smelly drain - help please

[Softus]

This stuff is hardly rocket science, so I'm rubbing my eyes when I see the guesswork and conjecture flying around on this topic.

If your soil system connects to a public sewer, then it's possible that the problem isn't even on the grounds of your property.

You haven't stated the layout of your soil and waste system, so it's impossible to say whether there's a blockage in your grey water waste pipework, or in your soil stack, or underground, or elsewhere.

You could eliminate the possibility of a blocked soil vent by aiming a hose down the top of it, which might need a tall ladder or might be possible with a long stick from an upstairs window.

You could eliminate the possibility of the smell coming from some rotting matter in your system by expanding a balloon in the gully or using a drain plug.

Or you could make wagers, and bets, and listen to other people's guesses, and get nowhere.

 

[mcs135]

If he has no positive pressure causing the trap to bubble the smell can't travel past.

That is not a true statement.

Perhaps you could clarify what you say to perhaps help me solve the problem, rather than just berating someone who is?

 

[Softus]

Perhaps you could clarify what you say to perhaps help me solve the problem

Please tell me which parts of my previous post were unclear.

...rather than just berating someone who is?

Please show me where I was berating someone who was trying to help.

 

[mcs135]

Perhaps you could clarify what you say to perhaps help me solve the problem

Please tell me which parts of my previous post were unclear.

...rather than just berating someone who is?

Please show me where I was berating someone who was trying to help.

I am sorry, I posted my comments without refreshing the page so did not see your more helpful post of 11:28. Previous posts, I had felt, were, in the main, simply questioning statements made by others without explaining why!
However, moving on....
Your last post suggests I have a blockage. This is not true. There is no blockage anywhere. There is no change in the U-bend water level when the toilet is flushed, nor are there any bubbles.
My pipework system is as follows:
From the bathroom sink/shower/bath the outlets meet in an external hopper 3m above the ground; this then falls vertically to a gully with U-bend, where the kitchen sink & dishwasher outlets meet. From the U-bend it then flows under the path down the side of the house until and inspection pit. This is where the toilet outlet joins. The waste then flows down to the mains.
The whole part of my system is clean - I just haven't yet got hold of a ladder tall enough to get to inspect the vent (I estimate it's 8m high). The other possibility (I believe) is the build up of gunk in the 3 bathroom outlet pipes.

I'd be pleased to receive comments on what to check next.

 

[Softus]

I am sorry, I posted my comments without refreshing the page so did not see your more helpful post of 11:28. Previous posts, I had felt, were, in the main, simply questioning statements made by others without explaining why!

Please show me where I asked a question of anyone other than you.

However, moving on....
Your last post suggests I have a blockage.

I made no such suggestion.

There is no blockage anywhere.

You can't say what the cause isn't until you know what the cause is.

There is no change in the U-bend water level when the toilet is flushed, nor are there any bubbles.

I certainly wouldn't expect "bubbles", and I've already pointed out that the problem may be outside the bounds of your property.

My pipework system is as follows:
From the bathroom sink/shower/bath the outlets meet in an external hopper 3m above the ground; this then falls vertically to a gully with U-bend, where the kitchen sink & dishwasher outlets meet. From the U-bend it then flows under the path down the side of the house until and inspection pit. This is where the toilet outlet joins. The waste then flows down to the mains.

That's all very clear - thank you.

The whole part of my system is clean - I just haven't yet got hold of a ladder tall enough to get to inspect the vent (I estimate it's 8m high). The other possibility (I believe) is the build up of gunk in the 3 bathroom outlet pipes.

Pardon me for being baffled by that, since you wrote earlier that there was no blockage anywhere.

I'd be pleased to receive comments on what to check next.

Have you checked either of the things I suggested that you could check?

 

[mcs135]

I am sorry, I posted my comments without refreshing the page so did not see your more helpful post of 11:28. Previous posts, I had felt, were, in the main, simply questioning statements made by others without explaining why!

Please show me where I asked a question of anyone other than you. - where you said of powell30:
powell30 wrote:
If he has no positive pressure causing the trap to bubble the smell can't travel past.
That is not a true statement.

However, moving on....
Your last post suggests I have a blockage.

I made no such suggestion. I think so! Try the bit that says "so it's impossible to say whether there's a blockage in your grey water waste pipework, or in your soil stack, or underground, or elsewhere."

There is no blockage anywhere.

You can't say what the cause isn't until you know what the cause is. Duh! that's why I thought it might be easier checking on this forum!

There is no change in the U-bend water level when the toilet is flushed, nor are there any bubbles.

I certainly wouldn't expect "bubbles", and I've already pointed out that the problem may be outside the bounds of your property. Bubbles were mentioned earlier though.

