Sewers
Why am I getting sewer smell when the washing machine discharges water?
I have a rural septic tank with a nodak drain field (the fluid is pumped from the tank into the drain field). Every time we wash clothes and the 'Maytag' washer empties, at the end of the empty cycle we get sewer gas smell in the laundry room. My drain is 2" pvc with a 2" trap directly below the stand pipe. The location of the vent is the trouble. The vent is 12 feet from my washing machine stand pipe and is at the end of a run that has a sink and a toilet on the same drain run. I cannot put a new vent in for the washing machine unless I open up my wall and ceiling (I have an old farm house). I did install an Air Admittance Valve dircetly in front of the trap for the washer and piped it up to the top of the washer (as per the instructions). I also sealed my stand pipe and washer discharge hose with spray foam to try and seal the stand pipe. None of the above stopped the smell. I think I may have reduced the smell but I cannot say for sure, all Iknow is that after two loads of wash, the odor is very strong in the laundry room. Any HELP would be welcomed.
Public Comments
- I have the same thing, but it usually goes away when running the washer. Here's some info I had saved when I was looking for a cause. http://www.askthebuilder.com/599_Sewer_Gas_Smell.shtml
- the distance on a vent from a 2 inch trap should be no more than 5ft. - you could have a defective air admittance valve. its possible its stuck open - i would check this valve out first thing - now is the valve installed after the p-trap on the horizontal drain line ? is there a floor drain in the laundry room that possible has a p-trp that has gone dry allowing sewer gasses in ? its common to have floor drains in washing rooms -
- going further than Joea the washer is blowing the water out of the p trap or causing a siphon sounds like, like Joea said check vent you may have to move vent weather you want to or not
