My daughter and son-in-law bought an old house in the city. There was renovations done to it prior to them moving, including kitchen and the attic turned into a master suite. After being in the house a while, they noticed a sewer type smell. First thing we did was put a cover over the sump pump pit. That cut down on odors, but sewer smell continued intermittently. The house has a partial basement with crawl space. We found an open metal pipe coming up out of the crawl space and cemented it shut and put a cap on it. Still had the periodic smell. All the sinks had s-traps, so we changed to ptraps with horizontal runs and AAVs before running back down in basement. Seemed to work, but smell came back. Today, we pulled the washer and dryer out because it seemed to possibly occur after laundry. It has a trap. We resorted to a smoke test and found smoke billowed out of a horizontal hole running from underneath the basement steps back under the crawl space. No smoke anywhere else. Good flow out the roof vent. Where the smoke came out, there was no pipe, but the ground is a perfect circle, like a pipe had been pulled out. There is no way that pipe is tied into the existing plumbing inside the house. What I am guessing is there was a sewer line running from that area out to the sewer in the street and it was never capped off when they replaced it with a new main line about 15 feet away. I suspect that the smell is coming up the old line into the crawl space and then exiting through that hole. I suspect the vertical pipe we capped is hooked to that same run. My question is, how do we identify where that old line is coming into the house? It will be easier to dig it up outside then attempt to dig it in the crawl space. There is just not much room. Any advice is appreciated
Abandonded sewer line
- Thread starter John V
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Smoke was introduced into the roof vent?
How big was that circle? If small enough, why not dig there?
We introduced smoke at the cleanout in the basement close to where the main line exits the house. The hole where the smoke was coing from was under the basement steps. That area is dirt under the crawl space Considered digging there, but chose not to in because several piers seem to be situated on that area. also considered running a drain auger back through there. I would really like to cap the line outside the house to make sure there are not any additional brranch lines in play.
You can find pipes in the ground by witching for them.
If you have a spare coat hanger you can cut, then it's pretty easy to locate with it.
Or if you have a few hundred dollars to spend on locating, then that works too.
If you have a spare coat hanger you can cut, then it's pretty easy to locate with it.
Or if you have a few hundred dollars to spend on locating, then that works too.
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It doesn't matter if it's been abandoned. If the pipe is open, then it can be traced (located). They can push a metal snake or wire into the pipe and then attach a radio frequency transmitter to the snake/wire. Then they use a detector and sweep the ground to find where the signal is strongest. Utility companies do this ALL the time.
You said they replaced the main sewer line with a new one 15 feet away. Who is "they" and why was it moved?
You said they replaced the main sewer line with a new one 15 feet away. Who is "they" and why was it moved?
thanks terry. will try witching. MLIU, I am guessing there was another lateral that came in at that end of the house where the crawl space is only 18 inche or so deep. When they remodeled, there was no way to tie into that line, so I suspect that is when the line was run from the center of the basement out. But I have no knowledge, just my best guess based on what I see.
Since you have a pretty good idea of where the old pipe starts and where the sewer line is in the street, then you should be able to make a fairly close estimate of where the pipe runs since pipes are typically installed in a straight line from point A to point B. If the new sewer was shifted over 15 feet, it probably runs parallel to the old line. So just measure 15 feet over from the new line and you should find the old line.
The city utility department here will take out their as-built s if they have them, but before they start digging they witch for the line before they start digging with their back hoe. Why depend on a guess when you can be spot on?
I wasn't suggesting a guess, just giving advice on where to start looking.
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