Air Admittance Valve
On a recent hot weather camping trip, we noticed "that smell." You know, the nasty sour GREY water smell you should only experience when dumping the greay water tank? I discovered we have one of these...
Forum Discussion
Old-Biscuit wrote:
There are some cheap ones......use a flapper held in place with a 'tang'
Over time the tang stretches....no more positive closure
They cost $4-$5
Then there are much better ones.......use a spring to hold a diaphragm closed
Longer lasting, better closure and cost $25 plus
The one OP posted is the "good" one like Oatey or others make. We paid nearly $30 at Lowes. (ouch) It's larger in dia. though and may not always fit so check first. AAVs are usually used in houses where you can't get a vent pipe over to a stack like in a kitchen island for ex.
The one under our kitchen sink failed at less than 6 months old. Replaced it with one from Lowes and it failed a year later. Funny thing was, it wasn't even made in Ch*na. Replaced it with the "good" one. If you replace one with another cheap one, better buy spares 'cuz they're at risk of failing again, lol.
Even if they could vent the sink to your roof vent, they won't because it's more pipe and more labor - probably like another couple of $$... (sigh) Drives me crazy the way they install waste piping (and PEX) under sinks like they do so it blocks a lot of usable space. (pffft) I redid ours and gained a lot more space.
