Can I seal the washer drain pipe ?

[Abouthadit]

A few months ago I posted asking the question about bathroom oder after the shower is used.
Didn't get any replies other than one asking if there was standing water in the drain, I answered yes but never heard from any others.
No biggie...
Ok now I can walk past the washer and dryer in the hall way, (no doors to close them off) I get a slight same smell/oder as I do after taking a shower, so I believe it is coming from the drain .
Have no idea why but when I'm done taking a shower , I let the hot water run for a couple of minutes while I dry off , it seems to help not having as much an oder/smell afterwords as if I had shut it off before , I take cool to cold showers..

Ok now to my question lol
Can I put something around the drain pipe from the washer going into the drain pipe sealing it ? Or does it need the air ?

Hope this makes since..

One other thing, the other bathroom so far doesn't get the oder they are back to back ie; shares the same wall it has a bathtub the one with the oder is a shower stall ..

 

[Gary Swart]

You can not seal the washer standpipe. I wonder if the washer drain has a P trap. All drains must be trapped to prevent sewer gas from escaping into the house. Sometimes if a drain, such as a floor drain, is not used often, the water in its trap can evaporate thus disabling the trap. Of course as washer is used often so this would not be the case here as long as it has a trap, but do you have a floor drain in the area? If you do, pour a quart or so of water in it occasionally and see if that makes a difference.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

Odors are VERY difficult to diagnose. Often where you smell the odor is NOT where it is happening. That just happens to be where the odors congregate, because of air circulation.

 

[Abouthadit]

You can not seal the washer standpipe. I wonder if the washer drain has a P trap. All drains must be trapped to prevent sewer gas from escaping into the house. Sometimes if a drain, such as a floor drain, is not used often, the water in its trap can evaporate thus disabling the trap. Of course as washer is used often so this would not be the case here as long as it has a trap, but do you have a floor drain in the area? If you do, pour a quart or so of water in it occasionally and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the reply, wasn't sure if I could stuff a rag or something around the washer drain hose going into the drain pipe in the wall .
No there isn't any other drains.

 

[Abouthadit]

Odors are VERY difficult to diagnose. Often where you smell the odor is NOT where it is happening. That just happens to be where the odors congregate, because of air circulation.

Yes I totally agree with that statement !!!!

We bought this place as a short sale, we gutted "EVERYTHING" out except for the shower stall and the bathtub in the other bathroom ,all the way done to the concrete slab (course not the walls lol) had the inside reskimed sanded done new texture.
We primered and painted the whole interrier.
Both bathrooms has the marble walls around bathtub and shower stall. We had both of those repainted ..

After taking my first shower using the fart fan too lol , came back into the bathroom about 20 minutes later noticed an oder almost urine smell !
Like your statement how oders are difficult to diagnose!!
I sealed around the base of the toilet leaving the back part open ( was told to do so by the plumber who reinstalled the toilets) sealed along the bottom of the baseboards .
I poured bleach done the shower drain and sink drain along with some in the toilet let sit for about a half hour then ran water and flushed the toilet.
Next night took a shower same oder. I even poured some industrial drain cleaner down the shower drain no effect.
Then "at times" I could walk down the hallway (short hallway approx 12ft where the washer/dryer are. I could smell the same oder only not as strong..
Ok I lean over the washer and it seems the oder is coming from the washer drian pipe?
Thats where my question came in about sealing the drain pipe around the washer drain hose..

Thanks for any help ideas etc !!

 

[Dlarrivee]

So you gutted the house and didn't look very hard at its inner workings before putting it back together?

 

[Abouthadit]

So you gutted the house and didn't look very hard at its inner workings before putting it back together?

Was gutted down to concrete slab, kinda hard to look at inner workings when its plumbed in the concrete ??
Or am I missing your point somewhere ?

 

[Dlarrivee]

You can get a camera down there some how I'm sure...

I couldn't imagine investing in a full-reno like that without having a report card on the important stuff.

 

[Abouthadit]

Well no, we didn't camera the lines our bad !!
When we looked at the place, I ran the sinks filled them up then pulled the plugs , ran the shower for awhile, filled the tub up then pulled the plug flushed the toilets several times etc everything seemed to work fine

For the last 5 days every time I took a shower , I put a towel over the drain . Came back in , no smell !!
Left the towel over the drain until the shower , I didn't notice any smell either in the hallway (washer drain) either ??

So I've narrowed it down to the shower drain ? I see standing water when I look down the drain with a flash light so not sure what else to do.
I've poured bleach down it, I've poured industrial drain cleaner down it. Within a day or two the smell is back ?
...

 

[Wraujr]

Removing Smell

First, do not seal washer standpipe, not positive, but pretty sure air needs to get in when washer is pumping water into drain.
Sealing because you have odors doesn't solve problem.

