Bad Smell In House

[Stephen154]

there is a bad smell in my house sort of sewer smell or rotten egg smell cant seem to put my finger on what it smells like. Anyhow when i empty the bath it seems to get worse but not to bad at any other times. Recently had my central heating change and since then the smell has appeared. Some off the old heating pipes are still under the floorboards downstairs also had to put another bend in outside downpipe. The smell seems to travel around the downstairs of the house(bathroom is downstairs) and around the stairs but when i go into the bathroom its not as strong. Had the the side panel off the bath all pipe work seems ok. Put a drain unblocker down the other day and when i run the bath without the plug no smell had a bath no smell but when i had one tonight the smell returned when it emptied. Please help as my wife has had enough.

[topogigo]

I sympathise truly, i had the same problem myself. It may seem unlikely now but if you have had any building done you may have, and i feel bad about saying this but if it is an old house dead rodents under your floorboards. This was what i was advised to look for by someone that had the same problem. I know it sounds daft but at least don't discount it completly. Otherwise get an old retired plumber or one that won't charge you 100 quid to have a look.

[TheWinner]

Hi, if you go onto google, type in the search box, -----sink smells of rotten egg ----- - then enter ----- you will see that there are loads of people with the same problem, and you may find some of the answers may be helpful to you. Good luck.

[Ice.Maiden]

Thanks both - because we've got a similar problem as well. The plumber couldn't find anything wrong, even though he took a downstairs bath apart and looked at all the pipes. The smell's still there, and it's nauseating - so I'll see if I can google an answer.

[Panic Button]

Probably not it, but we had terrible drain smells in the kitchen.

I traced it to the outlet for the washing machine where it was piped into the drain under the sink.

When I dismantled it, it was almost blocked by festering gunge from the fabric conditioner. When the washing machine emptied it stank the place out, but no cleaners poured down the sink would touch it as it was in the side pipe.

[Clanad]

Do you have any seldom used sinks or other drains, such as a floor drain in the house? They all have a trap, or at least they should, but if they aren't repeatedly provided with water from normal use, the water will evaporate and leave the "P" trap dry which will result in sewer gases coming up through the line. It could be that the trap under your bath has come apart and the water is leaking out. This is unlikely if the bath is on a floor where one would notice the leaking beneath, but a leak into a seldom used crawl space or basement might go unoticed.
A final suggestion... all drains have to be vented. The vent line is (at least here in the U.S.) a PVC or cast iron pipe in older houses that goes all the way to the roof of your house. These can become blocked for various reasons which will cause the sewer gases to back up through the overflow drains in sinks and/or bathtubs. Blockage is usually at the top of the pipe stack, such as a birds nest or somesuch. Best of luck!

[Stephen154]

Thanks for your help.Changed my bath pipe from a swallow bend to a deeper bend to stop the sewer pulling all the water in to the pipes thus not allowing the smell to come up this seems to have worked ,also it seems my back drain is also partial blocked as well.