We have a plumbing odor in all rooms with a plumbing fixture or a floor drain: the bath room, the kitchen, and the mechanical room. We have filled the traps with water, and have verified that the bath exhaust fan doesn’t go through the roof near the plumbing stack. I’m scratching my head.
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I can't help you except to tell you that you may get more answers if you also post your question at the Breaktime forum.
We had this happen at my old work place. The floor drain in the restroom smelled of sewage which permeated the entire office area. The maintenance people advised that we fill the trap with water and top it off with vegetable oil to prevent evaporation of the water. It worked. I don't know if this is a good recommendation as far as plumbing is concerned.
One other thought, is the roof vent blocked by debris? Good luck.
I agree on the vegetable oil. I just had a customer with a cheaper type of floor drain where there really is no trap. The lip of the grate extends down into the water sealing off gases but letting water flow up and over a dam and into the drain. The only problem is that this floor drain is directly in the main waste line. When a heavy flow passes by like a toilet flushing the air pressure pushes past the small water amount in the trap and they get smell. Their fix is to lift up the grate, insert an old sink type rubber stopper into the pipe and remove it when they wish to wash the floor or need the drain for some reason. That fixed the gas problem.
Are you sure you didn't get a drywall screw ran into your stack?
you might try and reset your toilets, it is possoble that the wax seal has been compromised. Any leak here will make the house reek. If you have an old house, check under the house for old open drain lines.
good luckjohn
Thank you, but I ain't the guy with the problem, and I don't use those wax seals anymore.
Kesac,
Not to go off topic here, but what DO you use instead of wax seals? I didn't realize there was an alternative. Thanks in advance.
They now have some plastic seals that seal inside the pipe. They can be repositioned again and again with out leakage. Some have a chevron type of seal, and some have an elastomeric o ring, just as is used in hydraulic systems. Home Depot, Lowes and all the usual suspects carry the things. You will not notice them in amongst the usual wax extenders, unless you start looking at the writing on the package.
"Wax Free Toilet Seal" by Fernco is the one I just found, but I know there is at least one other kind that I have used.
Goto: http://www.fernco.com They glue onto the bottome of the toilet, which at first caused me a small concern, but they ain't coming off, unless you grind them off.
You will like them.
Kesac,
Thank you for taking the time to explain something new to me.
Hi, I have a 1914 Craftsman house in northern Virginia. I just signed on to these discussions and lo & behold, the first topic is something I am/was experiencing!
2 weeks ago, the plumber replaced 2 of 3 wax seals under my toilets, and now they do not smell after flushing, so it works & is worth it.
However, the smell in my house is where the main drain line leaves the house for the septic. It used to smell when we flushed, but it also smells 5-10 times worse when we have flood-type rains. Finally I got the septic & plumbing "experts" to stop pointing fingers at one another without explanation, and the latest plumber's explanation makes sense to me: when it rains, there's a crack somewhere in my septic tank that's letting water in & raising the level of fluid so the stinky air backs up into my house.
Another thing that concerns me is the PVC pipe I found hacked off in my yard (after nearly breaking a foot falling into it!) by a crazed lawnmower. Someone told me a year ago that it was a clean-out and I should put a cap on it so it doesn't get mowed over again. The plumber told me it might be the vent, and that perhaps the cap--AND the fact that the pipe got filled with dirt while uncapped--is clogging it and also contributing to the smell problem.
Does any of this make sense to any of you? I'm desperate after a year of detective work, especially since the room that gets the smell is my kitchen/dining area!
Thanks!
Water getting into your septic tank during heavy rain would be a cause for concern, but it is more likely to cause a failure of the absorption field (indicated by sewage on the ground) or a back-up of sewage into the house. The septic tank should vent gases through the plumbing DWV system out the stack. The open clean-out needs to be capped, and may solve the problem of the odor in the vicinity.
Jim,
Thanks for your reply.
A couple clarifications: The clean-out has been capped since spring (but it's also stopped up). The odor is nowhere near the clean-out in the yard--it's inside the house. But there's been no sign of even soggy ground at the drain field, let alone sewage.
Any more thoughts?
