Sewer gas smell in basement
 

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

Thx,
Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 16:43:54 -0500, Puddin' Man
wrote:


Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?


Yes! It sure beats all that sniffing around.

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

Puddin' Man wrote:

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

Thx,
Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson


'54, Midwest, very likely means that the house sewer under the
basement floor is clay tile. The sections never fit or seal
perfectly and, after half a century, may have settled or lost
seals otherwise. There are probably extensive voids under
the slab, giving any gas plenty of opportunity to migrate out.

Normally, the stack vent would dissipate some of it by having
a constant "breeze" flowing thru the entire system, but ?

All that said, I don't have a simple fix for it :-(
Bleach may mask it for a while.....

Jim

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

Toilet in the basement? Bad wax ring seal?

Hub type cast iron main stack? Leak in hub seal?

You're running your sump into a floor drain? Septic system or city
sewer? If city, that's probably against code.

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

Thx,
Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

On Mon, 12 May 2008 17:56:36 -0500, Rick-Meister wrote:

Toilet in the basement? Bad wax ring seal?

Nope.

Hub type cast iron main stack?

Is cast iron.

Leak in hub seal?

Sho'ly doesn't look like it.

You're running your sump into a floor drain?

Yup.

Septic system or city
sewer? If city, that's probably against code.

I don't think it was when installed. Sump cycles
maybe 30 gals/year. Is trivial.

P

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

Thx,
Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

If there is a venting fan in the basement, turn in on (creating a mild
vacuum in the basement). This may draw more odor into the basement and make
it easier to smell the source.

Another idea if you're desperate: buy some plastic drop cloth ($1 to $2 a
roll in paint section), tape one piece loosely to each wall, floor, etc.
After a while, poke a hole and sniff the air behind each piece. Perhaps this
would isolate the area, even if the odor is slowing leaking in from a wall
or floor (hard to detect otherwise).

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

If you have a washing machine down there, smell that and see if it's
the culprit..They can get to smelling, we have a Sears washer that
we've had smell problems with and there's lots on the internet about
it plus ways to cure or help eliminate it.

Just a thought,

Gene

On Mon, 12 May 2008 21:51:12 -0500, Puddin' Man
wrote:

On Mon, 12 May 2008 17:56:36 -0500, Rick-Meister wrote:

Toilet in the basement? Bad wax ring seal?

Nope.

Hub type cast iron main stack?

Is cast iron.

Leak in hub seal?

Sho'ly doesn't look like it.

You're running your sump into a floor drain?

Yup.

Septic system or city
sewer? If city, that's probably against code.

I don't think it was when installed. Sump cycles
maybe 30 gals/year. Is trivial.

P

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

Thx,
Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
- from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

Sewer gas smell in basement
 

On May 13, 7:33�am, wrote:
If you have a washing machine down there, smell that and see if it's
the culprit..They can get to smelling, we have a Sears washer that
we've had smell problems with and there's lots on the internet about
it plus ways to cure or help eliminate it.

Just a thought,

Gene

On Mon, 12 May 2008 21:51:12 -0500, Puddin' Man



wrote:
On Mon, 12 May 2008 17:56:36 -0500, Rick-Meister wrote:

Toilet in the basement? Bad wax ring seal?

Nope.

Hub type cast iron main stack?

Is cast iron.

Leak in hub seal?

Sho'ly doesn't look like it.

You're running your sump into a floor drain?

Yup.

Septic system or city
sewer? If city, that's probably against code.

I don't think it was when installed. Sump cycles
maybe 30 gals/year. Is trivial.

�P

Greetings,

I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in
'54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open
clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the
bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and
AC drain the no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

�Thx,
�Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
� � � - from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head."
� � � - from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

hows the main sewer draining? i can tell when mine is clogging with
tree roots. basement begins to smell.

then i put down more rocksalt which kills the roots, but leaves the
trees safe