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Several years ago I saw an ad for breathable vent pipe caps meant to be used in spaces that didn’t allow you to run your vents through the roof to outside air. They were supposed to let air only move ‘into’ the pipe and not vent back into the room. I have a septic tank that is venting odors that blow back onto my deck and into my house. Does anyone remember this product or anything similar.
Thanks,
Stan
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I've used some exceedingly low-pressure ball check valves in which the ball was a ping-pong ball. The tricky part of making them was to get the better, English (Carlton?) seamless ping-pong balls, not the cheap ones made of two hemispheres glued together. Boart Longyear or something like that was the manufacturer for a few years until they passed it on to someone else. I used them right side up and upside down to allow environmental wells to breath out or in, respectively.
Easier to find might be a reed valve. You can find small ones at the pet store for fish-tank tubing. Small ones could be ganged together or try to find/make a larger one. Hopeful another poster will give you a plumbing source for this device.
Hard to do with swing checks because you want a lot of cross-sectional area but a 2" or larger swing check valve needs several inches of water column vacuum to open. -David
*Stan,Ask your plumbing supplier about "Studer" vents. I am not sure they are a solution for your problem. In some locations you can not use them and they are for branch lines and not the main stack.Steve
*Use the BT "Search" function and look for "studor vent". Not really sure that a air admitance valve (studor vent) would do what you need, but it sounds like what you are describing.
*Stan,You say "I have a septic tank that is venting odors that blow back onto my deck and into my house." Are you saying that your septic has a vent pipe coming out of it, and that the fumes from that pipe come into the house through the door to the deck?If this is the case:Then isn't the function of the vent to let air out? Wouldn't a "one way" vent that only lets air in defeat the purpose of the vent?What is the function of a vent in the septic?...my septic has no vent.Confused (as usual),Rich Beckman
*If you are getting odors from the area of the septic tank, that can be a sign that your septic tank leach field is failing. There are lots of resources regarding septic systems on the Internet, here are a couple that you may want to look at:http://www.a1cesspool.com/whatcangowrong.htmlhttp://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/5240/Septic_Tanks.htmlhttp://www.inspect-ny.com/septic/tankpump.htmStudor has a web site at:http://www.studor.com/
*Hey Stan,Yep, it's a studor vent that you describeand Nope, it isn't what you want for the problem you describe. Sounds like you have leach field problems or your tank is full of solids. Time to pump and hold your nose with both hands. Call a septic man before you're ankle-deep in problems.Good flushing, Phat Bastard
*I went to my plumbing supplier for help with roof vent odor and one suggestion was to vent the tank itself at ground level, the reasoning being that if the tank is far enough away from the house, the odor dissipates before people are involved with it. It seems your tank is not so strategically located. The diaphragm vents that you are describing let air go the wrong direction for your purposes, are too small, and are not allowed at all in some areas, at any rate. Totally the wrong item...If the odor you describe is coming not directly from the tank, but from the vent stacks, you can buy or make charcoal filters for them as i outlined in the septic odor thread by jim whithers. You can also extend the vent stacks, but this may not help, as the odors seem to settle into pockets like our patios.
*Stan,Do not use charcoal in your vent stack. That would only treat the symptom and not the cause and would be against code.If this is an aerobic system your bacteria may need a boost with something like Robic or similar product. Excess chlorine or photo developing chemicals will kill these bacteria. Properly working tanks don't smell too bad. Could be time to call the "Honey Dipper".KK
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Thanks for the tip. The vent pipes coming through the roof of the house are what stinks. Just took possession of the house two weeks ago. We get winds up in the mountains that blow down off the roof. Have a brand new leach field (one month) and the tank was pumped at the same time so that shouldn't be the problem.
Stan
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Stan...You either need a pro to stop by and check out the problem or you have above average ablities to detect odor....Many of the posts here are in my opinion just plain not the right thing to do.
Not near your vents thank God,
aj
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Seems unusual that it would be smelling so much after having been pumped a month ago and a brand new leach field installed. Here's the question: are tanks not supposed to smell if they are working properly. My tank is only 6 feet from the house and there are vent stacks in the outside walls just over the patio so the odor doesn't have to travel far. Thanks
Stan
*I added two quarts of Roebic two weeks ago and the house has been almost empty for the past month. Everyone told me it was pumped but maybe I should pop the lid and take a look.
*I am sensitive to smells but the first night we spent in the house with the windows open, the wife and I kept looking at each other, wondering if the other had a problem they weren't talking about. When I was working on the roof, my roofer commented on the smell as well. I am mystified.thanks for input :-)
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Stan....you're wasting your's and our's time....
b Pay
somone to take care of it. Yellow pages...Ya know what I mean?
Enough talk....near the stream,
aj
Or go chat at DebateSepticClues.com
*Stan:My buddy is going through the same deal with a brand new septic in a brand new home. I asked my excavation guy about it when he came out to do mine, and he told me that some systems will just do that for a while until they balance out. He said it should take care of itself, but might take up to a year. Spoke with my buddy about 2 weeks ago, and he was still having trouble, and had made his wife throw out all her antibacterial soaps. We'll see.
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Several years ago I saw an ad for breathable vent pipe caps meant to be used in spaces that didn't allow you to run your vents through the roof to outside air. They were supposed to let air only move 'into' the pipe and not vent back into the room. I have a septic tank that is venting odors that blow back onto my deck and into my house. Does anyone remember this product or anything similar.
Thanks,
Stan