Complex sewer gas situation. Need advice

Users who are viewing this thread

Gottso

New Member
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I will try to keep this post short, however to explain the situation and what I have had done so far, it will teeter on the unabridged side of the fence.

I moved into my house 6 years ago and have had sewer odor from pretty much day one. Reason I have "dealt" with it was because it is pretty inconsistent and random, until this past week, where it has been pretty frequent and unbearable.

Back in the beginning, I called the town to come out and check what they are responsible for. Saw the trucks outside on the block, after an hour, they knocked on my door and said everything on their end is kosher and that was that. I had a few plumbers in for unrelated issues and they all kind of gave a different answer as to what it can be.

Fast forward to this week and some perusing of the Google, I read up on smoke testing, called a guy to come out and was hoping to pinpoint this leak. Luckily, the smell was out in full force when the guy was here so he could experience it. It's never a good thing when a professional that specializes in such leaks says "wow, that smell is horrendous!".

After a few min of the smoke test, smoke was coming out from under my basement sub floor into my laundry room. The laundry room is unfinished and doesn't have a sub floor. In that room the main stack goes directly into the concrete slab and out to the street; there is no house trap. I was hoping the smoke was coming from above the slab for an 'easier' fix, but alas, no such luck. I opened my access panel to my crawl space and we saw smoke coming from atop where a cinder block meet's the floor above...however, there are NO pipes up there at all.

So what the guy told me was.....somewhere under my subfloor is a leak and it is coming back along the pipe since the soil most likely isn't packed tight and it's taking the path of least resistance. That explained the smoke coming back into my laundry room. The smoke in my crawl space, which is 14 feet from where the stack goes into the ground was explained as a leak under the block and the smoke was just venting up through the cinder block holes.

He then ran a camera through the piping and thankfully, it was in 'good shape'. I was expecting to see some crushed sections since it is outside as well, but everything seemed to be in good working order, visually. He also went outside and saw that the manhole cover that is a house down from mine has too many holes drilled in the top and told me that something odd is going on around my house. He was genuinely as confused as I am about all of this.

So...it was suggested that I get into the crawl space and dig down the pipe and visually check each connection of where the sections join together, especially where the PVC meets case iron under my front yard.

Since the smell is so sporadic and digging down 5-6 feet in a 3 high and 12ft long crawl is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack, I was eyeballing getting my pipe, from where it enters the concrete slab out to the street relined with epoxy.

I guess what I am looking for is some advice as to if this is right direction to head. I would hate to spend $2-3k on a lining and to have the odor still show up. The township will most likely not take any responsibility for anything and my other thought of having a house trap install is useless since the smoke is further out from where the stack enters the ground. The rest of the house was fine btw with its traps and connections.

Thanks for reading this and appreciate any advice offered.
 

Redwood

Master Plumber
Messages
7,335
Reaction score
13
Points
0
Location
Connecticut
I've read the thousand words and would appreciate if you could change them to a sketch showing the layout of the area in question with where the pipes are located and any plumbing on the floors above...
 

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,770
Reaction score
1,190
Points
113
Location
New England
Is it possible that there is a branch for say a washing machine or another (maybe optional when your house was built) bathroom, that maybe was just never capped? Or, there could be a trap that has long since lost its water so it is open. Could be a floor drain for an area that was never connected or something? You might just have a connection or two that never were glued, things shifted, and now can leak.
 

Gottso

New Member
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Red, I will work on a sketch....just have to decent the best way to do it [quickly] and get it posted.

Jad, your last scenario seems like one that is possible. I know there was no old bathroom, but the kitchen ties into sewer line under my concrete slab. Kind of baffled why they did it that way since tying into my stack just before it goes into the slab would seem to make more sense for ease of maintenance.

Is there some kind of system that I can tie to my stack, at a downward 45 degree angle so no water gets into that pipe, that can constantly push air back out towards the sewer, so the sewer gas doesn't come back into my house? Seems atmospheric pressure isn't enough.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Jadnashua

Retired Defense Industry Engineer xxx
Messages
32,770
Reaction score
1,190
Points
113
Location
New England
Where exactly was the smoke coming from? If it was from the yard, you need to fix that. If it is from somewhere underneath the house, you need to fix it there. Anything else you do is not going to be along-term fix. Depending on adjacent buildings, trees, prevailing winds, and terrain, you may gain a benefit from relocating the vent stack through the roof or making it extend higher up. Also, verify that it isn't plugged with a bird's nest, dead squirrel, leaves, etc.
 

Gottso

New Member
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Esquire, I had the basement finished and there was no drain, just the piping going into the slab.

Smoke was coming from under my subfloor, where the piping goes into the concrete. Nothing was outside.

So what are some viable options to fix it? Over the next few days I will be getting to the pipe I can access, which is under my crawl space and front yard. However, if the leak is within my basement....the cost of relining would surely be cheaper than digging through a finished basement and jack hammering out the piping, no?
 

Cacher_Chick

Test, Don't Guess!
Messages
5,458
Reaction score
213
Points
63
Location
Land of Cheese
No way to answer that question as we don't know how deep the pipe goes or how much excavation will be required.

If the floor is poured concrete how was the smoke passing through it? The leak COULD be right at the floor.
 
Last edited:

hj

Master Plumber
Messages
33,602
Reaction score
1,041
Points
113
Location
Cave Creek, Arizona
Website
www.terrylove.com
Let me ask you a couple of questions.
1. HOW did he seal the pipes so he could get the smoke test under pressure.
2. Do you REALLY believe that sewer gas which is under absolutely NO pressure, is going to work its way through "5 or 6 feet" of soil and still be detectable, much less have a strong odor?
If so, you are among the faithful. You have a problem, but I doubt it is what he told you. What the real problem is, i cannot tell because I am not there to make my own evaluation. I will tell you, however, that I once had a house with a bad "sewer gas" problem, and when I "accidently" caused it to appear, I told the homeowner it was a plastic light socket that they had a 100 watt bulb in it. It had become scorched and the odor appeared EVERY time the light was turned on and left for an hour or more. I had turned the light on because it was getting dark, (we had been seaching for the odor source all day long using smoke and odorants). I left it on while I went to get some other testing materials, so it had gotten hot by the time I returned.
 
Top
Hey, wait a minute.

This is awkward, but...

It looks like you're using an ad blocker. We get it, but (1) terrylove.com can't live without ads, and (2) ad blockers can cause issues with videos and comments. If you'd like to support the site, please allow ads.

If any particular ad is your REASON for blocking ads, please let us know. We might be able to do something about it. Thanks.
I've Disabled AdBlock    No Thanks