We have had a sewer/gas smell in our laundry room on and off for about a year now. At first we thought it was coming from our new Kenmore front load washing machine as we would get the smell when doing laundry. We had a plumber take a look and he snaked all the drains and said the outdoor pipe had some branches stuck in it. Everything else was fine. No smell for about a month then it came back again. I noticed the smell only starts when we use our electric dryer - not the washing machine! I found this out as one day I put some damp clothes in the dryer (washing machine hadn't been used in days) - and after the dryer was running about 5 minutes the smell started. Any idea what could cause this? Doesn't seem like a plumbing problem but I am not sure. No idea what type of repairman to even call for something like this. I have also noticed that our bathroom sink on the 2nd floor above the laundry room will sometimes have a sewer odor coming from the drain. This will happen maybe once a month and all I do is poor some Drano down and the smell stops. The smell doesn't seem to occur during the same time we are doing laundry.

Is your washer draining into a trapped drain? Bet not, just a stand pipe and that allows sewer gas to enter your home when the dryer evacuates some air from the room. Try capping your stand pipe with Saran wrap and duck tap and I'll bet the odor isn't there. Have your plumber come back and build you a trap if you are'nt sure how to do it.

We do have a standpipe but it is connected to a trap drain. We will give the saran wrap a try and see what happens. Thanks

Some trapped stand pipes using an S trap rather than a P trap. The S trap can siphon dry and can no longer be installed.

I tried sealing off the drain pipe with Saran wrap and duct tape. It didn't help. Once again I didn't run the washing machine at all (havent for 24 hours). I put some wet clothes into the dryer and within 15 minutes the smell was there. Could this possibly have anything to do with mold? I have heard a lot of talk about black mold behind walls.

It is possible but mold does not smell like sewer gas. It could even be lint in your dryer that is getting musty and moldy. Have you checked out the dryer vent pipe and insides of the dryer chamber?

Our dryer vent goes directly from our dryer straight outside. There is only about 3 feet of alluminun vent. It is clear of debris. Our dryer is only 1 year old and the vent trap in the dryer is cleaned after each cycle. The smell occurred one of the first times we used it. The same smell occurred with our old dryer as well. The smell can sometimes me more of a gas smell and other times it almost smells rotten. A couple years ago we had an issue with our upstairs bathtub having a crack and it was leaking (right above our laundry room). Once we noticed the leak we stopped using the tub and we just replaced it last year. When we were installing the new tub/shower we had to cut a hole to install a shower and that is when we noticed that the floor drywall was mushy and totally damaged. We had to replace the subfloor and we also had to cut out some ceiling out of our laundry room as it was damaged as well and had small traces of black mold on it (we assumed from the leakage). We haven't replaced the drywall yet in the ceiling so we still have easy access to all of our pipes. This makes me wonder if the smell is reflective at all to any of our previous issues??

Any suggestions? Should I call out a plumber again?

If it only happens when the dryer runs, then it seems like you have an air pressure issue that is pulling the smell into the laundry room. When the dryer exhausts air outside, it must pull air into the laundry room from somewhere. Could there be a plumbing vent that is open in or near the laundry room? Maybe they vented the plumbing inside the wall?

Sheribo, black mold does have a smell but it is not like sewer gas. Are you sure 100% that the odor is sewer gas? I do think you are pulling air into the room when running the dryer. If it is sewer gas then you have a bad trap or no trap on a drain. I think you might be at a place to call in your plumber.

I think you are both right that it is pulling the gas smell into the laundry room from somewhere else. I think at this point I will call a plumber out. Thanks!

Please let us know what the plumber finds is the source of the odor.
Thanks, Bob

Sheribo - did you ever solve this problem? We are having the same issue at our house. Please let me know if you were able to figure it out.

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Originally Posted by sheribo

We have had a sewer/gas smell in our laundry room on and off for about a year now. At first we thought it was coming from our new Kenmore front load washing machine as we would get the smell when doing laundry. We had a plumber take a look and he snaked all the drains and said the outdoor pipe had some branches stuck in it. Everything else was fine. No smell for about a month then it came back again. I noticed the smell only starts when we use our electric dryer - not the washing machine! I found this out as one day I put some damp clothes in the dryer (washing machine hadn't been used in days) - and after the dryer was running about 5 minutes the smell started. Any idea what could cause this? Doesn't seem like a plumbing problem but I am not sure. No idea what type of repairman to even call for something like this. I have also noticed that our bathroom sink on the 2nd floor above the laundry room will sometimes have a sewer odor coming from the drain. This will happen maybe once a month and all I do is poor some Drano down and the smell stops. The smell doesn't seem to occur during the same time we are doing laundry.

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Did you ever solve the problem?if so how
I have the same problems except the smell comes in my bathroom wich is right behind the wall from laundry room,I hve narrowed it down to the dryer,account that is the only time the smell comes,but I can't figure how it would cause the sewer gas smell when it has nothing to do with the plumbing,if you solved your problem let me know at [email protected]

Have similar problem. Have you figured out what it was? Going on 7 months now with the stink when dryer runs.

TJ

Did you ever figure out what was going on when you use your dryer with the smell?
I have similar issue and it has been going on for 7 months now?

No but I think it may have something to do with thein and out line going into and out of septic tank,also plumber dobled the wax seal under the tolietaccount of tile but anorth plumber has told me that was too much wax should have used only a jumbo seal.I,m going to try that first

Contact me at [email protected] and I'll give you some ideals,I have same problem

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Originally Posted by janellw

Sheribo - did you ever solve this problem? We are having the exact same issue at our house. Please let me know if you were able to figure it out.

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Not yet but think maybe the pipe going into and out of septic tank,if you would like contact me on [email protected] and I will tel lyou all that has been done so you don't waste money doing the same thing

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Originally Posted by Hannigan32

Did you ever figure out what was going on when you use your dryer with the smell?
I have similar issue and it has been going on for 7 months now?

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No but one thing for sure I can crack the window in the small bath room and then start the dryerand I do not get the smell
We did find the sewer pipe coming from the house about 5 inches under the house was loose account hadn't been glued,we pulled it out and put glue on it and shoved it back in but this didn't help