plumbinggrappler
New Member
We've been in a newly constructed, large house for almost two weeks now. Last Sunday morning my wife woke in the middle of the night (2 am) and smelled a strong smell, and woke me up. I concluded that it wasn't propane, but rather sewer gas, but it was really strong. Sniffing around led to the conclusion that the source was somewhere near the master bath toilet (which is in its own small room). The other fixtures in the master bath area (large shower and large whirlpool tub) didn't have the strong smell near them. No smell from anywhere else in the other bathrooms or sinks upstairs or down.
It took about 10 hours for the smell to go away.
This morning (Tuesday), we got another "episode" of sewer smell in the same place. Contacted our builder for the second time (his first suggestion had been that possibly a trap was without water somewhere, but that wasn't the case...which I knew anyway). This time he sent a plumber out to replace the wax seal on the bathroom toilet. (Its a modern Kohler). He replaced the seal with a more heavy duty one with a longer flange and more waxy material. He was at a loss to explain the phenomenon. While he had the waste stack exposed, I leaned over close to get a sense of how strong the "normal" stack odor was, and it wasn't very strong at all....not strong enough at all to generate the smell we got.
I'm thinking that I have some kind of intermittent septic problem coupled with a venting problem. It seems to me that I must have gotten two "burps", where the septic system somehow had a gas buildup over time that then was released all of a sudden and somehow partially vented itself out of the master toilet area...but nowhere else (in the house).
This is a brand new house. Our septic system is new, and located substantially downhill in the front yard. I'm not sure what could be causing this, and maybe the new wax seal will stop the gas intrusion to the house, but it concerns me that we must be getting substantial gas "burps" that ought not be happening. How does septic gas normally exit the tank? Doesn't it just usually drift up the inflow pipe and up the vent system in the house? If so, it seems to me that what we've seen suggests that its being trapped somewhere until enough pressure builds up to blow it through the blockage, at which point the "puff" of gas comes into the house vent system with more pressure than you'd expect.
Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. I think I'm going to call the builder and ask for the septic installer to come out, but I'd like to have some sense of what to ask him to do. Thanks.
It took about 10 hours for the smell to go away.
This morning (Tuesday), we got another "episode" of sewer smell in the same place. Contacted our builder for the second time (his first suggestion had been that possibly a trap was without water somewhere, but that wasn't the case...which I knew anyway). This time he sent a plumber out to replace the wax seal on the bathroom toilet. (Its a modern Kohler). He replaced the seal with a more heavy duty one with a longer flange and more waxy material. He was at a loss to explain the phenomenon. While he had the waste stack exposed, I leaned over close to get a sense of how strong the "normal" stack odor was, and it wasn't very strong at all....not strong enough at all to generate the smell we got.
I'm thinking that I have some kind of intermittent septic problem coupled with a venting problem. It seems to me that I must have gotten two "burps", where the septic system somehow had a gas buildup over time that then was released all of a sudden and somehow partially vented itself out of the master toilet area...but nowhere else (in the house).
This is a brand new house. Our septic system is new, and located substantially downhill in the front yard. I'm not sure what could be causing this, and maybe the new wax seal will stop the gas intrusion to the house, but it concerns me that we must be getting substantial gas "burps" that ought not be happening. How does septic gas normally exit the tank? Doesn't it just usually drift up the inflow pipe and up the vent system in the house? If so, it seems to me that what we've seen suggests that its being trapped somewhere until enough pressure builds up to blow it through the blockage, at which point the "puff" of gas comes into the house vent system with more pressure than you'd expect.
Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. I think I'm going to call the builder and ask for the septic installer to come out, but I'd like to have some sense of what to ask him to do. Thanks.
