Hi All:
On 8/26/6, after nearly 20 years we started to get a smell coming from our shower drain. Ran liquid Drano, flushed it with the garden hose, cleaned it above the trap with clorax and a bottle brush. (there is water in the trap) It went away and came back acouple of times. Called the plumber. He said it was caused by the heavy humidity and will go away. It didn’t. Besides, that answer just didn’t sound right. Called the city. A man came out and said it did not smell like sewer gas. He pulled the cap off of the clean out and no oder there.
Ran a snake down the vent pipe, no obstructions. Put a white rubber sink stopper over the drain and put a pitcher of water on it. Kept the smell out of the house and turned the white rubber brown.
Called our builder and he suggested pouring chlorox in the trap and let it set over night. Didn’t work. He also suggested running a snake down and see if it picks up anything. Ran the snake in about eight feet turning it. Came up with nothing. Just talked to him and he suggested asking the question on this forum.
Thank you out there for the help.
God Bless
Dick
Replies
Without a smidgen of knowledge but recent experience at my mother's home, I might ask if there are 'vents" in the exterior of your house requiring an annual (I realize 20 years isn't quite annual) unplugging (for lack of better language).
... doubt this helps, but a thought nevertheless
Thank you so much! One of the early things I tried was to run a snake down the external air vent as far as it would go; which should have been well past the entrance to the drain line. There was no obstruction.
I don't envy you the monster headache in solving this mystery.
Maybe you've got a local TV show that could come out with their expert and help while they film. (kind of an unappealing idea for you but might solve your dilemma)
Thank you.
Shower drain smell was a thread on breaktime a while back. Go to breaktime and do a search, you should find your answer.
Good luck