Plumbing question - smells
Discussion
Cling film over toilet pan and sink basin one night and see if that rules it out, leave window open and door shut so smells can disipate, then the next night cover the shower drain completely in similar fashion, maybe a bowl or something over the top with selotape to seal the gap at bottom. This will rule out smells coming back up through traps at least. I suspect shower trap at fault.
Don't forget to take cling film off the toilet when you go for your morning tinkle though.
Don't forget to take cling film off the toilet when you go for your morning tinkle though.
OK, so manhole remains open. Smell is very faint. Better than it has been for the last week. Could be coincidence. It's rained like buggery here this morning as well, so will see how we go.
@dobly funny you say that, my late father in law was a buildings inspector and always complained about the use of durgo's. Couldn't see the point. He hated them.
@dave_s13
I read your post out to him indoors, his grin getting increasingly wider as I went, got to the smoke bomb part and he lights up further with "Oo! There are some smoke bombs in my dads garage!"
Alas for him, we don't own a leaf blower. Or at least we dont as I type. Give him a few hours...
Seriously though, ingenious that.
@jimmyjimjim no, no drain holes etc
@AW10 interesting point, presume there is a cap, but worth us checking over the weekend. No gurgling at all really from anywhere.
@NextSlidePlease I've done variations of this a few times with masking tape. At one point half the bathroom was taped up, covered in film etc. The smell remained unfortunately.
@jules_s plan snipped! The only thing on it is a vent in the ridge tile, far right of the pic
@dobly funny you say that, my late father in law was a buildings inspector and always complained about the use of durgo's. Couldn't see the point. He hated them.
@dave_s13
I read your post out to him indoors, his grin getting increasingly wider as I went, got to the smoke bomb part and he lights up further with "Oo! There are some smoke bombs in my dads garage!"
Alas for him, we don't own a leaf blower. Or at least we dont as I type. Give him a few hours...
Seriously though, ingenious that.
@jimmyjimjim no, no drain holes etc
@AW10 interesting point, presume there is a cap, but worth us checking over the weekend. No gurgling at all really from anywhere.
@NextSlidePlease I've done variations of this a few times with masking tape. At one point half the bathroom was taped up, covered in film etc. The smell remained unfortunately.
@jules_s plan snipped! The only thing on it is a vent in the ridge tile, far right of the pic
Tell him to buy electric for this task, as he's not going to be moving around the garden with it.
Unless he wants to actually blow leaves with it.
Shame (although good) that nothing is blocked; worst bathroom smell by far I had was water backing up in the shower frame and creating a rotten eggs smell. Went quickly after clearing the blockage.
Unless he wants to actually blow leaves with it.
Shame (although good) that nothing is blocked; worst bathroom smell by far I had was water backing up in the shower frame and creating a rotten eggs smell. Went quickly after clearing the blockage.
jimmyjimjim said:
Tell him to buy electric for this task, as he's not going to be moving around the garden with it.
Unless he wants to actually blow leaves with it.
Shame (although good) that nothing is blocked; worst bathroom smell by far I had was water backing up in the shower frame and creating a rotten eggs smell. Went quickly after clearing the blockage.
If it were constant it would be much easier, but its so random. We can go weeks without it and then suddenly it's so bad it wakes you up at night. As I said earlier I had a diary stuck to the fridge that covered every scenario from what I'd put down the waste disposal (at one point I even stopped using that as a test), when I had the washer on, outdoor temperature, rainfall etc etc. And then it would disappear again, get put to the back of the jobs list until the next time.Unless he wants to actually blow leaves with it.
Shame (although good) that nothing is blocked; worst bathroom smell by far I had was water backing up in the shower frame and creating a rotten eggs smell. Went quickly after clearing the blockage.
Plumber is being called Monday, him indoors has finally relented that it does need fixing, even if that is expensive, because although it doesn't seem to bother him a great deal it really does bother me. It's either that or we're moving
is it worse when it’s windy ? Old fashioned outside soil vent pipe like I said on the previous page always works , it’s the way they’re supposed to be and as I said , it worked both times for me in solving this problem . Luckily I don’t have to pay people to do things like this but it really shouldn’t be more than half a days work for one guy .
paulwirral said:
is it worse when it’s windy ? Old fashioned outside soil vent pipe like I said on the previous page always works , it’s the way they’re supposed to be and as I said , it worked both times for me in solving this problem . Luckily I don’t have to pay people to do things like this but it really shouldn’t be more than half a days work for one guy .