My pipework system is as follows:
From the bathroom sink/shower/bath the outlets meet in an external hopper 3m above the ground; this then falls vertically to a gully with U-bend, where the kitchen sink & dishwasher outlets meet. From the U-bend it then flows under the path down the side of the house until and inspection pit. This is where the toilet outlet joins. The waste then flows down to the mains.

That's all very clear - thank you.

The whole part of my system is clean - I just haven't yet got hold of a ladder tall enough to get to inspect the vent (I estimate it's 8m high). The other possibility (I believe) is the build up of gunk in the 3 bathroom outlet pipes.

Pardon me for being baffled by that, since you wrote earlier that there was no blockage anywhere. No, there's no blockage, just an occassional smell.

I'd be pleased to receive comments on what to check next.

Have you checked either of the things I suggested that you could check?

As I questioned - should I be looking at the vent or the waste pipes coming from the bathroom?

I really don't see how the smell can be coming from a problem outside of my property, surely, otherwise other houses in the street would have the same problem.

 

[Softus]

Please show me where I asked a question of anyone other than you.

where you said of powell30:
powell30 wrote:
If he has no positive pressure causing the trap to bubble the smell can't travel past.
That is not a true statement.

I can't see any question in my reply to powell30.

Your last post suggests I have a blockage.

I made no such suggestion.

I think so! Try the bit that says "so it's impossible to say whether there's a blockage in your grey water waste pipework, or in your soil stack, or underground, or elsewhere."

Well, I suppose that there was some uncharacteristically lax grammar on my part, so, to clarify:

Without knowing the layout of your waste and soil system, it was impossible to say whether or not there's a blockage in your grey water waste pipework, or in your soil stack, or underground, or elsewhere.

There is no blockage anywhere.

You can't say what the cause isn't until you know what the cause is.

Duh! that's why I thought it might be easier checking on this forum!

Do you think that mocking people is a good way to enlist their help?

You haven't simply "checked" on this forum - you've said what you think the cause is, and also what you think it isn't. In doing the latter you close your mind to some possibilities, which is not a good approach to problem solving.

There is no change in the U-bend water level when the toilet is flushed, nor are there any bubbles.

I certainly wouldn't expect "bubbles", and I've already pointed out that the problem may be outside the bounds of your property.

Bubbles were mentioned earlier though.

Not by me.

Pardon me for being baffled by that, since you wrote earlier that there was no blockage anywhere.

No, there's no blockage, just an occassional smell.

If you don't know what the problem is, then you can't yet say what the problem isn't.

I'd be pleased to receive comments on what to check next.

Have you checked either of the things I suggested that you could check?

As I questioned - should I be looking at the vent or the waste pipes coming from the bathroom?

Well I'll say it again: Have you checked either of the things I suggested that you could check?

I really don't see how the smell can be coming from a problem outside of my property, surely, otherwise other houses in the street would have the same problem.

OK then. Are you proposing to take all of the things you don't understand about drainage, and assume that they can't happen?

 

[mcs135]

I'm getting a little tired of being belittled; therefore I shall endeavour to find a tall enough ladder to check the vent stack, and, while I'm about it, block up the outlets to the bathroom, treat with caustic soda.
If the problem still persists then I shall decide whether embark on using this site again or call in a plumber - or just buy some pegs!

 

[Softus]

Oh. No. Please do not go. Your contribution has been invaluable. Please do not leave us. Anything but that.

 

[mcs135]

I appreciate the concern expressed in your last post Softus. While I intend to carry out both tasks to see if this solves the problem (although, as is the difficulty with intermittant problems, you can never be sure if you've solved them unless it returns); could I please ask you, in the meantime, to enlighten me with regard to how a problem outside of my property, can affect a single drain? (no problems with my neighbours).

Oh, and I've just realised, I have missed an element of my pipe set-up: this is another drain/gully that is (now) only serving to accept any overflow from the boiler. This is between the problematic drain/gully and the street; and there is no smell coming from this one. It too has a U-bend and remains full of clean water. I expect this once served as a gutter outlet or, where the kitchen sink might once have been (its sloping sides feeding towards the grate makes it twice the size of the other).

 

[mcs135]

I happened to be right by the drain, replacing the outlet from the dish washer when my wife ran a couple of taps in the bathroom. I got a lungful of stench - not nice but at least I am fairly certain where the problem lies now....

So it's out with the caustic soda!

 

[pompeyal]

Just a thought... has a bird fallen into the stack and died there? maybe this is the cause of the smell..Al.

 

[mcs135]

Planning to get a BIG ladder and stick a hose down the stack - just for the sheer hell, and see what comes out!