Intermittent sewer smell

[DBirkett]

Hi all,

I'm hoping that somebody will be able to suggest what could be causing a problem that I have been experiencing in my house.

On occasion there is an awful smell towards the front of my house. Running up from the downstairs toilet, up the stairs, and stinking out all of the upstairs.

The smell isn't there all of the time, and there doesn't seem to be a pattern at all as to when it will smell the house out.

Sometimes you can wake up in the morning and the smell is already there, then you may not smell anything for a few days, and then the smell will come back again.

I naturally believe that it could be a stench pipe issue, but now I don't know whether it could be a break in the pipe (which would require me removing things to get to it - or could it actually be the pipe coming out of the roof? I have noticed that it is a downturned piece of piping, not unlike a drainpipe - and not a piece of piping that stands upwards.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mike Jackson]

I'd start by checking out the downstairs loo. Is there a basin in there? Could be loss of trap seal. It's not unheard of for the overflow from a loo to be wrongly connected into the soil stack.

I think it's unlikely to be the vent pipe as you say the smell originated from downstairs.

Mike

 

[DBirkett]

Thanks Mike,

theres no basin at all. Just a toilet downstairs (no toilet upstairs). The smell is worst at the top of the stairs, and the front bedroom. Just to give you an idea of my house layout - the WC is the first door as you walk into the house, to the left is the living room. The winding staircase goes up directly behind where the WC is situated.

The reason I think it may be the stench pipe is that it runs directly up through the WC, enclosed upwards past the top of the staircase, and the front bedroom.

I'm just really struggling with the fact that it is an intermittent problem. I've had a couple of people come to look at it, but as they've been there has been no smell.

 

[Mike Jackson]

Sounds like it may be the problem then. Unlikely to be outside if the smell is that bad inside. My next step would be to air test the drain which would need ladder access to block the vent pipe and a plug in the manhole outside with a test plug. You can buy the gear fairly cheaply if you want to try yourself.

Mike

 

[dontknowitall]

Presumably not a little used shower (or basin)? Sometimes the water in the trap can evaporate enough to leave an airgap for the drain smells to come up. Or a blocked outside gutter which wafts smells in through an open window?

 

[REDSAW]

my guess, collapsed pot at out-let ofpan waste to s.pipe.
gasses escaping under house foundation inward and up through interior floor.
10/1 you have downstairs floorboards in a pre 1950/s house?.
do a smoke test.

 

[GarethH]

my guess, collapsed pot at out-let ofpan waste to s.pipe.
gasses escaping under house foundation inward and up through interior floor.
10/1 you have downstairs floorboards in a pre 1950/s house?.
do a smoke test.

Could you elaborate on this as I think we may have a similar issue - I know it was a while ago...!