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Questions tagged [sewer]

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For questions regarding the underground pipes that carry foul or "black" water to a treatment works.

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144 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 ...
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1answer
49 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 ...
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37 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 ...
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1answer
35 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
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1answer
26 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 ...
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4answers
89 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
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1answer
93 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.....
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0answers
28 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 ...
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0answers
14 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 ...
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2answers
37 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 ...
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1answer
36 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 &...
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2answers
86 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
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1answer
73 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
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2answers
60 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
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1answer
92 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
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1answer
117 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
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2answers
188 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 ...
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1answer
75 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 ...
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0answers
82 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
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2answers
97 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 ...
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1answer
96 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 ...
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2answers
52 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 ...
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1answer
94 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 ...
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1answer
337 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 ...
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1answer
38 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 ...
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3answers
128 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
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1answer
121 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 ...
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1answer
102 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
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3answers
390 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 ...
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1answer
82 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 ...
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1answer
55 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 ...
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2answers
84 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 ...
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0answers
44 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 ...
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1answer
72 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'...
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1answer
619 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
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2answers
903 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
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1answer
89 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
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3answers
65 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?
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1answer
25 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 ...
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1answer
28 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
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2answers
42 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 ...
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2answers
77 views

How can I locate the drain plumbing in my old house?

I don't have plans for the house. I have had a plumber here but he's dug and he didn't find the pipes. We have had every kind leak imaginable for months. Now it's coming in under the concrete and ...
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2answers
197 views

Sewer gas smell in replumbed old house

We bought a 1920 house about a year and a half ago and occasionally we can smell a sewer gas odor and I’ve been trying to figure out what the cause is. Whenever we smell it, it’s coming from either ...
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1answer
120 views

Plumbing venting into apartment

I am a renter and my house often smells overbearing of sewers gas. I guess this is a two part question. The smell cures up from all the drains and I’ve made the landlord aware of this, she has not ...
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1answer
369 views

Low Frequency Noise inside my house [closed]

I do live next to a sewer lift station. The noise is through out my home. It seems to be worse late night to early morning and when it's colder out. Could the pump station noise be piped into my ...
3
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1answer
197 views

Move or remove a downspout inside brick wall

I just moved into 1912 townhouse in DC. It has cast iron drain lines for the gutter downspouts. One of the lines is clogged, but I assume it eventually connects to the sewer. At some point in the ...
2
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1answer
2k views

How do I fix a sewer snake cable that has kinked inside the spooler cage?

I had to snake out my sewer this weekend and rented a large sewer snake from the hardware store. When I hit the problem area the cutting tip on the end of the cable apparently got stuck and I didn't ...
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4answers
916 views

What to do for unused shower drain? (Prevent sewer vapors and mosquito larvae.)

I have a shower stall with a drain that is going unused. My first concern is that if the water evaporates out of the plumbing trap below, I could have sewer vapors coming up, so I pour in some water ...
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2answers
89 views

How should I seal a drain waste line that I'm no longer using?

The waste line from my kitchen sink is plumbed directly into my side sewer via a dedicated pipe that travels along the exterior of my house before tee-ing into the side sewer line. Apparently this was ...
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2answers
102 views

Planting tree - hit sever line?

I was digging a hole to plant a tree in front of my house last night (it was still light but the sun was down). The home is only a year old and is in California. When I got a bit over a foot down, I ...

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