Smell coming from standup Shower

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theboneman21

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Folks, I wonder if you can offer some help here

I get a stale water type of smell coming from the main level shower, a standup model. That is the only place it happens.

From what I can tell the sink , which has its own P trap, is Td into the drain pipe of the shower BEFORE the shower's P trap.

Not sure if that has any impact ?

it's not so much septic as it is stale water ONLY from the standup shower, not the sink or wash machine in the same room

First pic shows the P trap and another piece of piping connected. As far as i can tell, it is the sink next to the shower

the second pic is the Td in line shows it going into the floor under where the sink is

However, just past the shower's p trap there is this piece that is capped. not a clue what that is or if it is having an impact

Could I maybe add some sort of check valve or something between the p trap and shower drain as I have to wonder if maybe the sink usage pushes the water out of the p trap ?

or maybe a p trap with a deeper curve as this one is not that deep

I tried doing the add water thing and it would go away for a while then come back after a while, didn't time it or anything. Wonder if maybe a venting issu possibly ?

For now i have a test plug in there blocking the drain; there are two of us and a baby and we only ever use the main level shower anyway

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Jadnashua

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Are you saying your sink and shower use the same p-trap? If so, that does not meet code since EACH fixture requires its own trap. THen, it appears that NEITHER of those are vented properly.

The excessively long run for the sink has a LOT of surface area that could accumulate crud, and it's surprising that you don't get some nasty smells from the sink.
 

Terry

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Take the sink drain and wye it into the line after the vent.
The current vent for the shower has been capped. Remove the cap and continue through the roof, or at least install an AAV there, something like a Studor Vent.
 

Jadnashua

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THere's another possibility, but the first thing is to fix the drains!

What type of shower pan do you have? If it's tiled, and it's not done properly, there can be standing water underneath the tile, and after awhile, that can smell pretty nasty.
 

hj

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IF the sink has its own trap, it may also have its own vent tied to the rest of the plumbing system. If that is the case, the sewer gases can flow through that section INTO the shower drain and then into your house.
 

Jadnashua

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It is never okay to run a drain through two p-traps. ANd, if the sink doesn't have its own vent, it's essentially an S-trap, which does not meet code and can cause problem.
 
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