Excessive sewer gas (smell) from vent pipes

[gatesedward]

In the last 3 weeks we have noticed what seems to be an excessive amount of sewer gas smell coming from our two vent pipes.

We are on a city sewer and all our drains are draining properly…none even slow. There is no smell in the crawl space or in the house….unless we open a window.

The main city line runs east and west under the street to our south. The branch line that we are on, with the rest of the houses in our block runs between the houses going north and south. We are on the corner lot next to the street where the main sewer line runs.

The smell has been getting increasingly worse. Not only can we smell the sewer in the back and side yards, when the wind is not blowing, it can also be smelled in the front yard. It almost seems like our vent pipes have become the main vent for the entire sewer line.

I checked with a plumbing outfit and they said if our drains are all running properly and we have no leaks in or under the house, then the problem could be with the city sewer….a lift station problem or a clog somewhere along the line.

I would apprecicate any information I could get so I would be more knowledgable when dealing with the city.

Also, if it’s something that may be wrong on my end, I’d like to have an idea what to tell a plumber.

Thanks

[Retired plbg1Participant]

I would say put a house trap in the main sewer line to your house.

---

Art retired plbg

[sgrabielParticipant]

try a carbon activated vent pipe filter. http://www.odorhog.com or http://www.stopsepticodor.com

[Jeff987Participant]

Thanks for the responses. The city crew came out the day I posted and removed two large grease clogs from the cleanout in the street. They also removed two from an access manhole 1 block north of us. In addition they brought out a large pump truck and cleaned out everything inside the street manhole.

This cleared up the problem.

I was wondering about the OdorHog. Do you think they actually work as claimed?

[Author]

Posts