My septic tank sits about 20ft off the back of the house nearest the master bedroom/bathroom. My fiancée says she can smell it in the bathroom nearest the tank, it's not overly strong as I can't even smell it at all. I had it pumped about 6 months ago and I pulled the lid off today to make sure everything looked ok (looked like sh$t :D). It's not/ nor ever backed up into any drain in the house (4 bathrooms). I pretty sure the vent tubes are cleaned out, I ran a hose down in them and nothing backed up. I was in the crawl space last weekend just making sure everything "looked" ok and I didn't see any leaks of any sort. I'm out of ideas? Could it be the proximity to the tank? The P traps should be taking care of the smells. When i bought the place I had to replace the toilet in that bathroom, that's been about 1.5 years ago, I don't know just laying it all out. Any help?
We get a faint odor here, sometimes, when a downstairs fixture hasn't been used in a while. Run some water down the drain.....and it's gone. Is there a chance this is what's occurring at your house? Just a thought.
Methane gas can escape from a tank. Check the lid/inspection covers. . If your vents are plugged gas will sneak out. What way are the winds out of when she smells gas? Just like swirling winds out hunting It will take that sewer gas spin it around and downdraft along your wall. I install sewers for a living any more questions shoot me a message and ill answer it.
yes actually since Stephanie had her surgery that shower hasn't used, but the commode has. I just used that shower, to run some water down the drain.
Check the base of your toilet where it meets the floor, I've seen that be the problem before - caulk could be broken down or even nonexistent.
There shouldn't be caulk around the base of the toilet. If there is, remove it. Otherwise you won't know if your seal is leaking. The seal of the wax ring could have broken. But our tanks vent a little all the time.
Yeah the idea of the P-trap is have it full of water to block sewer gases from entering your home. This happens a lot with people's floor drain in their basement. No water gets poured down there very often and the P-trap dries out. Good luck.
GFY... Wouldn't that hold true for any drain you're not frequently using (that has a p-trap)? If this is his issue, it's a maintenance issue.....but one that would be pretty easily remedied. It's the 1st thing I'd check.
Absolutely and agree. I'm just saying the floor drains in a basement or unused second showers are candidates for this problem. It's such a simple thing but what % of people actually know what a P-trap does and how it works?
Thanks guys for the help, I showered in the back bathroom last night to run some water down the drain, hopefully that's it. It's very very faint, as I can't even smell it but Stephanie has very sensitive sense of smell. I'm all about preventive maintenance, just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything that I was missing.
I'd bet on the wax ring under the toilet not sealing tight. I notice mine every once in a while when I run my attic fan.
