We have had our house for 4 years, it is a ranch, it was built in 1938 and works off a septic system and city water. Certain times during the year (climate changes especially when it starts to get the first cold spell for the season) a terrible sewer smell comes from our basement. It happens when we use our toilets or showers on the first floor. We have had plumbers out and no one can seem to figure the problem out. Additionally the time the plumber gets to our house the smell has gone and usually reappears that next morning when we begin to use our bathrooms heavily again. The smell last about 3-4 days it is definitely a sewage smell. Any help I would greatly appreciate, we are so at wits end we might put our house up for sale.

Speedball - are you out there? I need help...


Sincerely,

Susan

1. Do you have any floor drains in the basement ?
2. Is there any plumbing fixture in the basement ?

Could be a clogged vent stack is allowing your traps to siphon but that would not coincide with any particular season. Does it ever happen when your furnace is not in operation?

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Originally Posted by ballengerb1

Could be a clogged vent stack is allowing your traps to siphon but that would not coincide with any particular season. Does it ever happen when your furnace is not in operation?

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Yes it does but when the furnace is on the smell is bad it distributes the smell through the house LUCKY Me. This is so frusterating.

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Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

1. Do you have any floor drains in the basement ?
2. Is there any plumbing fixture in the basement ?

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Yes one in the laundry that we have poored water and bleach down. The other problem is that is a finished basement so before we lived there some one laid carpet so there could be another drain under the carpet but that will be extremely expensive to pull up and check trying to avoid this.

Any other thoughts??

Is there a sink or drain that rarely gets used? If so, the P-trap could dry out, allowing the sewage smell to come up through the drain. This happens where I work (a research laboratory) where there are sinks that no one uses for months at a time.

If you have an oil burner, and it is not properly venting out of your house when in operation, the overpowering smell could be coming from the boiler. Try smelling around your oil burner, when this happens. It smells a little like rotton eggs from a distance, but up close, it can sting the nostrils, so don't breathe in too deeply.

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Originally Posted by neverguess

If you have an oil burner, and it is not properly venting out of your house when in operation, the overpowering smell could be coming from the boiler. Try smelling around your oil burner, when this happens. It smells a little like rotton eggs from a distance, but up close, it can sting the nostrils, so don't breathe in too deeply.

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No oil burner.