Hello,
Hoping to get some help on eliminating an intermittent sewer smell. Situation is: I own a cabin in the woods of upstate NY. Cabin is on piers, with exposed crawlspace. It’s unoccupied and unheated much of the time. The lone bathroom empties into a septic tank, which is located directly under the cabin.
Emptying into the septic tank are these bathroom fixtures:
-toilet (4” drain)
-sink (2” drain)
-shower (2” drain)
Shower and sink drains meet up with the toilet drain just before it all empties into the septic. The whole system is vented back with a single 1.5” pipe.
Shower is almost never used. We just pour RV antifreeze down the drain every time we’re there to fill the trap.
We seem to have a fairly persistent sewer smell. I’ve replaced the wax ring and flange on the toilet in the last 4 months, which took care of the issue for a bit. Now it’s back.
One question - do wax rings fail when going from very cold (-20F) to very warm? We have a space heater in the bathroom to keep the supply lines warm (only heat is a wood stove in the main room). The space heater is placed on the floor near the toilet. I’m wondering if the extreme heat (following extreme cold) cause premature failure? Is rubber a better choice in this situation?
On venting - is a single 1.5” vent (insufficient?) perhaps contributing? There’s a sewer smell in the crawlspace under the bathroom, which gets into the cabin. I notice it more strongly along the vent line under the cabin than I do at the septic itself (really no smell there).
I’m uneducated in this area, hoping someone can shine some light for me. Anything else I should note that may be helpful?
Hoping to get some help on eliminating an intermittent sewer smell. Situation is: I own a cabin in the woods of upstate NY. Cabin is on piers, with exposed crawlspace. It’s unoccupied and unheated much of the time. The lone bathroom empties into a septic tank, which is located directly under the cabin.
Emptying into the septic tank are these bathroom fixtures:
-toilet (4” drain)
-sink (2” drain)
-shower (2” drain)
Shower and sink drains meet up with the toilet drain just before it all empties into the septic. The whole system is vented back with a single 1.5” pipe.
Shower is almost never used. We just pour RV antifreeze down the drain every time we’re there to fill the trap.
We seem to have a fairly persistent sewer smell. I’ve replaced the wax ring and flange on the toilet in the last 4 months, which took care of the issue for a bit. Now it’s back.
One question - do wax rings fail when going from very cold (-20F) to very warm? We have a space heater in the bathroom to keep the supply lines warm (only heat is a wood stove in the main room). The space heater is placed on the floor near the toilet. I’m wondering if the extreme heat (following extreme cold) cause premature failure? Is rubber a better choice in this situation?
On venting - is a single 1.5” vent (insufficient?) perhaps contributing? There’s a sewer smell in the crawlspace under the bathroom, which gets into the cabin. I notice it more strongly along the vent line under the cabin than I do at the septic itself (really no smell there).
I’m uneducated in this area, hoping someone can shine some light for me. Anything else I should note that may be helpful?
