Good Morning,

I'm new to this site and I so hope someone can help me with my problem. I'm sure I'll have to call a plumber but I want some help in pinpointing the cause as it may be more than one thing involved. I'm a single mother who usually gets hosed when I call in people to fix and repair things, so I want to look like I know what I'm talking about when I call them:) I'm sorry this is so lengthy, but I wanted to give you as much information a possible.

First things first, for the last year or so when I go down to wash clothes there is blackish, stinky water in the washer drum, smells like rotten eggs, sometimes a couple of inches, sometimes 6-8 inches. The funny thing is, it isn't like that every time I wash, many times the drum is empty. Also, I'm on the public sewer, am on a well, and the washer is in my basement, with a black accordion type hose attached to the back of the washer, with a short black rubber hose connected to that with a reducer that fits on the drain pipe leading to the trap. The large piping then runs up my basement wall diagonally and over to the main sewer pipe over on the other side of my basement. I called a plumber awhile back - he came out- said I needed a new trap which he said he put on?? Obviously I got taken as this plumber left his tool box, huge crescent wrenches, dewalt drill and never came back to do other work I had hired him for. I was told he fell off the wagon and turned into a drunk and let his business go down the drain (no pun intended :) - Just my luck, and I had paid him already for the new trap installation. So my fix was to just keep respinning out the washer (9 yrs old) and then wash my clothes per usual.
Next problem, the other day I opened the cellar door to talk to my son, (basement is finished and he spends most of his time down there on his comp), I smelled an awful odor, which smelled like sewer to me. I went down to look in the washer and there was standing water in the washer again - which smelled really bad, so I spun it out thinking that would alleviate the smell. The smell didn't go away so I went downstairs into another room and found that the carpet was like a soaked sponge! I immediately went outside to see if the downspout extension was attached at the back corner of the house because when it rains (and it poured) water leaks into the basement through the walls. It wasn't - apparently one of my son's friends knocked it off. So I then thought that was causing the sewer smell. I used the shop vac to clean up the water from the rug, turned on the dehumidifier, and ran fans to dry it up. Sewage odor continued, I got down and smelled the carpet and the water in the dehumidifier, they did not smell at all! Went back to the laundry room, removed the hose from the back of the washer, flushed it out to make sure there was no clog, a little water was in the house and a little piece of fiber and that was it. Hooked it back up, ran bleach & hot water in an empty load and the sewer smell is still there!! Question, when I put the washer down on its face to remove the drain pipe, I could hear water sloshing in the washer, although the drum was completely empty, is that normal? Got on the roof, checked the sewer vent and didn't really see anything in there? To complete my story, my garbage disposal upstairs has been making a loud noise when it runs, sounds like a bad bearing, bent blade or whatever, but it still seems to grind the food and empty out and the sink drains fine. What is your insight on this mess? Like I said, I have had problems with the washer backing up in the past, but never has it smelled like sewage. Could it be that the washer is not completely spinning out the water (due to a bad belt) and the water left behind is totally stagnant or does it sound like something is clogged or could there be food trapped somewhere from the garbage disposal making this horrible stench. Is this sewer fumes toxic? Please advise - I'm going crazy with this - thank you so much. I hope I can find my way back here to read your answer - my email is [email protected] if you ever answer directly. I'll bookmark this site and hopefully it will bring me back to the answer page? I appreciate your time in this matter - thanks again :o

One thing at a time,

If you have a typical washer set up, (upright stand pipe with the washer hose hooked over it going down into a trap and then out to the sewer it's impossible, (unless you have a ejector pit and a overhead sewer line) for anything to drain back into your washer. Do you have such a setup?
If not please explain in detail.
Your plumber ripped you off if he told you a new trap would fix the problem.
This "water in the washer" thing sounds like a appliance problem unless I'm missing something here. If you have any more details click on back.
Your disposal sounds like there's a pop-top or something caught between the table and the wall of the housing. Shine a light down in there and check.
Sewer fumes are a health hazard to your families health and the methane content makes it explosive in large quantities. I see you've E-mailed me. I'll run over and answer and give you a link back to the plumbing page. Good luck, Tom

