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I recently moved into a new flat and it has 2 sinks that are plumbed as such:

Image of plumbing under the kitchen sinks, showing a bottle trap and a p trap.

As far as I understand, both the Bottle Trap and the P Trap serve the same purpose, so in this case the Bottle Trap is redundant and can be removed, right?

I'm asking as I'd like to get a plumber to remove the Bottle Trap and replace the flexible tube with a proper pipe so that it reduces the amount of cleaning needed and improves flow, and wanted to check that it's the right thing to do before calling the plumber.

Vlad Schnakovszki
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    There was a question about bottle traps last week and from the comments/answer they are now illegal/against code to install(North America), so removing them and just using P-traps is good. – crip659 May 08 '22 at 21:36
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    Pretty clearly UK by the plugs, I'd say. But yes, that one is actually doing no good at all. Not sure how UK plumbing code rules on the pair of sinks - under IPC, if the drains are within 30 inches you only need the one trap for the pair. And the transfer tube should be full-sized and smooth, as you want. – Ecnerwal May 08 '22 at 22:23
  • Just love those electric sockets underneath the plumbing. I'd be more concerned about moving them, or at least providing some protection for them. – Tim May 09 '22 at 07:24
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    @Tim - afaik UK sockets are all protected by an "ELCB" (aka GFCI in the US) back in the panel. – brhans May 09 '22 at 12:09
  • @brhans - Well aware of that, but why put the possibility of water getting into the sockets so they get tripped? Makes sense to put them just about anywhere else, or protect them, then there's no need to re-set the trip, is there? – Tim May 09 '22 at 12:19
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    @Tim - it's not particularly uncommon in the US to have a GFCI outlet under the sink to plug in a garbage disposal ... – brhans May 09 '22 at 13:33
  • Yes, that's understandable, but I can't think of any reason to put an outlet just about where any leak is likely to occur - when there are several safer places. Why tempt fate..? Not the most intelligent, I feel. – Tim May 09 '22 at 13:43
  • @Tim if there is water there then maybe the tripping is actually your fail safe to tell you to fix your plumbing - it is a free feature ! – Fresh Codemonger May 09 '22 at 16:43
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    @FreshCodemonger - great idea. Let's legislate for fixing sockets - under the bath, toilet, sink, washing machine, shower... We could even put one outside so we'd know when it was raining... – Tim May 09 '22 at 17:01
  • Thanks for the replies! This is indeed in the UK. I definitely understand your concerns about having the sockets there but an electrician has seen them while investigating another issue in the kitchen and said it's not a problem. All the flats I've lived in in the UK had some sort of electricity under the sink so I guess it's fairly normal. The only thing that could leak on them is that flexible tube so I'll make sure to ask the plumber to keep the new pipe away from them. Thank you again everyone, I really appreciate all your help! – Vlad Schnakovszki May 10 '22 at 22:16

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It looks like you have two drains, correct? The picture may be deceiving, but it looks like one trap is lower than the other. You could get away with one trap, but it would have to piped in such a way that both drains are above the trap. Water flows down hill and the trap should be full to prevent sewage gas from coming back up through the drain. Hope that makes sense.

ThreePhaseEel
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Rich Sandy Frey
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