Sally
The out flow from the septic to the drain tile field may be slightly clogged and rain is also getting into the tank. Have you had the tank pumped recently?They should inspect it at same time they pump and find out what is wrong.
The comments about the septic tank are good. If you haven't had the septic tank pumped--or at least checked--in the last 5 years or so, it's time to do that anyway. If there's any blockage in the septic tank, distribution box, or absorption lines, that needs to be taken care of before you start noticing sewage from the septic system on the ground surface. Essentially, you just need to eliminate possible problems one at a time, starting with the most simple (e.g., rodding the sewer lines in the building) and then moving to the next part of the system.
One potential way to check for blockage in the septic system is to uncap the cleanout and see if anything flows out onto the ground (it shouldn't, but you should be able to see or at least hear water running through the pipe if you run a faucet in the house with the clean-out plug removed). The open cleanout may have allowed soil, leaves, small animals, etc to get into the system at a point that creates a partial blockage.
Another potential source of odor is a floor drain with no water in the trap. I can't remember if anyone else mentioned that.
Thanks for all the replies! Here's some follow-up:
Septic was pumped out about 7 months ago, no problems found, but not sure how well they even checked.
There's no floor drain in the basement at all.
We're very careful about "feminine products" & baby wipes & even toilet tissue, but no idea if there might be issues from former tenants/owners--wouldn't this be taken care of with the pumping, though?
Are there 2 different openings in a septic system: a clean-out and a vent? What do each look like? Where are they located with relation to the house and the distribution box?
If you have mo moisture in the drain field, that might be a sign that you are stopped up before your waste even gets there.
When the county well-approval fellow was out recently (another story), he said the smell is definitely because of the vent at the top of the house. He said when it's raining heavily, the air is heavy with moisture and the air in the vent can't get out.
This makes more sense than anything anyone professional or not has said to me. And he seemed quite intelligent & experienced about everything else we discussed.
My new question, then, is whether there is any kind of a contraption like a fan that could kick in (or always be on?) to force the air out of the vent. Anyone have any ideas?
--Sally
If you would look into Avagadro's 3rd law of physics, you will find that damp air is lighter than dry air. Ask any pilot what humidity does to the lift on his airplane's wings, or any drag racer what humid air does to his fuel air mixture.
After that, stop and think about any and all of the other houses you have lived in or visited. Most of them have been blessed with damp air on a great many occasions. I don't know of any houses in my experience that have also been blessed with unwanted sewage odors. Do you remember any?
I am sure the guy was a nice guy, but he didn't help you even a little bit.
You have leak somewhere, below your traps.
Thank you, Kesac!
Now, what and where exactly are my "traps"?
The traps are the "S" shaped drain pipe below each and every sink tub or toilet in your home. The bottom of those "esses" fill with water, and prevent sewer gasses from rising back up the drain and into your home. You might have a trap that for some reason isn't holding water, and losing its seal. I have never seen that, but it is possible.
When I said, "below", I also assumed that you would know that the vent pipe, while technically above the traps, is downstream from the traps. I have seen drywallers, run a screw into a vent pipe and cause just the condition you describe. Finding those things is often a chore. You can't do a pressure leak check without pulling up the commodes and gaining access to your tub traps, etc. These guys might be able to explain it better.
I sure do wish you luck.
Ask The Builder - Home Building, Remodeling and Improvement Information Page
Having experienced slow flushing toilets in basement & 1st floor along with smells in the basement, we opted to have the septic tank flushed & were prepared to also install new field lines for first time in 25 years. Lo and behold, the field lines were blocked in the septic tank by plastic coated feminine products just floating at the top!
Once feminine items removed, septic tank once again began operating properly & there was no need for the field lines to be redone! So much for all those "as advertised" flushables!
Should you have female employed in your home or guests, recommend they are aware the house has a septic tank and is not on a sewer! Surely, we are not the first to have experienced blockage as result of such!
Similar thing happend at my sister's new house--her septic tank backed up and the entry to it was clogged with these supposedly flushable feminine products. She didn't know any better--does now! Also found that the builder had used very cheap corrugated plastic drain pipe and it was crushed and then when they tried to clean with an auger, the auger had gone right through it. They replaced with heavy gage pipe and have had no problems since (and she stopped flushing those things).