Questions tagged [sewer]
For questions regarding the underground pipes that carry foul or "black" water to a treatment works.
158
questions
12
votes
4answers
3k views
Strange suction in toilet and sink, like a vacuum in the sewer pulling the water out
This is hard to explain.. But I was sitting in my bedroom when all of a sudden my toilet started draining, then the sinks in the bathroom started pulling air in, then when the water from the toilet ...
2
votes
4answers
114 views
Can I Run Electrical Wire through sewage pipe/ vent
I'm trying to run new electrical wire from the basement to my 3rd floor apartment. There’s a cast iron vertical sewage pipe that goes in the exact route I’d like the wire to go. But there would be ...
2
votes
2answers
137 views
What is this pipe? It leaks when the sink runs
I have a pipe that is halfway under a door jamb and inside the concrete floor which when I run a the sink water is now coming out of it. This pipe is next to our AC blower unit inside the basement. I ...
1
vote
1answer
37 views
Sewer Line Opening - Makeshift Vent or Rodents?
In the crawl space beneath my house, the sewer line has a branch that runs right to the crawl space entry/vent. The end cap has a jagged hole:
Not sure if it's been that way since I bought it (...
7
votes
3answers
482 views
What do I use for backfilling septic pipe leaving my home?
I have a 4" PVC septic pipe leaving my house on the cinder block wall about 4 feet below my house. There was a crack inside of the part where it leaves the house and I need to replace it (from ...
0
votes
1answer
78 views
What is the material leaking out of my plumbing drain stack?
This has been happening since about a month after we moved and we noticed a fluid leaking out of this pipe. It seems to be a sewage pipe. Whenever we flush, we can hear the water running down this ...
0
votes
2answers
101 views
Laundry drain smells like sewer after washing clothes
I have an in-wall laundry drain - pictured below.
Since we moved in it had a significant clog which I unclogged with a combination of wet-vac sucking on the drain and snaking the vent pipe. Finally we ...
0
votes
0answers
350 views
Sewer Smell in High Rise Apartment
I rent an apartment in a new high-rise and I´m on the 15th floor. Weird smells are in both of my bathrooms, with one being a lot stronger burdened with smell than the other.
In irregular patterns ...
0
votes
2answers
40 views
What things to watch for when installing sewer line in the basement under 15" concrete slab
I am going through a major renovation in my house which involves excavating 7'6" basement and pouring seismically strong 15" slab as a floor.
The house is pretty high on the hill and ...
3
votes
2answers
269 views
How to seal these sewer clean outs?
I have these caps just outside of my house that I’m assuming are sewer clean outs. The problem is the pipe is all corroded and the caps are PVC that are just set on top of it. They don’t seal as there ...
0
votes
1answer
56 views
Is it normal to smell sewer gas from a plumbing vent?
We have a second floor room that is centered on top of the house - but this means that the windows of this second story are ABOVE the plumbing vents from the first floor. These plumbing vents are a ...
0
votes
0answers
62 views
How to replace threaded metal shower drain?
After removing a leaking shower base in a house built in the 1980s, I ran into this threaded metal sewer end with what appears to be plastic inside.
I was able to un-thread the old metal shower drain ...
1
vote
1answer
97 views
Basement Smell in Utility or Bathroom?
In our house, we have a partially below grade basement. Occasionally, our basement will smell like sewer gas (farts) but I can not determine where the smell is coming from.
The basement does have ...
1
vote
1answer
28 views
Clogged downspout pipe
My downspout, next to a stucco wall, used to go into a cast iron pipe. Recently, the water must have gotten behind the stucco and in the winter, the stucco wall collapsed, pushed the downspout out of ...
1
vote
4answers
200 views
Will separate dishwasher drain cause sewer gases and wet dog smell?
Will this separate pipe for dishwasher cause sewer gases to enter into cabinet and dishwasher to get wet dog smell? The separate dishwasher pipe design - at top of pipe is a 2” Wye fitting - one side ...
2
votes
1answer
157 views
Sewer smell in bathroom ONLY when central a/c is on and kitchen sink is running water
This is a weird one, and have come across multiple handymen and none of them can pinpoint the problem when I describe it. Though they have never been in the room when it happens.
