Unknown pipe in roof space

[u0362565]

Hi all,

I've attached a picture of a plastic pipe that appears to come up from the flat below us then runs through the height of our flat and into the roof space between ours and the flat above. It looks as if the top part is a sort of vent and if i could somehow unscrew the top i'd be able to see down the pipe? If it is an open pipe its obviously not carrying water or gas so what could it be for?

We've recently been getting some really bad cooking smells in our flat and i'm wondering if there is a vent or extractor in the flat below and its extracting into this pipe and then into our roof! Is that likely? And as i say our roof isn't external its just a 4ft high space between us and the top flat.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Meady]

That is a soil pipe, what all your toilet/basin/bath/sink water goes down. Te fitting on top is an aiir admittance valve. It won't have anything to do with the smells you are referring to.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

It's an Air Admittance Valve, also know as a durgo valve, it should open up to let air in when running a sink or flushing a toilet to ensure the water doesn't get pulled from the trap. It *may* be stuck so allowing air out, thus smells

 

[jase158]

Or it could be a DIY job and be used for extractor fan!! Very very Unlikely but possible!

 

[u0362565]

Ah ok thanks at least i can rule that out as the cause. I should probably post a new question but my other suspicion is that its coming in through a pipe in our bathroom where the extractor fan is mounted. This is where the smell is strongest. Do you know if extraction pipework would be linked between flats or would they all have separate piping?

Again the extractor pipe comes into the roof space but then goes through an L bend and i can't see where it goes after that.

cheers

 

[zzzjim]

Thinking alternatives , Keep an eye on wind direction, smell could be sucked into your flat .
( Self cleaning ovens have never been on my " Nice smells " list , nor beef stew )

 

[u0362565]

It's really odd it's definitely a cooking smell but it's always the same smell-almost like burnt onions, we dont smell any other food smells and it happens maybe twice a week. But if the person cooks regularly why don't we smell food every day! Unless this one dish is particularly potent and more noticeable. It also seems to coincide with an extractor fan unit being replaced in our bathroom but also timed with a new neighbour moving in downstairs and the smell is by far the strongest in our bathroom. Only the fan was changed not the extract piping and it's definitely sucking, I wondered if it was blowing air in at first. The bathroom has one external wall but no windows which doesn't help.

i think this could be impossible to track down.maybe I should flood the building with coloured smoke and see where it comes out, perhaps not..

 

[Mike Jackson]

The ducting for extractors is quite often shared. You extract fan should have shutters on the back to prevent smells returning when the fan is off.

 

[u0362565]

The fan is a basic Newlec (£12) fitted by our letting agency as far as i can see it doesn't have a shutter on it, looks pretty cheap. Do you know if fitting a fan with shutters is as straightforward as a fan without? Looks as if they're part of the unit so should be easy.

I'm not convinced that the old fan that this one replaced had shutters either though. Might have to try and convince the agency to replace it for a shuttered one.

Thanks for that info.