GreyGnome
New Member
Hi,
We have a 2 story apartment building with a basement. As far back as I can remember (18 years or so), the second floor has had an issue with sewer gas. It seems that when one does laundry on that floor, there will come a sewer gas smell. I don’t have a lot of precision on the sequence of events- only that it happens around laundry.
The stack in the wet wall behind the laundry pipe is shared with the second floor sink (including dishwasher), the first floor sink and dishwasher, and the basement sink. When the laundry drains on the second floor, the first floor sink gets a gurgling sound.
The building has a flat roof so I went up there and stuck a snake down the 4” vent pipe. I discovered a hard blockage in the vent, only 2 feet down. So I cleared it out. Then I discovered a blockage only 1 more foot down, so I cleaned that out too. Then I shoved my entire 50 foot snake down the pipe, and all seemed clear. But a week later the tenant told me that the smell remained.
I went back and thrust my snake into the pipe, and discovered what felt like a partial blockage about 8 feet down. This is right where a tee should be in the laundry room on the second floor, so I’m not sure if I was hitting the tee or some sort of blockage. It actually felt like I was hitting something flexible, like an asphalt or cardboard flap. But maybe I was just hitting the joint in the tee.
Pictures are attached. I have a 4" vent pipe on the roof, about 23" away from the wall. I have a picture of the basement too, which shows no pipes that are 23" from the wall. So my roof vent pipe takes a turn at some point. I have pictures of the plumbing on the second floor. The blockage that I'm feeling is right at the upper arrow, in the picture. That's 8 feet down from the roof. The lower arrow is pointing towards the trap for the laundry drain. I wonder if that trap is deep enough. The tee to the left, by the X, is unused and it's covered. I don't think there's any smell coming from there.
At this point I’m not sure what my next move is. We had a plumber over to look at the situation but the only thing they discovered was a way to pull $1000 from my bank account.
Any suggestions on where to go next would be appreciated.
We have a 2 story apartment building with a basement. As far back as I can remember (18 years or so), the second floor has had an issue with sewer gas. It seems that when one does laundry on that floor, there will come a sewer gas smell. I don’t have a lot of precision on the sequence of events- only that it happens around laundry.
The stack in the wet wall behind the laundry pipe is shared with the second floor sink (including dishwasher), the first floor sink and dishwasher, and the basement sink. When the laundry drains on the second floor, the first floor sink gets a gurgling sound.
The building has a flat roof so I went up there and stuck a snake down the 4” vent pipe. I discovered a hard blockage in the vent, only 2 feet down. So I cleared it out. Then I discovered a blockage only 1 more foot down, so I cleaned that out too. Then I shoved my entire 50 foot snake down the pipe, and all seemed clear. But a week later the tenant told me that the smell remained.
I went back and thrust my snake into the pipe, and discovered what felt like a partial blockage about 8 feet down. This is right where a tee should be in the laundry room on the second floor, so I’m not sure if I was hitting the tee or some sort of blockage. It actually felt like I was hitting something flexible, like an asphalt or cardboard flap. But maybe I was just hitting the joint in the tee.
Pictures are attached. I have a 4" vent pipe on the roof, about 23" away from the wall. I have a picture of the basement too, which shows no pipes that are 23" from the wall. So my roof vent pipe takes a turn at some point. I have pictures of the plumbing on the second floor. The blockage that I'm feeling is right at the upper arrow, in the picture. That's 8 feet down from the roof. The lower arrow is pointing towards the trap for the laundry drain. I wonder if that trap is deep enough. The tee to the left, by the X, is unused and it's covered. I don't think there's any smell coming from there.
At this point I’m not sure what my next move is. We had a plumber over to look at the situation but the only thing they discovered was a way to pull $1000 from my bank account.
Any suggestions on where to go next would be appreciated.