Here is the scenario.....
0
votes
0answers
46 views
How To Neatly Cover an Indoor Sewer Cleanout?
I am currently renovating my room and realized that there is a wall popping out. It was bothering me because it would be an obstruction when placing new furnitures. I removed it and planned to make ...
0
votes
0answers
15 views
Placement of sewage exhaust pipe
I am wondering about code and if my indoor sewage setup is fine. I live in Flint, Michigan. I have a pvc pipe that angles straight upwards after 2-45 degree angles that exits the house through the ...
3
votes
2answers
83 views
In-place sewer cleanout tee replacement?
I had a contractor roll over a sewer cleanout with some heavy machinery. It looks like the contractor may have amnesia about the damage and reporting to his insurance, so I may be out of luck and need ...
0
votes
1answer
41 views
External sewage pipe damaged
I recently had some tree service done to my yard by a contractor, which required them to drive heavy machinery through the lawn. It was pointed out to me that they drove over and damaged an external &...
2
votes
2answers
98 views
Which of these is the sewer cleanout
I’m trying to locate the sewer cleanout. I found a box that looks like it contains it but there are 3 separate plugs. Which one should I use?
I also found this which I’m guessing is something else
3
votes
1answer
179 views
Sewage coming out of concrete in basement floor
My basement has been flooding a little (1-inch or so pooled around a ~20 square foot area) for the past week or so. Whenever I pump out the water, new water starts seeping back in from through the ...
2
votes
2answers
86 views
Should I avoid running conduit above sewer line exit on basement wall?
The prior owner of our house had an epoxy repair made on the basement wall where the sewer line exits (see images). We've lived here for 20 years and this repair is solid; there have never been any ...
2
votes
1answer
112 views
Toilet Refuses to Flush
Earlier this month, we starting having problems with our sewer line; it began with the downstairs toilet flushing very slowly, then not flushing at all, then backing up when the upstairs was flushed. ...
1
vote
1answer
203 views
Cost-effective root barrier for home sewer line
We have 2 trees growing in the same area of our house front yard as the sewer line. As shown in the picture below, one tree is about 5ft away from the line, and the other, about 20ft away. I assume ...
2
votes
2answers
659 views
Sewage smell from kitchen sink area
(An update is below the pictures.)
We just moved to our house in November and had to buy a new dishwasher. We had installers install it for us. A couple of months ago, we started noticing a bad odor ...
0
votes
1answer
78 views
Gray water pit ( bleach or no bleach )
I installed a ( 4’x 4’x 32’) gravel bed gray-water pit in order to relieve the load on my 20 yr old septic tank. I also placed a (4” x 3’) septic-tank effluent bristle brush in the feed pipe going ...
0
votes
0answers
93 views
how to reroute black sewer pipe
edit 12/30/2019:
- adding a picture of the vent stack above the subfloor and to the right a sink drain that has it's own vent that ties in
- there is a red plug in the T. where the trap from the ...
2
votes
2answers
113 views
Sewer line repair - most cost effective method?
Background
So I recently had a bad clog to which I had a plumbing company come out and clear out. A part of the process is looking at the finished job on their sewer camera. Our sewer line is made ...
1
vote
1answer
110 views
Is this a displacement or just a blockage?
We just had an inspection done on a house we are buying, and during the sewer scope, the inspector found what he believes to be a displacement. In the video, at about 0:44, there is something ...
0
votes
2answers
61 views
Sewage pump sounds like running dry
We have a sewage pump in our basement. We didn’t install it but inherited it with the purchase of the house. I believe the basement was updated in 2014 with a bathroom, hence the sewage pump. The last ...
0
votes
1answer
169 views
UK Sewage connection - is an external rodding point mandatory
I have a house extension built circa 1997. Inside there is a three-port shallow inspection chamber where a shower and toilet join to a single 110mm waste outlet heading out of the house.
Outside the ...
0
votes
1answer
1k views
How far from the kitchen sink can a vent pipe be?
We live in a 1960's single floor concrete slab house with concrete block interior/exterior walls. We had to replace the pipes under the slab in the kitchen and currently still have the floor torn up ...
1
vote
1answer
39 views
Check valve versus trap; sewer backups
We have a problem with the condensate drain line on the air conditioner and water softener. It is the only basement drain in the lowest building in the whole town. It occasionally backs up.
The ...
asked Nov 11 '19 at 17:48
Harper - Reinstate Monica
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1
vote
3answers
175 views
Snapped off screw on sewer vent cover
The city recently told me I need a new cover for a sewer vent on the sidewalk. The cover looks like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/NDS-4-88-in-x-4-88-in-Perforated-Sidewalk-Grate-BSB-CP-RTL/...
1
vote
1answer
309 views
Backwater Valve Access Sleeve Cap Broken… sewer gas smell?
Related to this question.
Summary: I have a sewer smell in my condo unit (top floor). Recently a smoke test was done and smoke was coming out, from what appears to be the division wall between my ...
0
votes
1answer
137 views
Cool down wastewater from dishwasher
I am planning to install a high power dish washer. This dishwasher runs hot and the water is heated to 180 degrees during the wash cycle. One potential problem with this is that I have a septic system,...
3
votes
3answers
1k views
Sewer smell in basement - missing venting or other leak?
I recently started detecting a sewer smell coming from the laundry room in my basement. I think I only trigger it (and not every time) when I run my whole-house fan. I've been running this fan (with ...
1
vote
2answers
239 views
Does a fixture connected directly to the ground stack (vented) need to be vented separately?
I'm adding a shower in the basement (there was a half-bathroom already) and the new drain is literally right by the stack (probably few feet away, 3-4' max), so I would think the air coming from the ...
0
votes
1answer
82 views
Ejector Tank Safe Cleaning Additives
Wondering if there are any suggestions for a safe additive that can be flushed into a sewage ejector tank that can help break down waste (even toilet paper). Getting some awful foul smells - going to ...
0
votes
2answers
169 views
Frozen drain line into septic from furnace
Last winter the condensation from our high efficiency furnace caused our line to freeze from the floor drain where the water was running into, all the way to the septic. No one was there to flush ...
0
votes
0answers
45 views
Cast iron sewer pipe leak? Or something else? Shower pan?
We have a concrete slab and it’s soaked. Water has been coming up through the grout of our ceramic tile. This may have been something that happened over time and we only noticed now. We had a few ...
1
vote
1answer
78 views
Is a slightly-deformed clay pipe a concern?
We're doing a buying inspection on a house, and the sewer inspector provided a video of the snake camera. Here's a still from where the house line (clay) connects to the city line:
The inspector didn'...
0
votes
1answer
1k views
Warm Weather Smell…Again
Trying to track down an odor that has once again shown up, now that weather is getting warmer. I believe it to be a sewer odor, but no water leaks in the sewer pipes. House was built in 1910...with ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
What are these two Sewer Pipes Coming up Out the Ground?
We recently had the old terracotta sewer line replaced that comes out of our house to the main sewer line
There are now two pipes in addition to the sewer clean along where the guys dug up
I planned ...
0
votes
1answer
91 views
Stopping sewer smell
I have a sewer near the house where two sewer pipes meet. The problem is that it's been built badly and a lot of sewage remains there instead of going in the 3rd pipe. How could I make it go through ...
2
votes
3answers
76 views
How to connect 4” PVC to broken sewer line?
I have a piece of broken cast iron pipe with almost no overhang. Wondering what are my options here?
1
vote
1answer
26 views
What options for replacing a leaking soil pipe?
There are tree roots growing in the soil pipe leading from my home to the street. (The pipe is about 75 feet long.) When it is time to repair or replace the soil pipe, what are the options and their ...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
Replace soil pipe or continue cleaning it annually?
Tree roots grow into the house sewage drainage pipe some 6+ feet out of the house. Each year I have a company clean out the roots with a large drill. Replacing the pipe will be expensive. What ...
2
votes
2answers
44 views
Will I have a code problem attaching a 1.5“ grease interceptor to a 4” drain pipe?
I want to install a grease interceptor in my house. The problem is that it will not fit under the sink, so I plan to put it in the basement.
The problem is that the sink, laundry and dishwasher all ...
