roadrunnercj
New Member
Where to start ….
We bought a new house in 2009 that was built in 2006 but had been unoccupied for years. It has 4 ½ bathrooms and is on septic. The problem is the living room all the way on one side of the house fills up with the smell of septic primarily when we do a couple loads of laundry (other end of the house), but sometimes from just a few showers or a heavy rain. It’s not a slight smell either … No, this is more like the smell of a Bathroom off the Jersey Turnpike just after a bus pulls up from an All you can eat Mexican buffet.
The builder, County Septic Dept, Plumber & Septic Installer have all tried to figure out the problem. They have tried flushing “peppermint†in an upstairs toilet to see if we can figure out where in the room the smell is coming. They have tried putting a camera down the vent stack to see if any nails or holes existed. They tried wishing the problem away nothing worked.
One interesting possible clue or coincidence is that when they capped the vent stack (closest to the living room) in the attic after cutting into it for the camera access … the smell seemed to go away. Then it returned when they reconnected the roof vent. The home has three other vent stacks too. The washing machine is on the second floor but only the one room LR on the first floor really gets the full force of the smell.
I have been reading on the internet for a few days and I understand the vent probably takes more volume of air to equalize the pressure from the draining washing machine but how could capping a stack help eliminate an odor problem? The builder & plumber are now considering a Studor or AAV valve in the attic and not using the rest of the pipe that extends through the roof but I am still concerned about how the smell is getting in that one room & if using the AAV is treating the symptom and not the problem.
Adding to the confusion is Comcast who decided to ignore marked utility lines and trench over my drain field … not sure if that has anything to do with the smell either but all the sinks/toilets/tubs seem to be draining properly and the smell is inside so I am inclined to continue focusing on the vent stack.
So if anyone has other idea … I would really like to hear them.
Thanks RR
We bought a new house in 2009 that was built in 2006 but had been unoccupied for years. It has 4 ½ bathrooms and is on septic. The problem is the living room all the way on one side of the house fills up with the smell of septic primarily when we do a couple loads of laundry (other end of the house), but sometimes from just a few showers or a heavy rain. It’s not a slight smell either … No, this is more like the smell of a Bathroom off the Jersey Turnpike just after a bus pulls up from an All you can eat Mexican buffet.
The builder, County Septic Dept, Plumber & Septic Installer have all tried to figure out the problem. They have tried flushing “peppermint†in an upstairs toilet to see if we can figure out where in the room the smell is coming. They have tried putting a camera down the vent stack to see if any nails or holes existed. They tried wishing the problem away nothing worked.
One interesting possible clue or coincidence is that when they capped the vent stack (closest to the living room) in the attic after cutting into it for the camera access … the smell seemed to go away. Then it returned when they reconnected the roof vent. The home has three other vent stacks too. The washing machine is on the second floor but only the one room LR on the first floor really gets the full force of the smell.
I have been reading on the internet for a few days and I understand the vent probably takes more volume of air to equalize the pressure from the draining washing machine but how could capping a stack help eliminate an odor problem? The builder & plumber are now considering a Studor or AAV valve in the attic and not using the rest of the pipe that extends through the roof but I am still concerned about how the smell is getting in that one room & if using the AAV is treating the symptom and not the problem.
Adding to the confusion is Comcast who decided to ignore marked utility lines and trench over my drain field … not sure if that has anything to do with the smell either but all the sinks/toilets/tubs seem to be draining properly and the smell is inside so I am inclined to continue focusing on the vent stack.
So if anyone has other idea … I would really like to hear them.
Thanks RR