That wonderful septic aroma

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Mac Walker

That wonderful septic aroma

Post by Mac Walker » Mon Jan 13, 2003 2:51 pm

We placed a new home on our lot, replacing the previous one. All is wonderful except the aroma emanating from the guest bath occasionally. At first I though the drains' P-traps might have dried out from non-use. Running water in the drains doesn't always seem to get rid of it. There's no sign of leakage under the house. The air is heavy and wet here in the Pacific NW this time of year. We've always been able to smell the vent with certain weather conditions. I'm wondering - can it be coming down the vent-fan outlet? It's 20' away, on the same side of the roof - but the master bath vent is closer,also on the same side of the roof.

Would you enlighten us? Have you seen this one before?
thanks, M&B.

Tracy

Re: That wonderful septic aroma

Post by Tracy » Mon Jan 13, 2003 9:39 pm

Mac,

Have you looked to see if you have an "auto vent" under the sink. Manufactured home builders use it instead of running the drain vent through the roof. The one way rubber seal can dry out thus letting sewer gas enter the home.

Let us know how things go.

Tracy

ron buckner

Re: That wonderful septic aroma

Post by ron buckner » Wed Jan 15, 2003 12:30 am

Another possibility is that the vent pipe supposedly going through your roof has actually fallen back through the roof into the wall space. If you have "mushroom" vents on the roof you can usually remove the top to expose the pipe inside it. surprisingly, needle-nose pliers and a simple screw is usually all it takes to fix the problem, although I'd recommend checking out the plumbing underneath before closing the tool box. This generally happens to older homes that have been just recently moved, the suppport straps underneath ar'nt as strong as they used to be and they just give away.
Ron

Mac Walker

Re: That wonderful septic aroma

Post by Mac Walker » Thu Jan 16, 2003 8:01 pm

Thanks guys,
I will have a look. There is only one vent for the entire house - in the kitchen, for example, I do have the air-lock trap. The rain stopped, so I'll have a look around- top and underneath. One of the other things I ran into in my search were a couple flavors of carbon filter that slip over the vent pipe. I suppose that would work. If we try it, I'll be sure to post the results.
:) mac

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