Hello,
I found this site by accident and am hopeful someone can give me advice. We are experiencing a sewage type odor throughout the house whenever water is turned on. I believe it happens when it is traveling through the pipes, hopefully not under my home. It ONLY happens when water is used. Meaning, we don't smell it all the time. Half of the house is off the ground with a crawlspace, the other sits on a foundation. I was hoping that if it was a problem with a pvc pipe I could crawl under and attempt to fix it myself. I would at least like to find the problem before I spend money on a plumber so I know what I am dealing with. Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I am alone with four children. Money is an issue for me.
I shined a flashlight under the house as far as I could see there appears to be no leaks, but I know there is a maze of pipes under there. I would appreciate any help. Thanks! :)

Go back through old threads here and try Speedball's remedies for smelly drains. Sometime it is the water itself that smells. Try drawing first cold, then hot water into a pan, not letting any go down the drain. See if you get the smell. If only the hot water smells, you may need to remove the magnesium rod from the hot water heater. Hot water heaters have the magnesium rod to neutralize acid water. Sometimes sulfur in the water reacts with the magnesium producing stinky sulfur gases. Shut the water off. Find what looks like a large bolt head on the top of the hot water tank. Remove it and the long rod. Cut the rod off and replace the end. Turn the water back on.

If the cold water smells to, you need to add a whole house taste and odor filter. Ask, and I will try to work you through it. You will need to tell me what kind of pipe you have at the water meter or pressure tank.

My issue is a sewage smell in my laundry room. My house is pretty new -- 5 years old. The smell seems to happen after we are using the shower in another part of the house. Not sure where to go with this. Any ideas?

Thanks!

If it is the anode rod (Mg rod, Mg=magnesium) in the hot water heater they sell different ones (alloys) that may help... see...

http://www.plumbingstore.com/anoderods.html

To WindSwept,
Follow Labmans advice and smell the tap water,( are you on a pump or city water?) We have to know if the odor is coming from a bad anode rod in the water heater or from crud that's built up in your drains. Get back to us with your findings and we'll have some solutions for you.

To iscragg,
It doesn't sound like the smell's coming from a faulty anode rod or smelly water. If it were you would smell it every time you opened a tap and not just in the shower. The main causes for odor from tub, lavatory or shower come from rotting hair and grease lodged in the drain pipes. The reason that you smell it in the basement, (and here I'm just guessing) is that you have a basement floor drain that hasn't been used and the water seal in the trap evaporated and allowing sewer gas to escape as the discharge passes.
Try this. Remove the two screws holding the strainer. (TIP; put the screws in the soap dish before they get lost down the drain.) Shine a light down there and with a bent coathanger fish out any hair that may be hiding down there. Then pour a 1/2 gal. of bleach down into the trap and let it set over night. Next morning flush it out,( and this is important) with two large pans of boiling water. The bleach will help with the smell and make the hair slippery and the boiling water loosen the grease and flush the mess out into the main. Good luck to both of you. Tom

Had a similar problem and traced it to the washer drain. Once I installed a washer drain hose with a flexible end fitting that completely fit into the drain pipe the odor went away.

Thanks Speedball1 & Flickit,

My Laundry room is on the same level as the bathroom with the shower. It's just at another part of the house. Do you think the bleach thing will still help? There is a drain in the laundry room that is never really used. It's under the clothes drip dry area. Could that be the source of the problem? Is this where I should do the bleaching? Or should I be bleaching the drain in the shower?

As for the washer, there is no open drain. It's a plastic hose that fits into a pipe. No room for water or oders to escape.

Thanks again to both of you for your help.

Iscragg

Dump some water down the little used drain. Maybe all you need to do is fill its trap with water.

Wow that was easy. It smells great in here again. Thanks a ton for the advice. All it needed is a little water. :)

Thank Speedball. Once when he suggested, I thought, duh, why didn't I think of that.

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Originally Posted by labman

Thank Speedball. Once when he suggested, I thought, duh, why didn't I think of that.?

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Looks like I have more faith in you then you do. There's no doubt in my mind that you would have come up with the same answer. Regards, Tom

It sounds like a lot of the same problems, with different layouts. We have a one story house, no basement, two bathrooms that back up to one an other. We have a sewer smell coming from we think the sinks and tub drains. It does not seem to be coming from the toilet or when water is running. The smell is drifting into the house. We had this once last year and it went away. We used Gel Liquid Draino in every opening, not much help. Does most of these soulition work for any smelly problem?

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Originally Posted by Owenmabel

It sounds like a lot of the same problems, with different layouts. We have a one story house, no basement, two bathrooms that back up to one an other. We have a sewer smell comming from we think the sinks and tub drains. It does not seem to be comming from the toilet or when water is running. The smell is drifting into the house. We had this once last year and it went away. We used Gel Liquid Draino in every opening, not much help. Does most of these soulition work for any smelly problem?

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Hi Mabel,

Are you on city sewer or a septic tank? Do any of your drains "gurgle" or talk back to you when you drain something? Where does it smell then worst?
Is there a sink that isn't used much? Is there a floor drain in your home? Answer and I'll get back to you ASAP. Tom

We are on city sewer. There is no talk back or gurgling. My husband says the front bathroom smells worse, I think it's the back, so that's questionable. We have a double sink in are back bathroom. We only use one sink. We never use the other one, ever. One less sink to clean. There is no floor drain my husband knows of, but he's not real sure what your asking on that one. This is really apperciated. Thanks

O.k. after you asked we went stright for the un-used sink. We strongly feel that was the problem. We have since flushed the sink best we can. We have poored bleach down every drain. The smell has subsided greatly in the front of the house (about 95%) and it smells not so strong in the back (85%). It seems to be lingering just a bit. We keep running water and soap when we pass by it. We apperciate the help. Any suggestions on remaining odor would greatly be taken. You are definitely the man :D...

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Originally Posted by Owenmabel

O.k., after you asked we went stright for the un-used sink. We strongly feel that was the problem. We have since flushed the sink best we can. We have poored bleach down every drain. The smell has subsided greatly in the front of the house (about 95%) and it smells not so strong in the back (85%). It seems to be lingering just a bit. We keep running water and soap when we pass by it. We apperciate the help. Any suggestions on remaining odor would greatly be taken. You are definatly the man :D ...........

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Chances are the water seal evaporated from the trap in the unused lavatory allowing sewer gas to escape. Do the bleach thingy again. Pour 1/2 gallon of bleach in the drain and let it set overnight. Next morning flush it out with boiling water, (forget about the soap, that, along with hair, can also smell bad. Good luck and congratulations for fixing it on your own. Tom