I have recently moved into a new science building at a school and into a classroom that has a laboratory. We have been experiencing a very foul odor coming from the drains of the lab sinks and the lab safety shower drains. This has been reported to the building contractor and our district representative of our building. They have come to the conclusion that it is sewer gas. We have been instructed to pour water down the drains because the sewer traps dry out. This has to be done at least two or three times in a month or more. My question to you is would this be an acceptable practice due to this building only being two years old? I feel that if this would truly be the case pretty much all buildings would experience this problem. In your opinion what could be causing this and why is this not happening in most of the buildings. I know that I have probably not given you much information, but I just can't understand why this has to be done here in this building and not others.
If you can help me out I would really appreciate any information or opinion you may provide.

Hi Balt

I can't speak to plumbing requirements in your area, but as you suggested, a building that is two years old should probably have been set up with TRAP PRIMERS on all floor drains or safety shower drains. Trap primers usually work by dripping water into floor drains when nearby sinks are used...they are not used on sink drains as these are expected to keep "wet" by regular use.

One alternative that may be helpful here is to install WATERLESS trap primers such as the sure seal (there are a variety of name brands). Click on this link for more info.:

Home: SureSeal Waterless Floor Drain Trap Sealer (http://www.thesureseal.com/)

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Unfortunately, these will not help with odor issues at the sink. If you are having sewer gas issues at the sinks (which could actually also be a problem with the safety showers) then I start to think the vent system may be a problem...hmmm??

Post back with your thoughts...

Mark

I wonder if the system is properly vented. Not a plumber but that was an issue in a home I once owned and once corrected, problem solved.

Hi DKN

If you look at my next to last sentence you will see that I am leaning toward venting as an issue, too...hmmm?? Good call!