Trying to figure out where dead animal smell is coming from.

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zebrafish

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Hi all,

The dead animal smell seems to be situated under the sink in the bathroom, as near as I can tell. The thing is, running water dissipates the smell within minutes, and it stays dissipated for many hours. After everyone showers in the morning, it's gone, but the smell slowly starts to come back during the day.

It's the worst at night, when there's no water running, and is at its worst about 6 am.

I find if I pour bleach down the drains later on, that works for a while.
And I make sure to go in there a could of times during the night to pour bleach down the drains. But the smell is still pretty bad around 6 am.
And then it dissipates as soon as I run the water.

Does it seem like there's a dead animal in the plumbing? The thing is,
there are no problems with water backing up, at all.

I'm trying to figure it out.....
 
The problem is likely with the vent on the roof. It allows air in the system, with out the air the water in the trap will syphon out and allow sewer gas into the house, dangerous. Until you have this figured out, I would leave taps dripping a little after you have used them and make sure there is water in the trap before you turn it off.
 
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Wuzzat, how would I force hot water under pressure down the drain?

What is high GPM?

Sorry, I'm not very knowledgable about home repair.

Neal, so it sounds like something is blocking the vent?
What is the trap?

Thanks!
 
Wuzzat, how would I force hot water under pressure down the drain?

What is high GPM?

Sorry, I'm not very knowledgable about home repair.

Neal, so it sounds like something is blocking the vent?
What is the trap?

Thanks!
Run a garden hose from a faucet to the drain, pack rags around the hose nozzle to act as a gasket, and with a helper, turn it on full blast.
GPM is gallons per minute. You might get 6 GPM from a faucet if you have city water.

Just do it for 30 seconds or so at first to make sure water is not coming up out of another drain. This could happen depending on where and what is causing this.
 
Run a garden hose from a faucet to the drain, pack rags around the hose nozzle to act as a gasket, and with a helper, turn it on full blast.
GPM is gallons per minute. You might get 6 GPM from a faucet if you have city water.

Just do it for 30 seconds or so at first to make sure water is not coming up out of another drain. This could happen depending on where and what is causing this.

Won't work, you would have to plug the drain further down the system and fill the pipe all the way to the roof while holding water from coming out of every drain in the house and then add pressure.
When you try this have the wife film it..:beer:
 
The last time I did it I had to plug the roof vent with a little inflatable barrel-shaped stopper that had a Shrader valve on it.

It depends on how much pressure you need. 10' of water column in the vent pipe gives you ~5 PSI and the moving water gives you some more force.

Try it.
 
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Well, if I pour bleach and also keep the water running a little, that does seem to control the smell much better.

Thanks everyone.
 
We pay $1 per 100 gallons for city water.

I guess you could gamble some and run water into this drain for a few hours at a high flow rate and see if that makes the smell go away permanently.

Your water meter will tell you how much debt you've accrued and a few mornings at 6 AM will tell you if it worked. :D
 
That's just chasing the symptom not the cause
Six GPM over a few hours may remove an animal carcass from the drain for little cost.

Strictly, we should list all the causes from the most likely to the least likely and then come up with ways to confirm/disprove those ideas. If the most likely causes involve the least costly fixes then this will be easy and popular but that doesn't happen often.

I suppose a conically shaped coil spring with spring Outside Diameter = pipe Inside Diameter dragged through the pipe should drag out bones that let water pass. Just don't break the line that does the dragging.

http://www.google.com/search?q=coil...ral%2FCONICAL-SPRING%2Ftd-p%2F3179110;431;487
If you pull from the small end and the spring is overstressed it should become smaller in diameter and longer and so release itself, if it hangs up.

This sort of brings up the idea that the smelly section of pipe should be somehow isolated. The OP should know within 24 hours if this has been accomplished.
 
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Often it isn't that hard, like a vent pipe running hoizontaly across the attic with out enough slope filled with water blocking the air.
 
That can be easily checked with a level.

Has this 'un-sloping' or belly occurred lately? The OP implies that this symptom is something new.

An even easier way is to pour a pint of water slowly into the drain so that the trap fills and then not use the drain for 24 hours. No smell then means vent clogged means water was siphoned out of the trap.
 
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try to use an enzyme type cleaner or septic tank additive in the drain wih some warm water and see if it cleans out the cause of the smell, this stuff is non-toxic.
 
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