The toilet has been off the closet flange for a week, and I have not put anything in the drain pipe to prevent sewer gases from drifting up into the bathroom. Yet I don't smell any, and my smelling is excellent. From the plumbing diagrams on the web, there are no traps other than the one in the toilet. Should I be concerned that there is a blockage further down the drain?
The house is 15 years old and built on a slab.
Thanks,
R1
I'd pour some water in, and see what happens. See if the stack pipe fills.
If I had to guess, I'd guess it was because the vent stack that toilet empties into is on the downwind side of your house.
I'm thinking that if the wind across North America is generally in a west to east direction, if your vent stack opens up on the east side of your roof, the wind blowing over your roof could be causing an low pressure area on the east side of the roof, possibly causing air to be sucked up the vent stack.
Test the idea. Light a cotton shoe lace until it's burning under it's own steam, and then blow out the flame so that the cotton is smoldering, releasing a steady stream of smoke as it burns. You now have a poor man's smoke pencil. Hold the smoldering end of the shoe lace over your floor flange (or what's left of it) and see if the smoke gets sucked into the toilet waste pipe or blown out of it. If it gets blown out, then it could be that the prevailing wind is pushing air down your vent stack, and preventing sewer gas from coming up. If it gets sucked into the toilet waste pipe, it's probably due to the wind blowing over your roof.
Rebel1 wrote in news:sPITv.410446$4% snipped-for-privacy@fx10.iad:
Rather than worrying about a blockage in the drain line, I think I'd take that as an indication that there is *not* a blockage in your vent stack, and that the sewer line is venting properly through it. If you like, go up on the roof on a calm day and sniff the top of the vent stack. I bet you smell sewer gases there!
What happens if the glowing end drops into the methane and blammo?
. Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
Could be your personal habits. When I leave the bathroom it smells like strawberries. If we have cabbage at dinner, it will be like spring flowers.
My toilet usually smells like Nestle Toll House cookies, original recipe.
. Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
TMI, guys!
I wrote toll house cookies, not three mile island nuclear power plant.
. Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
So up or down, in or out, you're blaming the stack vent.
You should be a lawyer.
Do the shoelace test and let us know where the smoke goes. That'll shine more light on it than speculation.
I should have had a smiley here.
Interesting theory, but the toilet has been off the flange for a week. During that time the winds have varied from zero to fairly high. I can't state that the winds/gusts have always been from the same direction.
I used a length of twine. (Shoelaces still packed somewhere in my moving boxes.) Produced black smoke with the flame present, then white after I blew the flame out. The smoke rose, but that's its natural tendency anyway. It didn't rise fast when I held the string over the opening.
I then cut a thin strip, 1/4" by 3" of single-ply facial tissue and held it over the opening. Wasn't sucked down or blown upward.
I dumped about a gallon of water down the drain. It simply went away. If there is a blockage farther down the drain pipe, this test wouldn't detect it. Maybe I should run a garden hose down the drain for five minutes.
R1
The gases are probably seeping out into the room and you don't notice them. Try covering up the drain for a day and then removing and see what it smells like.
So, the smoke test shows there's no flow of air either into or out of the toilet drain pipe. That is the reason why there's no smell. Now, we have to ask ourselves whether there should or shouldn't be air flow into or out of that toilet drain pipe.
I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that a 7-11 Super Big Gulp cup is the perfect size to act as a stopper on a 4 inch toilet drain pipe IF you wanted to stopper it up.
Just be happy that water goes down and gasses don't seem to be coming out. On a slab, unless you want to rent a sewer camera or hire a plumber that has one, all we can do is speculate, and there are bigger problems than "no smell" that are on this site.
I talked to a worker, years ago. We were having a candid moment, after I made a mistayke on one of his machines. He tells me that a foam coffee cup works nicely. He says that if you leave the foam cup in, and put the toilet back, that the water overflows the bowl and goes on the floor.
. Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
Earlier today, I filled three buckets with water and emptied them in rapid succession into the drain pipe. All the water disappeared. There was probably five gallons in the three buckets.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.