Tom, thanks so much for your reply - here are some more details. We worked on this again last night, thought we solved the problem but it still smells today (doesn't seem quite as bad). I found my washer manual thinking it was a belt problem (kenmore) seems it isn't belt driven, so that shoots that idea. Here is what my washer set up looks like (no standing pipe or floor drain, or wash tub. The hose directly from the back of the washer (accordion style ) WAS hooked to some black flexible rubber hose which was about 6 inches long. It looked like the piece shown in my washer manual that is suppose to be going down the stand pipe, if I had one. Well that was sort of squashed in the middle, we thought that was why the washer wasn't draining properly - so we removed that and clamped the hose from the washer to a narrower ended pipe on the basement wall, which in turn goes into a 2" metal pipe (this all runs uphill diagonally on the basement wall, which then is piped through the rafters over to the other room in the basement and then over to the big black sewer pipe (main sewer). The thing with the washer is that when it spins and turns off it appears all the water has been removed, the drum is empty. But, after a dayor so of not using the washer, sometimes even a few hours, I will open the top of the washer and there is greyish black, very stinky water in it, sometimes 2 inches sometimes 6 inches deep. It doesn't happen all the time though, which is odd?? The water does stink, but not like sewer and this odor is most definitely sewer?? The washer this morning had no standing water, yet when I walked in the laundry room it reeked. When we shake the washer we can hear water sloshing around somewhere in it, but it is not visible, we even laid the washer face down to access the back, but no water leaked out? I have 2 roof vents,my home has a bath and 1/2 (in case you need to know?) I have the basement windows open, except in the laundry area - there is a window but no screen so I don't open it. The main part of the basement doesn't smell anymore, just the laundry room. I hope this gives you more to work with in diagnosing the problem. Let me know if you need more info
Regards, Jamie :)

Jamie, Tom might miss this post so try to paste it onto your ongoing original post. I noticed you wrote "which in turn goes into a 2" metal pipe (this all runs uphill diagonally " Not sure but I think you've tapped into your vent.

Call Me Dense, I Can't Figure How To Put New Details In Original Question?

Just go to the bottom of your old post and find the box that says ANSWER THIS QUESTION. Whatever you write will pop up after Tom's last response, just like you are doing with me. Tom's the real plumbing expert around here so follow his lead.

I am no expert, but if your washer drain runs up and over a wall there must be a pump somewhere in the system. Is the line from the washer clamped and completely sealed around the pipe in the wall or is there an air gap?

If it is sealed its possible that the system uses the washer's internal pump to push the water uphill and into the main sewer. If this is the case, there must be a check valve (back flow preventer) near the washer to keep the water left in the pipe from running back into the washing machine. If the check valve leaks or a piece of lint or other debris keeps it from closing then your washer would partially re-fill with nasty smelling water from inside the drain after a while.

"we removed that and clamped the hose from the washer to a narrower ended pipe on the basement wall, which in turn goes into a 2" metal pipe (this all runs uphill diagonally on the basement wall, which then is piped through the rafters over to the other room in the basement and then over to the big black sewer pipe (main sewer)."

It's the "up hill" part that bothers me. If you have reverse slope on your drain line then when the pump shguts off all the water that's in the up hill pipe will drain back into the washer unless you have a washer hose check valve installed, (see image). Your washer does have a sump that collects the small amount of water remaining in the discharge hose but what you have is a dirty, greasy, smelly discharge draining back into your washer once the pump shuts down. You have two options, (1) Re install the drain with no back fall **or** (2) install a hose check valve on the hose where it exits the machine. Good luck, Tom

Thanks for the answers guys. I think we solved the problem when we removed the kinked rubber hose and connected the washer hose directly to the uphill pipe. I don't know why that took away the strong sewer odor but it did? The smell disappeared about 3 days after we removed that other piece of pipe. Also, I want to say that I mispoke when I said the plumber said he installed a trap - what he replaced was the check valve - but even after he did it the water still came up in the washer at times. EPG - your thought about something getting stuck, that would in turn keep the check valve from closing, thus having the water back up in the washer makes a lot of sense. My respective other is a concrete driver and his jeans are a mess at the end of the day - maybe concrete particles are sometimes holding the check valve open? I totally understand now why the washer had standing water in it - still not sure why the sewer odor started but it's gone - and I hope I never have to experience that again - it was so intense it made me ill. Thanks again Speedball and Epg for your replies :)

Hello I have read your post to this other lady and hoped you would be able to help me as well. I am hooked up to public sewer, we used to have a subpump in the basement for flooding before we got connected to the public sewer line and we would sometimes get this odorous smell like septic. After they ran sewer lines I the smell seemed to return on days of really high winds, and latley its gotten worse between the hours of 4am-12noon and I don't understand what could be causing it, I am really worried because I have to minor children and they both suffer from asthma as well as my husband and myself. I am slightly worried it could be causing my mother some health problems she's unaware... we have 4.5 bathrooms. 2012 appliances (washer),recenlty had the traps replaced thought that was the cause but after repair still comes back daily for hours... any thought would be appreciated.