Hi. I have read multiple posts regarding my similar situation but none seem to appropriately address my problem. For the past month or so I have been smelling a seriously horrible sewer gas smell only while doing the laundry. I have lived in a 40-50 year old house for the past 6 years and this has never happened before. I bought an LG Front Loader 1.5 years ago and this has not happened until now. This is not a problem with the washer door being shut. I do not have the moldy mildewy smell in the washer's tub and my clothes smell fine when they are done. It's definitely a sewer gas smell in the air when the washer is running and for a period thereafter until it seems to go away due to time. The smell starts in the laundry room but if the door is open and/or if I am doing more than one load eventually the whole house smells. My washing machine has a rubber drain hose coming out from the back that empties into my laundry tub. The washing machine does not drain right into the house drain. The hose does not get submerged as the tub fills when the washer drains. Running water into the laundry tub from the spigot does not cause the smell. The smell only happens when the washer is running. It is not an electric smell, a natural gas smell nor a moldy or stagnant water smell, it is a sewer gas smell. It does not happen when I flush the toilets, take a shower, run the dishwasher or use the laundry tub for any other reason. It only happens when I run the washing machine. Any thoughts on what might be causing this? I have called LG and after much "to do" all they could come up with is that it's a leak in my hot water heater. Again, although I do have a gas HW heater, this is not a natural gas smell. They referred me to my extended warranty company and a very nice customer service person did everything they could to try to figure out a way to help but in the end said that odors are not covered. Anything anyone could suggest would be greatly appreciated because I guess my next step is to call a plumber. Thank you

Is there a floor drain near your washer or laundry sink? If there is, dump a gallon of water down it. Please let me know. It is very common for laundry room to have a floor drain, if the trap has dried up, you will usually encounter sewer gas smell all the time, but it may be stronger when large volumes of water are run upstream from point of floor drain tie in.

One other thing, sewer smell is sometimes a sign of partially plugged main sewer. As large amounts of water or waste are drained, if there is a partial blockage downstream, it can cause air(sewer gas) to bubble up through your trap. Hope one of the other pros here can explain this in more detail. Im more used to seeing the problem first hand,, not so good at explaining it. Hope we can help. Lee.

Hi. Thank you for your thoughts. I do not have a drain in my floor. I'm thinking you mean the type that you often find in the middle of the floor in public restrooms. My laundry tub does drain down through a metal pipe with a loop-d-loop (Maybe called a p-trap? ) and into the floor. Not sure where it goes from there since it's on a slab. I'm guessing the metal pipe hits a main drain pipe and then out to the street. I do not know if there is more than one drain that leaves my house but if not, the laundry tub is the last stop before outside. I did forget to mention in my original post that I am on public sewer.

You did however give me a good idea. We have some sort of a vent pipe sticking out of our front yard. Shortly after we first moved in 5+ years ago my son and his friend thought it was fun to drop stuff down there but I did not know they were doing it. Then one day I was doing laundry and the tub would not drain and the toilet in my lower level had rocking water sloshing around for no reason. We plunged that vent and all has been fine since and my son knows better than to drop anything down there now. Although we had a water backup, there was no smell like there is now. And unlike before, we do not have a water backup, just the horrible smell. Maybe this is a result of a partially plugged drain that you suggest. I am going to plunge that vent again tomorrow and see if that helps. Thank you very much for the idea and if any of this new information makes you think of anything else, I would be very grateful for more helpful hints.

However I am still wondering if the main drain is partially blocked, why would we not have a smell when other things use large amounts of water such as toilets, showers and the dishwasher? I'll update tomorrow after the vent has been plunged and I run another load of laundry. Thank you

Plunging did not seem to work! We plunged the vent in the front yard this morning. My washer has a timer on it so during the week I turn it on in the morning so that it is finishing up as I get home from work. I opened the back door and the smell was awful. So very sad, I proceeded to do another load of laundry (after the smell cleared) and I stood there for the full 55 minute cycle. I thought if I could figure out when it was happening or exactly where it was coming from it might help. Don't you know there was absolutely no smell. The vent was plunged before the 1st load so?? I don't think the plunging is why it didn't smell after the second load since it was done before the first load but at this point I really don't know. This was a very small load of laundry rather than my normal full load just because I was running the washer to stand there and that was all I had. I don't know if the size of the load has anything to do with it but I can't imagine why? I will have a good size load again tomorrow so I guess I will be standing by the washer once more. If anyone else has or has had this problem I would love to hear from you. Thank you

Does you trap (loop-d-loop) go into a pipe that goes to the floor and also goes up to or toward the ceiling? The pipe outside is a clean out pipe, for clearing the line when its gets blocked. It is not a vent. In other words does under you sink look like A or B?

