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mas360 · Apr 23, 2012, 11:43 AM

My house is 22 years old. The shower in the master bedroom began to smell like sewage a year ago. At first it was very faint, now it is quite strong. A plumber was called and he said the P-trap, which was in the slab, leaked and therefore the seal no longer existed to block the sewage gas. This plumber said there was a drop-in P-trap for this application but when he called his supplier they did not have that device in stock.
Here are my questions:

1) Is his diagnosis correct?
2) Is there such a thing as a drop-in P-trap? I talked to Home Depot, Ace, Lowe's and no one knew of such a thing.

3) Busting up the slab to get to the P-trap is out of question. In the long run, will this leak cause damage to the house's foundation?

4) Is it possible to build a secondary floor above the existing shower floor in order to accommodate a new P-trap? It is going to take some modifications to the shower stall, but this approach seems to be the most feasible. It certainly is better than busting up the existing slab.

Thanks in advance for your suggestion.

Howard

massplumber2008 · Apr 23, 2012, 12:15 PM

Hi Howard

1) If there is no or very little water in the ptrap when you shine a flashlight into the shower drain then yes, his diagnosis is reasonable.

2) Yes, but I think he is referring to a trap primer (see image) to simply seal off the trap. Here, this particular trap primer fits into the shower strainer and allows water to go down the drain but keeps sewer gasses from backing up and into the bathroom. You can check it out here:

http://www.grateseal.com/

There is another kind, too... forgot the name of it, but it is a very similar device and in your situation is probably your best bet until you can deal with accessing the pipe and fixing it properly.

3) Leak really shouldn't hurt anything in the long run.

4) No, this isn't a better option than #2 as you would still have sewer gasses coming back into the home.

Back to you...

Mark

mas360 · Apr 23, 2012, 01:37 PM

I am having problem with a P-trap in my shower stall, which is built into the house slab. I looking for remedy and sureseal is one option. However, I visited sureseal website and could not find an explanation of how it works. Is this like a plug you manually open when you use the shower and then manually close it after you are done with shower?

The sureseal wesite does not explain the mechanism of this device.

Do you know how well it works and the pluses and minuses of this device?

Thanks.

mas360 · Apr 23, 2012, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by massplumber2008

Hi Howard

1) If there is no or very little water in the ptrap when you shine a flashlight into the shower drain then yes, his diagnosis is reasonable.

2) Yes, but I think he is referring to a a trap primer (see image) to simply seal off the trap. Here, this particular trap primer fits into the shower strainer and allows water to go down the drain but keeps sewer gasses from backing up and into the bathroom. You can check it out here:

Stop smelly drains, mould, bacteria and cockroaches in your home

There is another kind, too...forgot the name of it, but it is a very similar device and in your situation is probably your best bet until you can deal with accessing the pipe and fixing it properly.

3) Leak really shouldn't hurt anything in the long run.

4) No, this isn't a better option than #2 as you would still have sewer gasses coming back into the home.

Back to you...

Mark

Mark,
Thanks so much for the reply. First time I see a device like this.

Does this device open itself to allow water to drain and then close up by itself once water is no longer coming down the drain? If it works this way then it should significantly reduces the gas escape into living area but it is not going to eliminate 100% gas leak, is it?

massplumber2008 · Apr 23, 2012, 01:58 PM

That is exactly how these things work! Check out the videos below... :)

Here is a video for the sureseal:

Looks like they keep out close to 99% of the gasses to me!

mas360 · Apr 23, 2012, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by massplumber2008

That is exactly how these things work! Check out the videos below...:)

Here is a video for the sureseal:

Looks like they keep out close to 99% of the gasses to me!!

If you are to pick one, which one of these two devices would you choose?

massplumber2008 · Apr 23, 2012, 04:39 PM

They are almost identical, but if I had to choose I'd choose the sureseal as it seems less likely to dry and shrivel up, right?

Good luck!

Mark

mas360 · Apr 24, 2012, 03:11 PM

Thanks, Mark, I am going with your recommendation... :)

massplumber2008 · Apr 24, 2012, 05:48 PM

Good luck with it all! Please pop back and let us know what you think of the result!

mas360 · Apr 24, 2012, 07:35 PM

Mark,
I took the grate off the drain tonight and shine a flash light down into the tube. I saw water down there. I ran water from the shower head for five minutes and used a dowel to measure water level in the P trap. I am going to check it again in the morning to see if water level is still same.
This is rather strange. I was expecting to see it dry inside the P trap.

massplumber2008 · Apr 25, 2012, 05:18 AM

I would expect there to be some water in the trap if the pipe broke anywhere above the centerline of the trap, but I would Not expect a full trap of water.

mas360 · Apr 25, 2012, 08:16 PM

Mark,
I am so relieved. I checked water level in P-trap this evening and it was at same level as it was last night. There is no sewer smell at all... oh gosh it is so nice. Obviously the issue is not the P-trap leaking. It was just dirty. After the cleaning with Clorox last night all the slimy stuff on the pipe wall is gone along with the smell.

Thanks so much for your help. It is great to have someone to discuss the problem with... :)