Sewer gas smell in basement

[Puddin' Man]

Greetings, I belong to a little brick bungalow in the midwest, built in '54, poured-concrete foundation.

Sewer gas smell in basement is detectable, far from overwhelming.

I ran a search, considered numerous possibilities (dry trap, open clean-out in floor drain, etc). None seem to fit. Sniffed the bsmt. floor drain particularly carefully as sump, washer, and AC drain there: no odor.

I gotta track it down.

Any ideas?

100% safe to pour a pint or so of laundry bleach in each drain?

Thx, Puddin'

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head." - from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

[Oren]

Yes! It sure beats all that sniffing around.

[Speedy Jim]

'54, Midwest, very likely means that the house sewer under the basement floor is clay tile. The sections never fit or seal perfectly and, after half a century, may have settled or lost seals otherwise. There are probably extensive voids under the slab, giving any gas plenty of opportunity to migrate out.

Normally, the stack vent would dissipate some of it by having a constant "breeze" flowing thru the entire system, but ?

All that said, I don't have a simple fix for it :-( Bleach may mask it for a while.....

Jim

[Rick-Meister]

Toilet in the basement? Bad wax ring seal?

Hub type cast iron main stack? Leak in hub seal?

You're running your sump into a floor drain? Septic system or city sewer? If city, that's probably against code.

[Puddin' Man]

Nope.

Is cast iron.

Sho'ly doesn't look like it.

Yup.

I don't think it was when installed. Sump cycles maybe 30 gals/year. Is trivial.

P

" ... and the bees made honey in the lion's head." - from "If I Had My Way", Blind Willie Johnson

[peter]

If there is a venting fan in the basement, turn in on (creating a mild vacuum in the basement). This may draw more odor into the basement and make it easier to smell the source.

Another idea if you're desperate: buy some plastic drop cloth ($1 to $2 a roll in paint section), tape one piece loosely to each wall, floor, etc. After a while, poke a hole and sniff the air behind each piece. Perhaps this would isolate the area, even if the odor is slowing leaking in from a wall or floor (hard to detect otherwise).

[someone]

If you have a washing machine down there, smell that and see if it's the culprit..They can get to smelling, we have a Sears washer that we've had smell problems with and there's lots on the internet about it plus ways to cure or help eliminate it.

Just a thought,

Gene

[hallerb]

nson- Hide quoted text -

hows the main sewer draining? i can tell when mine is clogging with tree roots. basement begins to smell.

then i put down more rocksalt which kills the roots, but leaves the trees safe