We moved into a 100 year old farm house about 8 months ago. The plumbing was replaced in the 80's. We are learning the ins and outs of the house. About 2 weeks ago we started hearing a gurgling sound in the shower drain in the upstairs bathroom when we flushed the toilet. Now we are smelling a sewer smell (We have a septic tank). We never use the upstairs shower because it takes too long for the hot water to get up there. Any help on the subject? We have a very steep roof and would hate to have to go up on the roof to check out the vent. Any other way to solve this? Thanks in advance for your help.

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Originally Posted by njassak

We moved into a 100 year old farm house about 8 months ago. The plumbing was replaced in the 80's. We are learning the ins and outs of the house. About 2 weeks ago we started hearing a gurgling sound in the shower drain in the upstairs bathroom when we flushed the toilet. Now we are smelling a sewer smell (We have a septic tank). We never use the upstairs shower because it takes too long for the hot water to get up there. Any help on the subject? We have a very steep roof and would hate to have to go up on the roof to check out the vent. Any other way to solve this? Thanks in advance for your help.

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One of two things here. You have a blocked vent and the system's attempting to vent through the shower trap or you have a partial blockage in the toilet drain and wher the discharge from the toilet hits it it bounces back sending a bubble of air ahead of it and what you hear is the sewer gas escaping from the trap. Your job is to find out which one it is, my job is to tell you how to fix it. To find out exactly what's going on, remove the strainer from the shower drain and shine a light down into the trap. Now have someone flush while you're looking. If you see bubbles and feel a puff of air then it's a blocked drain line. If there's a gurgling sound then you have a blocked vent. Let me know what you come up with. Tom

I am sure this is stale by now, but for future reference, since you never use this shower, it may be that the trap is dry. If so, the shower drain acts as a vent. If so, you can check it by running the shower a bit to fill the trap. If that is the problem, the smell and sound will disappear AIBM (As If By Magic).