WaterTechnology engineering

There are also some that are part of a toilet's flush mechanism. I have two of these in my house. You can just remove the toilet tank lid, and watch the water as it's directed into the trap primer tube. As long as little tube doesn't overflow, you know it's working.

My mom had the washing machine in the basement beside the drain, she kept it primed. My last house had the AC and Air Exchanger draining into it. Or when it drys out and you smell the yummyness emmiting from the basement, you get the water jug and top it up. Maybe the coolness keeps it from evaporating as well. I am on sceptic now and the drain goes into the big O tub and then pumped away...no smell on that one.

WaterTechnology

OK, I can see why Marc might never have seen one; in LA they probably don't have basements or floor drains. But in NY & Ontario?

Inflatablewaterpark

Ya startin' to sound old. My grandmother would do that to the gutter-fed cistern to kill the mosquito eggs that would otherwise hatch in the drinking water. Or is it me that's old too?

Had to google 'gas trap primer'. Just wondering if I'm the only forum member that didn't know what that was. Never seen one.

ProSlide technologyinc

Another thing to consider: I did a 1-year inspection of a new multi-family building a few months ago. It had terrible problems with sewer smells in the laundry room. The floor drain trap was bone dry, but the trap primer was working perfectly. It turns out that no one in the building had used the laundry sink in months. Since the trap primer only worked when someone ran water in the laundry sink, there might as well have not been a primer at all. The building owner was content to tell his maintenance staff to run water in the laundry sink now & then -- problem solved. Another alternative for him might have been this gizmo:

Water TechnologiesInternational

OK, I can see why Marc might never have seen one; in LA they probably don't have basements or floor drains. But in NY & Ontario?

If you really want to verify operation of the primer, activate it. If it's a pressure-drop type primer (by far the most common out there), run water at the fixture associated with it and watch for a discharge of water into the trap.

Had to google 'gas trap primer'. Just wondering if I'm the only forum member that didn't know what that was. Never seen one.