing plumbing problems when they arise in their homes.
Many also expressed feeling intimidated by the complexity of their home’s plumbing system, which makes perfect sense considering the average plumbing system in a home comprises an enormous network of pipes, valves, and fixtures.
What Does It Mean When Your Toilet Is Making Bubbling or Gurgling Sounds?
Drain systems, also known as drain-waste-vent (DWV) systems, use gravity and venting to move wastewater out of a house. However, this process can’t happen unless the vent pipes in the home are working correctly. Vent pipes work in conjunction with drainage pipes to efficiently remove wastewater and prevent the entry of harmful sewer gases.
When water flows down a drainpipe, including those connected to toilets, it creates a vacuum behind it. By regulating air pressure, vent pipes stop vacuums from becoming strong enough to pull water from p-traps. These are the u-shaped pipes under sinks, showers, and toilets that prevent sewer gases and odors from rising back up through the drain in a home.
If vent pipes are unable to regulate air pressure, it can lead to slow drainage, gurgling noises, and even the complete disruption of water flow. Drain system problems can cause many of the same issues that malfunctioning vent pipes cause. Some of the things that can negatively affect drain systems and vent pipes and cause a toilet to make bubbling or gurgling sounds include the following:
- A clogged toilet
- A drain line blockage or a main line clog
- Clogged municipal sewer lines
- Vent stack blockages
To fully understand how these various clogs and blockages can cause bubbling or gurgling toilet sounds, slow drainage, and even the complete disruption of water flow in a home, we need to look at each individually:
A Clogged Toilet
Many items can clog the toilet in a home, and when they do, they can trigger gurgling or bubbling sounds. They can also cause a toilet to overflow and stop them from flushing altogether. Some of the things that often clog toilets in residential homes include excessive toilet paper, non-flushable wipes, feminine products, paper towels, cotton balls, and smaller foreign objects, such as medication, hair, and children’s toys. That’s according to an article published by Better Homes & Gardens.
A Drain Line Blockage or a Main Line Clog
Drain lines are the connections between drains and the main line, the large-diameter pipe that carries wastewater from a home’s drains to the municipal sewer system or a septic tank. Drain and mainline blockages can create negative air pressure. Among other things, the result of that negative pressure is a noisy toilet.
Many of the things that cause drain lines to become blocked are the same ones that cause clogging in toilets. Mainline blockages, meanwhile, are usually caused by tree root invasion and corroded, cracked, or collapsed pipes. They can also occur when the ground supporting a sewer line shifts or settles or when there is a significant buildup of dirt, debris, or sludge that causes mainline pipes to narrow.
Clogged Municipal Sewer Lines
Sometimes, clogged municipal sewer lines are to blame for the gurgling, bubbling, and other sounds that come from toilets and throughout a home’s plumbing system, say many professional plumbers in the Tampa Bay area. Many of the same things that clog drain lines and mainlines in a residential home also clog municipal sewer lines. Fortunately, homeowners are not responsible for these clogs. They can report the problem to their local municipality or water company to have it resolved. Common signs of a clogged municipal sewer line include the following:
- Frequent water level changes in toilets
- Gurgling or bubbling sounds emanating from drains, toilets, or faucets
- Persistent foul odors
- Slow-draining sinks, showers, bathtubs, or toilets
- Water backing up in sinks, toilets, or bathtubs
- Water pooling in streets or on sidewalks near the home
- Wet or soggy areas in the home’s yard, especially near sewer lines
A Vent Stack Blockage
Before detailing how vent stack blockages can cause a toilet to make gurgling or bubbling sounds, let’s first discuss what vent stacks are. Essentially, a vent stack is the vertical pipe that leads to a home’s roof. It plays an integral role in regulating the air pressure in a home’s plumbing system and releasing exhaust gas. When a bird’s nest, leaves, or dead rodents, for example, block a vent stack, negative pressure builds up and triggers bubbling or gurgling sounds that can emanate from toilets and throughout the home’s plumbing system.
Hire a Professional Licensed Plumber Today
In summary, bubbling and gurgling sounds can signal anything from a clogged toilet to blockages in your home’s drain lines, mainlines, vent stacks, or municipal sewer lines that connect to your home’s drain system. To learn more or to hire a professional plumber to silence your home’s noisy plumbing problems, consider speaking with a Pensacola Benjamin Franklin Plumbing associate today.
