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| hello...I am not very good in the plumbing field but I will try to be as specific as possible.
I have lived in an old home (built in 1920's) for about 2 years. I am going to describe two incidents that may or may not be related About a year ago we noticed a strong sewer gas smell coming from the basement. We looked in the basement and noticed that sewage had backed up from the drain in the floor. We had a plumber come out and they "roto-rooted" the cutout as they said there was some blockage in our sewer pipe or something that was in the basement. We haven't had an issue like that happen since. Now, when we turn on our a/c in summer and the heat in winter, we notice a strong sewer gas smell circulating throughout the house, which I believe is originating from the basement. Just today I stuck my nose into this same drain (the one where the sewage backed up) and smelled the strong sewer gas odor. There is a pipe that runs from our a/c (which is in the basement) into this drain...I am assuming it is to remove condensation. Now, there is also a hole of some sort in this drain...not where the water drains...but a larger hole kind of on the side of this drain. When the a/c runs...air blows out of this whole and stinks of sewer gas. I read on some other forums that the "trap" may be dry. I am not even sure if this is a trap...but there was some stagnet water in there. So when I added some more water into this trap (which I orginally thought would fix this problem)...it basically drained everything out...which I thought was not supposed to happen. So i poured some bleach down there as well and that seemed to stop the odor temporarily...but i don't know if it will last. Any thoughts about this hole on the side of the drain? Can it be plugged up? Thank you very much for any help!!!! |
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| Your trap is dry. The forced air causes the water to dry rapidly because of the pressure imbalance. This is a common problem in commercial building lavatories where the exhaust fan runs constantly. A solution is to add a fresh air intake vent in a basement window to balance the pressure. Another solution is to completely seal off the basement from the climate controlled zone of the house, but it sounds like your basement is part of the conditioned space of the home (most likely through the old floor boards). A third solution is to put water down the floor drain every day. The hole you see in the side of the floor drain is probably a tee that runs to your foundation drain system. |
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| ok thanks for the info...what about a plug on the side of the drain where the hole/pipe is as this is where the sewer gas is coming from...? |
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| Block the tee on the side of the drain? Errr, no, not unless you want your basement flooded with weeping walls..... Maybe remnants of the old sewage backup having flowed up there. Perhaps a plumber can snake both drains and maybe flush them out a bit. Don't block off anything, it's all there for a reason...keep water in the trap, for one. There are sometimes enzyme tablets/granules you can put in a drain to make them smell better. |
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| strange thing happened. the drain was in fact clogged with various items...2 of the items were small plugs...is it possible that one of these plugs is for the hole in the side...i feel that this is a cleanout and should be plugged up |
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- Posted by dan_martyn (designer_dan@hotmail.com) on Sat, Jul 19, 08 at 20:20
| Some codes require and integral cleanout to the floor drain, Some floor drains have cleanout plugs in the body of the drain. Does the hole have threads? If not, do not plug it. You can use mineral oil in a floor drain which will not evaporate. There is also a product called "Trap Gard" which can be inserted into a floor drain for the same purpose. Dan Martyn |
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