Sewer smell in mechanical room

[littledan]

Alright home-bros, just wanted to gather intel on this shitty situation.

Last 24 hours I kept smelling a shit stink. I would ask my wife if she smelled it to which she replied no. I left for work yesterday, and when i returned I smelled the stink again. Checked everything around the house but couldn't find anything wrong. 1AM last night I'm trying to sleep and I smell the shit smell again and start tripping out thinking I'm going crazy or I got shit smeared on my moustache or gas leak or something.

Went down to check the basement. No water anywhere. No visible dry drains. But there was a very strong sewer smell in the mechanical room. I was not 100% sure if it was nat gas or sewer, but my instant gut instinct was sewer as I have a nat gas bbq and range and am somewhat familiar with the nat gas smell. This was more shit stinky.

I check the floor drain in mech room. There is visible water flowing into it from the humidifier and I see standing water down in the drain. I check the sump area and smell was possibly stronger from there. I run water down into the sump drain but again, see standing water at the base of pipe. I pull the sump cover and pit is completely dry. I ended up putting about 60 or 80 liters into the pit something like that to get the pump to run and discharge it out the drain.

I also checked my fresh air intake on the furnace, completely clean. ( cleaned it in fall prior to winter).

I did notice when I smelled the smell it felt like there was airflow coming up from the sump drain but I wasnt sure if that was shit stink air from the sewer or if that was airflow from the sump put through the discharge piping. If that's the case, perhaps the sump needs some amount of standing water to seal the intake/impeller of the pump to the discharge pipe?

Anyways, I am curious to know if there are any overlooked things based on others experience.

This morning, smell seems to have dissipated. I also poured in some green goblin main line drain thingy to the toilet last night and flushed in case there is a sewer obstruction developing. I did note that the sump discharge pipe flowed the water perfectly fine with no signs of slow flow / drain.

Thanks in advance.

[killramos]

I would guess the p trap drain on your sewer dried up. Pouring water into it should have helped, which it sounds like it did.

I would run some water through every fixture in the house to make sure none of the p traps are dried and see if that addresses it.

If it truly is coming from your weeping tile / sump that’s a much bigger problem.

Maybe check to see if a cap on your vent stack is loose/open?

[mr2mike]

Dry P traps stink. Keep them wet.

Forget if you're on an acreage or not. But snow can move your septic tank lid. Go see if it's sealed or moved.

[Pacman]

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Dry P traps stink. Keep them wet.

Forget if you're on an acreage or not. But snow can move your septic tank lid. Go see if it's sealed or moved.

Good reminder from a safety perspective as well. A few years ago, a 2 year old fell into the septic tank on an acreage due to the lid moving from the snow.

[littledan]

I'll go wet everything I can get my hands on.

I'm not on an acreage, I'm in Edmonton. It has all the service benefits of being on an acreage without all the downsides of low taxation rates.

[Darell_n]

Is your sump discharge going outside like it’s supposed to, or into your sanitary drain like it’s not supposed to? If the latter the smell could definitely come back through the dried sump well. You can dump in RV antifreeze, as it is non toxic and will never dry out. We use vegetable oil at work sometimes too in mechanical room floor drains that never see water.

I chased an occasional smell in my basement too. Figured out the basement washroom plumbing vent must be blocked so I added a vent on the sink inside the cabinet. Problem solved.

[suntan]

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I'll go wet everything I can get my hands on.

I'm not on an acreage, I'm in Edmonton. It has all the service benefits of being on an acreage without all the downsides of low taxation rates.

You sure it's not just the smell of Edmonton?

[ercchry]

Good reminder to go and run some water after this god damn wind… dunno if it’s just this 1970s goodness or not, but I find my stacks act like straws with the pressure change of a good breeze and suck the water up and out of everything

[88CRX]

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you sure it's not just the smell of edmonton?

a+

[littledan]

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Is your sump discharge going outside like it’s supposed to, or into your sanitary drain like it’s not supposed to? If the latter the smell could definitely come back through the dried sump well. You can dump in RV antifreeze, as it is non toxic and will never dry out. We use vegetable oil at work sometimes too in mechanical room floor drains that never see water.

I chased an occasional smell in my basement too. Figured out the basement washroom plumbing vent must be blocked so I added a vent on the sink inside the cabinet. Problem solved.

Builder piped the sump with 2 output lines, 1 runs to the front yard discharge pipe, other runs to the sanitary drain. Not sure if that was OK by code at that time or not (2017 build)

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You sure it's not just the smell of Edmonton?

Can't be 100% sure. There is a wicked stink a couple of block away where Epcor is doing a drainage project. They are funneling half of Edmonton's shit through our neighbourhood, and the "turbidity" causes gas to leak out of portions of the system. Its disgusting. Luckily, my $8000/yr property tax bill should motivate the wise overlords at the city to help us do something about it (holding my breath).

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I would guess the p trap drain on your sewer dried up. Pouring water into it should have helped, which it sounds like it did.

I would run some water through every fixture in the house to make sure none of the p traps are dried and see if that addresses it.

If it truly is coming from your weeping tile / sump that’s a much bigger problem.

Maybe check to see if a cap on your vent stack is loose/open?

I'll fly the drone up there later and see if there is anything to see.

[ExtraSlow]

Good call everyone on filling up less-used basement traps.

[Darell_n]

How are the 2 discharge lines connected together? Might be setup with check valves that allow sanitary drain during winter if the outside line is frozen, or do you manually select which line is used?

Please, no photos of your smelly discharge though.

[ThePenIsMightier]

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...

Please, no photos of your smelly discharge though.

[littledan]

Just 2 manual valves