Hi all,
I have just purchased an existing nail & spa salon with 8 pedicure
spas. During the process of transfering ownership, the shop was
inspected by the county inspectors. One of them was a plumbing
inspector. I also had a plumber replaced the toilet flange as he said
it was improperly installed by the guys who did the tile floor.
Everything looked good as the plumbing inspector and the plumber said.
However, the last couple weeks I have been in and out the shop late at
night and been terrified by the sewage odor as I openned the door. It
first came and went away but it 's getting worse and worse every day.
The odor comes not during the day (regardless whether the pedicure
chairs are used or not) but every night. I have had the toilet door
closed a few nights to check if the odor is from there but I could
definitely tell it's not as I came back in the morning. The last
couple nights, just before we left I noticed the smell from the drain
holes of the last 3 pedicure chairs. I had the water run and drained
out for about 10 minutes then the smell went away. Why only 3 spas out
of 8???
I know I can call the same plumber to look at it but I'm trying to
learn to do something myself even though I know nothing about
plumbing. In addition to that, the plumber charged me $300.00 for 15
minute job that I think it's outrageous.
Please help.

These things probably have traps in the bottom. It would seem
that you are losing the water trap on the last 3.

They can dry out from non use. Simply add water.
They can leak out through a crack or a hole or be eaten up by
acid/chemicals. Install new traps.
They can be sucked dry because of a venting error. Replumb.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
I have just purchased an existing nail & spa salon with 8
pedicure
spas. During the process of transfering ownership, the shop was
inspected by the county inspectors. One of them was a plumbing
inspector. I also had a plumber replaced the toilet flange as he
said
it was improperly installed by the guys who did the tile floor.
Everything looked good as the plumbing inspector and the plumber
said.
However, the last couple weeks I have been in and out the shop
late at
night and been terrified by the sewage odor as I openned the
door. It
first came and went away but it 's getting worse and worse every
day.
The odor comes not during the day (regardless whether the
pedicure
chairs are used or not) but every night. I have had the toilet
door
closed a few nights to check if the odor is from there but I
could
definitely tell it's not as I came back in the morning. The last
couple nights, just before we left I noticed the smell from the
drain
holes of the last 3 pedicure chairs. I had the water run and
drained
out for about 10 minutes then the smell went away. Why only 3
spas out
of 8???
I know I can call the same plumber to look at it but I'm trying
to
learn to do something myself even though I know nothing about
plumbing. In addition to that, the plumber charged me $300.00
for 15
minute job that I think it's outrageous.
Please help.

On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 23:17:47 -0500, "DanG" wrote:

These things probably have traps in the bottom. It would seem
that you are losing the water trap on the last 3.

They can dry out from non use. Simply add water.
They can leak out through a crack or a hole or be eaten up by
acid/chemicals. Install new traps.
They can be sucked dry because of a venting error. Replumb.

Definitely a p-trap is not holding water, which acts as a barrier to
the odor of the sewer backing up.

But the problem could be lack of a vent to the roof on the sewer line
right before the traps. Or if there is one, it is stopped up. That
causes siphoning which drains your p traps.

The city also might help you by checking for backups on thier side.

On Aug 6, 9:42 am, valvejob wrote:
On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 23:17:47 -0500, "DanG" wrote:
These things probably have traps in the bottom. It would seem
that you are losing the water trap on the last 3.

They can dry out from non use. Simply add water.
They can leak out through a crack or a hole or be eaten up by
acid/chemicals. Install new traps.
They can be sucked dry because of a venting error. Replumb.

Definitely a p-trap is not holding water, which acts as a barrier to
the odor of the sewer backing up.

But the problem could be lack of a vent to the roof on the sewer line
right before the traps. Or if there is one, it is stopped up. That
causes siphoning which drains your p traps.

The city also might help you by checking for backups on thier side.

You 'might' solve it in the short term by always running some water
down each drain before you close up for the night.

On Aug 6, 10:18 am, terry wrote:
On Aug 6, 9:42 am, valvejob wrote:





On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 23:17:47 -0500, "DanG" wrote:
These things probably have traps in the bottom. It would seem
that you are losing the water trap on the last 3.

They can dry out from non use. Simply add water.
They can leak out through a crack or a hole or be eaten up by
acid/chemicals. Install new traps.
They can be sucked dry because of a venting error. Replumb.

Definitely a p-trap is not holding water, which acts as a barrier to
the odor of the sewer backing up.

But the problem could be lack of a vent to the roof on the sewer line
right before the traps. Or if there is one, it is stopped up. That
causes siphoning which drains your p traps.

The city also might help you by checking for backups on thier side.

You 'might' solve it in the short term by always running some water
down each drain before you close up for the night.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you all.
I could not check the vent to the roof beacause I did not have the
ladders high enough to reach the vent.
I have run the water down the drains of those 3 chairs and it worked,
no more smell the next morning. The problem as you all said could be
the traps dried out from not using for a while (it's the slow season
now). I really want to take a look at the vent on the roof, it's just
a plain pvc pipe without any thing at the end.

on 8/7/2007 1:23 PM said the following:
On Aug 6, 10:18 am, terry wrote:

On Aug 6, 9:42 am, valvejob wrote:






On Sun, 5 Aug 2007 23:17:47 -0500, "DanG" wrote:

These things probably have traps in the bottom. It would seem
that you are losing the water trap on the last 3.

They can dry out from non use. Simply add water.
They can leak out through a crack or a hole or be eaten up by
acid/chemicals. Install new traps.
They can be sucked dry because of a venting error. Replumb.

Definitely a p-trap is not holding water, which acts as a barrier to
the odor of the sewer backing up.

But the problem could be lack of a vent to the roof on the sewer line
right before the traps. Or if there is one, it is stopped up. That
causes siphoning which drains your p traps.

The city also might help you by checking for backups on thier side.

You 'might' solve it in the short term by always running some water
down each drain before you close up for the night.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Thank you all.
I could not check the vent to the roof beacause I did not have the
ladders high enough to reach the vent.
I have run the water down the drains of those 3 chairs and it worked,
no more smell the next morning. The problem as you all said could be
the traps dried out from not using for a while (it's the slow season
now). I really want to take a look at the vent on the roof, it's just
a plain pvc pipe without any thing at the end.


As are they all.

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @