Vent stack vents INSIDE building???

[JeffeVerde]

My sister has an office in a single story strip-mall type building and complained that the office "smells like a$$" every morning when she first opens up in the morning. The property manager sent out a "plumber" who looked up in the ceiling and said "Oh, here's you're problem - some one put a cap on this vent", and proceeded to remove a cap from what my sister clearly describes as a vent stack. She questioned him on having this vent INTO the building. He replied that it's supposed to vent into the above ceiling space, and that there are vents in the roof to handle the gas.

I know this would be a violation in residential, but I'm not familiar with commercial. Is this "plumber" full of sh*t? I wired the office when she did her TI, and I know for a fact the only ventilation in the roof are the narrow soffit vents in a sidewalk overhang.

Since the property manager doesn't seem to be interested in rectifying this on their own, any suggestions on who to escalate it to? Building dept? Health dept? (there are food service shops in the same building)

[Wgoodrich]

Print this out and provide it to the building owner through your sister. Have her explain this is minimum safety requirements. If the owner does not correct explain the risk of explosion and health risks he is personally liable for. Should get a reaction. The below text is a copied section of the International Plumbing Code 2003. If the owner claims a different code version it also will have the same rules but maybe in a different location in their code. Just confirm the adopted code in your jurisdiction and we will try to provide a copied section showing the same requirement.

COPIED SECTION IPC 2003;

SECTION 903
VENT STACKS AND STACK VENTS
903.1 Stack required. Every building in which plumbing is installed
shall have at least one stack the size of which is not less
than one-half of the required size of the building drain. Such
stack shall run undiminished in size and as directly as possible
from the building drain through to the open air or to a vent
header that extends to the open air.

903.2 Vent stack required. A vent stack shall be required for
every drainage stack that is five branch intervals or more.

903.3 Vent termination. Every vent stack or stack vent shall
extend outdoors and terminate to the open air.

Hope this helps

Wg

[2cpus4me]

We are in a basement of a commercial bldg. The building is brick both inside and out for 2 stories up. We tried to get the inspector to let us vent out a toilet and sink through a recently closed off window opening (2 feet from the installation area) and up the side of the bldg. Nope.

So, what is the difference of a vent stack running inside the building up through the roof vs. running up an outside wall to the roof? I could maybe see the sun exposure issue on the pipe but where's the beef?

[Wgoodrich]

If you live in a cold winter area that freezes the moisture in the vent will freeze drawing more moisture that will also freeze eventually freezing just your outside stack. This would have to be addressed by enlarging the vent stack large enough to ensure not plugged by freezing closed.

Also if a vent is vented out the side it is requried to run up the building to above the roof if with vented soffits. No vent outlet may be terminated below any opening that may route the exhaust fumes back into the building whether attic, living area or crawl.

Hope this helps

Wg