I have a drain in my basement floor. When I am doing laundry sometimes I notice I hear a bubbling sound, however it is not over flowing. I checked on it last time and took the cover off and noticed the water was kind of low (lower than it is normally, and this has happened more than once) and there was a horrible smell filling up the basement. My two questions are is the smell sewer gas leaking in and is it normal to have to fill up the water ever so often? I am a first time female home buyer and have no idea what it could be. Thank you!

Floor drain must have trap. Also, in my area of operation, we are required to install so called "Primer" in each floor drain. Primer is a device that constantly drips water into floor drain disallowing water inside the trap to dry out.

See the attachment for better visual...

Purpose of water inside the trap is to prevent sewer gases from entering living space. Smell is product of dry trap. If there is not a Primer installed than make it a habit of filling up the floor drain (trap) every week or so with cup of water. With full trap, sewer gas will be kept inside the sewer pipe.

Hope that helps. Back to you. Milo

Thank you for your answer. Do you know roughly how much it would cost to have a primer installed?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Milo Dolezal

Floor drain must have trap. Also, in my area of operation, we are required to install so called "Primer" in each floor drain. Primer is a device that constantly drips water into floor drain disallowing water inside the trap to dry out.

See the attachment for better visual ...

Purpose of water inside the trap is to prevent sewer gases from entering living space. Smell is product of dry trap. If there is not a Primer installed than make it a habit of filling up the floor drain (trap) every week or so with cup of water. With full trap, sewer gas will be kept inside the sewer pipe.

Hope that helps. Back to you. Milo

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Thank you for your answer. Do you know roughly how much it would cost to have a primer installed

Unless the drain is installed on raised foundation floor, it would be too big of a job to install one in on a drain set in concrete slab floor. However, yes, it can be done...

You would need to install "tapped" trap under the drain and run primer line to the closest wall. Then you would have to connect the primer line to cold water supply, install Primer and cover it with access door so Primer can be adjusted and serviced.

Prices vary widely from city to city and many additional factors will determine how much you can expect to pay for such work. I suggest that you call three plumbing contractors and ask for free estimates. Ask lots of questions. Go with the one you feel most comfortable with.

Hope that helps. Back to you. Milo

Water would typically evaporate from the trap. You can use a 50/50 mixture of water and Antifreeze or fill the trap and pour a 1/4" of cooking oil on top of the water. Lot cheaper than installing a primer.

Easier and cheaper than a trap primer and less trouble than frequently replacing oil in the trap is installing a SURE SEAL trap sealer.

Check out this video for more info.:



Check out this link for more info.:

Sure Seal

Good luck!

Mark

If the FD isn't in use simply fill the trap with anti-freeze or cooking oil and forget it. This saves you the expense of breaking up the cement and installing a trap primer. Good luck, Tom

Did you check out the sure seal, Tom (see video above)? This device is pretty cheap, and makes it so that you don't need to periodically check for evaporation or bugs, etc.

It's what I would use...

Thank you everyone for your help! I checked into the Sure Seal and really like it. I plan on getting this!