sewer gas

[JOSEPH PAONE]

I have a two year old house on city water and sewer. I can smell sewer gas coming out of the drain when I take a shower. I dont notice it coming out of any other drains in the house. Is this normal? If not, what may be the problem?

[CindyParticipant]

: I have a two year old house on city water and sewer. : I can smell sewer gas coming out of the drain when I : take a shower. I dont notice it coming out of any : other drains in the house. Is this normal? If not, : what may be the problem? Cindy, This is not normal. It smells like someone left off the p-trap to the shower. read about traps below.Q.What is a vent, and what does it do for the plumbing system? A. If you look on your roof, you will see pipes sticking out of the roof aprox 12 high. �For every pipe that goes down, one needs to go up. �The obvious reason we have vents is that sewer gases need to be vented outside of the dwelling. �Not so obvious is what happens if they are not included in the waste and vent design. �Imagine yourself at McDonalds drinking a soda from a straw. �If you put your thumb over the straw, you can pull liquid up from the cup. Remove the thumb and see it instantly drain out! �When liquid goes down a pipe, air needs to follow it. �Without the vent pipe, the draining liquid will try to suck air through the P-traps on the plumbing fixtures,(tub, sink, etc.) glurp, glurp! �If it manages to do so, you may know it from the smell coming from the now dry seal on the P-trap. Without vents, draining one fixture may cause another fixture in the house to back up, yuck! A waste and vent system should keep sewer gas out of the dwelling and drain every fixture well.Terry Love �

[CindyParticipant]

We recently tied into our city sewer system after having a septic system for 25 years. We now have a STRONG odor of sewer gas in our house and do not know if it is related to the conversion or not(Logically, it does not seem to me that it would). How do we trouble shoot the source of the odor?

[CindyParticipant]

: I have a two year old house on city water and sewer. : I can smell sewer gas coming out of the drain when I : take a shower. I dont notice it coming out of any : other drains in the house. Is this normal? If not, : what may be the problem?What does sewer gas smell like? Is it like natural gas that buy from a utility company? Where is it formed and how? TNX Charlie

[CindyParticipant]

You might have a roof vent problem (frozen or blocked) and its just showing up in the drains. The vent allows outside air to flow into and out of the waste pipes of your home, without siphoning the water that seals each household drain down the waste pipes. The vent should be sized large enough to allow flushing a toilet and draining another sink or tub at the same time, without disturbing the water seals in the rest of the house. Use a flashlight to look down at the water surface in another drain as someone elsewhere flushes a toilet. The water in the drain should not move or bubble. A restriction or blockage in the vents will show up as smelly gas vented into the living areas from a drain. Evaporation of the seal water will take some time, probably more than two weeks but you should check each unused drain has enough water to seal. A string caught in the trap can cause the water to siphon out breaking the seal. A trap should be installed on all drains. Verify the washer drainpipe has a trap as this is one sometimes left off. If all are clear, replace the wax seal under each toilet, as this is a common route for gas infiltration. The seals are cheap and easy for a DIY to install. Another possibility is the gases from the roof vent (they are heavier than air) are flowing off the roof or from a broken pipe in the wall and into the house. Can the gases be smelled from the yard? Attic? If this is the case, a vent filter can help. Check these guys. We installed one at a 4-H camp and it solved our problem. Crest Haven 1-888-415-0634

[CindyParticipant]

:We are experiencing sewer gas in our home. A plumber has informed us that it is due to vapor lock in the main lines due to a partial block. We have phoned the water and sewer dept for our subdivision. They promise to investigate the problem and correct it. I want to know if there are any known health concerns from breathing this horrible stinch. Sincerely, Diana Fielding

[CindyParticipant]

: : You might have a roof vent problem (frozen or blocked) and its just showing up in the drains. The vent allows outside air to flow into and out of the waste pipes of your home, without siphoning the water that seals each household drain down the waste pipes. The vent should be sized large enough to allow flushing a toilet and draining another sink or tub at the same time, without disturbing the water seals in the rest of the house. Use a flashlight to look down at the water surface in another drain as someone elsewhere flushes a toilet. The water in the drain should not move or bubble. A restriction or blockage in the vents will show up as smelly gas vented into the living areas from a drain. Evaporation of the seal water will take some time, probably more than two weeks but you should check each unused drain has enough wateri have the same problem,the following took care of the stinch in the house; i was told that on a slab floor wax rings arent perfect you need to seal around the bowl to floor with rtv or similar, i did and that was it. iwas also told if the extension of the vent pipe to 3 did not cure the outside smell to run two 90 deg elbows right off the short pipe to form a U bend this is said to slow down the flow of gas yet allow air to escape tried it last night and so far it seems to work time will tell but it only ran agout 4 bucks for the 3 fittings in pvc so what the heck.(i believe this config. is used on gas wells)

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