Smelly Basement? Here Are The 4 Most Common Reasons Why...

How a floor drain stops sewer gas from entering the home

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In this episode we're going to talk about another issue we come across quite commonly – mysterious sewer smells!

Here are the 4 most common sources of smell and what needs to be done to fix it. Many of these you can do yourself!

Floor Drains

Most commonly, dry floor drains are the culprit to that mysterious sewer smell. A floor drain has what we as plumbers call a “P-Trap” underneath the floor (the same “u-bend” pipe as you have underneath your sinks). This P-Trap should be full of water to prevent sewer gases from entering the home. Since floor drains are rarely used, the water in the P-Trap will often evaporate, allowing the gas from the sewer in! If this is the case, pour about a gallon of water in the drain to fill that P-trap back up. You may have to do this every once in a while, but it should solve your smell problems!

Sewage Ejectors and Sump Pits

According to our plumbing code, sewage ejectors (pits that pump sewage, as opposed to sump pumps

which pump groundwater), must have an air tight seal on the lid of the pit. This seal can break down, causing the smell of the sewage inside to come into your home. New seals can often be purchased from the big box retailers and easily installed yourself!

On the other hand, sump pits do not need to be sealed since they are only supposed to receive

“clean” ground water. However, we have seen more than one occasion where an ambitious DIY-er has had sewage pipes from laundry machines, kitchen sinks, etc., draining into the sump pit. A big no-no and an expensive repair!

Open Piping

Ontario Plumbing codes say that every fixture needs a drain (duh) and every drain needs a vent. We have more than once seen these vent pipes that are left wide open or not connected to the rest of the plumbing system, which allows sewer gas into the home (probably done by that same ambitious DIY-er, who doesn’t have quite enough info!). If you happen to find an open pipe, you may want to make that dreaded call to the plumber as you’ll want to make sure they are properly connected – simply capping or connecting these in the wrong way can cause

a whole slew of other issues!

Broken Drains

Lastly, we would look at the possibility of a broken or cracked drain either underground or in the main stack. This can be an expensive fix, so this is always the worst-case scenario that we hope not to see! Again, this one is a bit outside of the scope of a DIY fix, so you’d likely need to call the plumber!

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