One thing to check is the vent pipe to the roof clogged, you should have one or more pipes thru the roof for venting the drain system. Animal/birds can nest or even fall into and block.

Finally, I had a shower drain that had a moldy, mildew, stink (not like poop smell). Tried all sorts, bleach,etc.. Even took rag, attched to wire and "swabbed" out drain and trap. Water in trap was clear and pvc pipe walls were clean, but 2 -3 days later trap water was "milky" and smell was back. Saw this on Terry's website:
http://terrylove.biz/home/75-bio-clean-a-natural-enzyme-drain-cleaner.html
Bought from Terry,

http://terrylove.biz/home/75-bio-clean-a-natural-enzyme-drain-cleaner.html
treated shower drain every night for a week. Put in after last shower of day and it sat for 8 hours each night. Used warm water as I thought it would help activate. Told wife avoid Tilex (bleach) for the week. Also used on sink drains since plumbing was 18 years old.
It worked. Smell is gone. Came back after 3 months, so I did another dose and it went away. Really should be giving it a shot a month.

I ended up collecting eight of the 20oz Diet Coke bottles, washed them well, and let them air dry. Once completely dry, I measured a scoop into each bottle and then cappped them tightly. Now when I need a monthly refresh, I grab bottle, add nice warm water, cap and shake, and then pour down drain and let sit overnight. Rinse bottle and set back on shelf to dry before refilling with BioClean.

 

[Lburk]

To get a sewer gas odor in your home there has to be an opening in the waste pipe somewhere. It may be a trap not fully sealing, it may be a cracked pipe or it may be a vent issue. Ok?

The best way to find an open drain or sewer line is to have your entire drain, waste and vent system smoke tested. I have done this many times both residentially and commercially. To do this you will need a plumber that has the proper equipment. Here's what they'll do.

The plumber will first put temporary caps on your roof vents. Once this is done they will hook a small smoke generator up to a cleanout, a vent or a drain line depending upon the best point of access for you situation. Once connected the plumber will fill the drain system with smoke under a slight pressure, just enough to get the smoke moving throughout the system, but not enough to disrupt the trap seals that hopefully exist. Once the smoke is in the system you and your plumber can look around the house for any traces of smoke. If you find smoke coming from a trap that issue can be investigated or if it is coming from inside a wall a small hole can be drilled and a small video camera can be inserted to investigate. There are less invasive ways (sometimes) of locating the issues.

Finally, when done with the test make sure the plumber takes the caps of the vents on the roof and make sure they run the smoke generator (sans the smoke) to blow the smoke out of the system. The smoke is usually a sulfur base so it doesn't smell pretty.

 

[Wraujr]

If it smells like a Porta-Potty, you have a sewer gas infiltration problem.
If it smells like mold/mildew/old sneakers/sweaty body, try my cleaning technique.
There is a definite difference.

 

[Terry]

I also use the Bio-Clean in my cats litter box. It's pretty surprising.

On the drain question, yes it needs air where the hose from the washer goes into the standpipe. They even make fittings with air holes built in if you want to fasten the hose to the standpipe.

Hose Grip Clothes Washer Connector

 

[Abouthadit]

Thanks for the replies !!
I'll have to get up on the roof and take a look at the vents , I noticed there are three of them, one for the two bathrooms, one looks like its for the washer and the third one is above the kitchen..

At first it had a urine smell, never really had porta potty smell .. Then it just kinda had a weird oder, Fiancee says it smells more like bo/mildew/mold.
After I get up on the roof and check the vents, and if they are ruled out , I'll try the bioclean .

I'll repost up when I can get up on the roof and check the vents, I have to be out of town for a few days..

Thanks again

 

[Abouthadit]

Ok got up on the roof this morning , got the gutters all cleaned out !! OH wait a minute wrong post lol

I tried to look down the vent pipes with a flashlight , the kitchen one I could see a long way down , but the other two pipes looks like they go down so far and bow just a bid , so I couldn't see all the way down ? I would say I could see down about 8 ft then they bowed ..

So a stupid question / rookie question ?? can I stick a hose in the pipe and turn on the water ,but not alot of pressure ??

When I got back home last night , ( I had left the towel over the drain) there was not a hint of smell in the bathroom ...

 

[Bluebinky]

Maybe this is too obvious, but to help with the diagnosis, you can temporarily pull the laundry drain pipe out and plug the standpipe...

 

[Terry]

You can run a hose down the vent from the roof.
It was tested that way to begin with.

So a stupid question / rookie question ?? can I stick a hose in the pipe and turn on the water ,but not alot of pressure ??

 

[Abouthadit]

Thanks Terry !
Kinda thought it would be ok wanted to ask ..