Stinky drains

We have truly smelly drains. The smell comes up through the floor. Today I put caustic soda down the toilet and flushed it several times. All that did was wake a sleeping pile of pooh. I burn a candle sometimes to absorb the smell but I'm concerned it might explode. Does anybody out there in caveland have any ideas? Desperately gagging over here!

Hi Bedrock

Welcome to the Forum!

It sounds like you 'might' have a broken drain if the smell is coming through the floor. I would suggest having a camera put down the drain to check.

Where abouts are you? I could maybe recommend a company that could help you.

First though, check the seals around the loo, shower/sink drains, etc... If you have a washing machine in there, also check the waste pipe is well sealed. You will need to put water down the sink and shower regularly to keep the traps full. If this doesn't work, then I would go for the camera.

Good luck!

Caroline

We had a stink in our cave when we got it and on closer inspection realised there were no traps on sinks and washing machine,meaning the pipes went straight to the tank !

Thanks for answering. We are in Galera. I had thought about a crack in the drain but the thought of having to rip up the floors makes me a little unhappy. I think we're going to lift the manhole cover and look into the matter. That's bad, I know! We also might run the hose down the toilet and see if that helps. If nothing works guess we'll get the builder out.

If you have a new build/renovated cave bought from a builder, it should have a guarantee.

If you bought a pre-owned cave, you could check your insurance policy, to see if the work to fix the problem would be covered.

Buff Orpington wrote:We had a stink in our cave when we got it and on closer inspection realised there were no traps on sinks and washing machine,meaning the pipes went straight to the tank !

Yes, that was exactly the same with my place. No traps!
I put a trap in the bathroom basin and in the bath pipes but you can still hear a gurgling from the plug'ole in the shower whenever you flush the lavatory.

We don't have any gurgling but you can sometimes also smell sewer outside. Some days there is absolutely no smell. It's subsided now but I am going to check and see if we have any kind of guarantee. We've been here eight years so I don't know.

OK, you say you have been here 8 years. Have you always had this smell, or just recently? If it is a new problem, I think you might have a blocked drain. Mine blocked once and I had smells in the cave and outside. I have rods and a drain wire you can borrow if that would help. I am just up the road from you in La Alqueria.

Caroline

Have you thought of adding a stench pipe?

Have you got a septic tank or main drainage? If a septic tank possibly you have been using too much chemicals and killed off some or all the microbes which all the solids.

Ther is usualy no p traps in spanish places, they also have a sump under the man hole cover, this is a square hole with a pipe goung in and one going out BUT not joind leaving the whole square open for stuff to collect!!! They recomend that you dont put paper down toilets here as that is what causes it to build up and smell. If you have a septic tank you can get a type of bag that goes in to the tank that builds up the buge in the tank. You can get a bottle of liquid bugs with difficulty from climathon in Huescar. Try asking Gordon the digger man for info he may be ale to help more.

Mentioned it on another thread, this is the little bags we use regularly to keep the bugs topped up click Worthwhile read too.