Are you on city sewer or a septic system. Sewers do not have ground level vents but some septics do. Back to you

Harold's asking if you have a "P" trap or a "S" trap. Bob's asking if you're on a septic tank or city sewer. If you'll answer them they'll answer you. Regards, Tom

Hi to all and I appreciate the help. My loop-d-loop looks like picture B above which looks like a letter S so I guess that's the answer for that question. And I am on city sewer.

I am currently on my 3rd load of laundry since the "cleanout" pipe in the front yard was plunged. As a recap, 1st load smelled horrible, 2nd small load did not smell, 3rd load smelled mildly. I stood by the washer the whole 2nd load. The 3rd load I got there right before the wash cycle was done and it dumped the water. Immediately as the washer was dumping the water the smell started. It almost seemed as if it did not even have a chance to start going down the drain of my laundry tub but it all happened so fast I can't be sure. Wish I could instant replay. It's currently on the spin cycle and the smell is gone. It did not seem to smell after the rinse cycle either. I am just looking for some sort of a pattern. I will be doing more laundry this weekend so hopefully I will have time to stand by and take notes. I am going to try running the sanitizing cycle tonight with beach but I already did that a couple of weeks ago with no noticeable difference. It just seemed weird that the smell started as soon as the water started coming out of the washer drain hose. Again, my clothes and the inside of the washer always smell fine when they are done. Thank you to all for trying to help with this.

Have you resolved this issue? I am very curious, because the same thing is happening to us. I can not stand the smell.

Hi again, after getting very frustrated with all of this I stopped using fabric softener. For some strange reason it seems to have helped tremendously. It was the same softener I always have used so I'm not quite sure why this became a problem? First I tried a few loads without it and eventually the smell seemed to be much less. I started again and the smell came back so I stopped permanently. Every once in a while I smell a faint smell but in no way close to what it was before. Anyone have a clue why fabric softener would cause a problem years later? Now I use dryer sheets and I'm not afraid to start laundry when I know we will have company.

We have the same sewer smell problem. Also a front loader. This is our 3rd machine in 10 years, and it always comes back. I was hoping for some great cure, but you may have hit it. (I notice that it's the fabric softener that molds in the soap dispenser.)
Thankfully, with a remodel, we added an exhaust fan--so that helps.

Now if we can just figure out why only our new Kohler kitchen faucets make the water smell like mold. Ugh!

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Now if we can just figure out why only our new Kohler kitchen faucets make the water smell like mold. Ugh!

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Remove the aerator from the spout,( see image) Now turn the cold water on without the aerator in place. Any smell? Now do the hot. Any smell there? If the water smell clean then clean the screen and soak the aerator in bleach for a hour. Water smell better now? Good luck, Tom

Thank you speedball1. Would you read my post #2 to lelula under question titled
"water in kitchen faucet smells like mildew"? This explains more details and maybe you'll have more info. For me. Our faucet is a sprayer head, and the smell started when new. Thanks.

I have the same problem with my new LG washer It only smell when I do a wash . I have had a different make front loader in its place and the only difference I can see is the length of hose that goes into your stack pipe. Im thinking it may be too long.

We never really have had any solution. Sometimes it's better than other times, but not gone. The things I do to help are: run the exhaust fan when washing and drying ; leave the washer door ajar when not in use; faithfully clean per manufacturer instructions--once a month with bleach. We have a fairly long hose too, but in the past with other front loaders, it wasn't as long and the area still smelled. I still use fabric softener, so I take out the drawer and clean that periodically too, but that never smells.. I don't think that's really the problem. I think it has more to do with inadequate plumbing (for these types of washing machines?)--like traps/piping/sewer/ etc. and that's why it never resolves.

Oops--My post on Fri 3/25 is really supposed to be a comment to you, so I'll just copy it here--Plumbing Smells--
We never really have had any solution. Sometimes it's better than other times, but not gone. The things I do to help are: run the exhaust fan when washing and drying ; leave the washer door ajar when not in use, faithfully clean per manufacturer instructions--once a month with bleach. We have a fairly long hose too, but in the past with other washers, it wasn't as long and the area still smelled. I still use fabric softener, so I take out the drawer and clean that periodically too, but that never smells.. I don't think that's really the problem. I think it has more to do with inadequate plumbing (for these types of washing machines?)--like traps/piping/sewer/ etc. and that's why it never resolves.