It definitely was this time, but historically it's the one factor I didn't record so unsure.I think regardless of outcome of plumber visit we may ask him do just that and extend the stack up and out to avoid any issues with it in the future.
CoupeKid said:
Has the plumber with the magic nose been yet?
Next week is the soonest he can fit us in, Thursday. After a few really strong smelling days it’s settled again. Idly wondered if the other half emptying a bath had anything to do with it as he usually has a shower in his bathroom, but can’t think of a connection in the past so probably coincidence. AyBee said:
I find emptying the bath is a good way of also pulling water out of shallow traps...
Interesting.He's away on business at the moment, so just me in the house. Might fill the bath with cold water later and let it out to see if anything happens. As he's away I know exactly whats being used and when so can probably monitor a bit better.
Be surprised if it was that though as shower trap has been replaced for a deep one and sink is already reasonably new by the looks of it.
AyBee said:
I find emptying the bath is a good way of also pulling water out of shallow traps...
... although it shouldn't happen if the system has appropriate ventilation to prevent it. i.e. the system should suck air through the vent rather than sucking water out of a trap and then air through the trap. Which brings us back to the durgo. And yet I still have suspicions the durgo might have been blown out of its fitting by over-pressure.I'm fairly sure there's air moving about in those drains which an appropriate engineer ought to be able to resolve fairly easily. If the problem is still occurring with the first inspection cover propped open then it seems to me a slam-dunk that the problem is somewhere between that inspection chamber and the smelly bathroom.
Panamax said:
AyBee said:
I find emptying the bath is a good way of also pulling water out of shallow traps...
... although it shouldn't happen if the system has appropriate ventilation to prevent it. i.e. the system should suck air through the vent rather than sucking water out of a trap and then air through the trap. Which brings us back to the durgo. And yet I still have suspicions the durgo might have been blown out of its fitting by over-pressure.I'm fairly sure there's air moving about in those drains which an appropriate engineer ought to be able to resolve fairly easily. If the problem is still occurring with the first inspection cover propped open then it seems to me a slam-dunk that the problem is somewhere between that inspection chamber and the smelly bathroom.
AyBee said:
If the durgo is on top of the soil pipe in the loft but the shower waste joins into the bath waste before joining the main soil pipe, I suspect that would create enough of a pressure difference to pull water out of a shallow trap in the shower?
I agree. However, if there was a vent between the two it's air that would be pulled through that vent rather than water pulled out of the shallow trap. Pressure differences inevitably resolve on the line of least resistance.Your point about a "shallow" trap is well made. The less water there is in a trap the less pressure difference is needed to suck/blow it out, or to bubble up through it. In a shower tray/bath/basin if the water is blown up out of a trap it will eventually settle back down into the trap again and no fault will be apparent after the event. Similarly small amounts of air may simply bubble up through the trap.
https://mistersewer.com/resources/what-to-do-when-...
Plumber update!
He turned up yesterday, Typically, and as I expected, it smelled sweet as a bloody daisy in there.
He had a sniff, concluded there was a smell in the boxing by the dirgo, he could feel a breeze behind the loo which might suggest a seal there and finally, the water trap we thought was on the sink, isn't.
He was quite honest and said he couldn't pin point it and it might be any of, all three of, or none of the above. He noted the boxing in which the dirgo sits it's quite tight around it, and much like us wasn't at all a fan of them anyway, so the plan of action is thus:
Remove the dirgo, extend the pipe up and out of the front of the house. I'll lose some tiles so have to rebox it, probably end up wood cladding and go for a boat type aesthetic
Replace toilet seal.
Replace sink trap.
I shall update when I'm penniless in a few weeks time
He turned up yesterday, Typically, and as I expected, it smelled sweet as a bloody daisy in there.
He had a sniff, concluded there was a smell in the boxing by the dirgo, he could feel a breeze behind the loo which might suggest a seal there and finally, the water trap we thought was on the sink, isn't.
He was quite honest and said he couldn't pin point it and it might be any of, all three of, or none of the above. He noted the boxing in which the dirgo sits it's quite tight around it, and much like us wasn't at all a fan of them anyway, so the plan of action is thus:
Remove the dirgo, extend the pipe up and out of the front of the house. I'll lose some tiles so have to rebox it, probably end up wood cladding and go for a boat type aesthetic
Replace toilet seal.
Replace sink trap.
I shall update when I'm penniless in a few weeks time
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