Found 13 results for the keyword(s) ‘Plumbing, Odours’

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  Vent Stack Ice Capping or Evaporation : I GET SEWER ODOURS INSIDE THE HOUSE OCCASIONALLY IN THE WINTER.

    This is one of those problems that are not dealt with seriously enough by the building officials in really cold regions.  I have opened a blog space at the bottom of this article for you to add in your case history so we can demonstrate that this is a large and continuing problem.  Take a look...
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  PAN FAN - an air filter for toilets

  Over the years I have seen and tested a large number of gadgets designed to get rid of toilet odours, from double walled ceramic toilets that had an exhaust pipe to the outdoors, to exhaust ducts that fitted under the tank and various carbon filters situated under the seat. Finally an New Zealand...
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  Our washing machine smells.

  Karen from Kingston, Ontario writes: "We have a washing machine on the second floor and have noticed the water from previous cycles does not always seem to drain completely away, as evidenced by a smell of grey water when the machine begins it's next cycle. Our upstairs plumbing is well vented wi...
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  Stopping flies and gasses from coming out of my basement floor drain with Dranjer!

  I have had several letters recently about bad smells and even flies coming up out of basement floor drains and sump pump pits. One viewer was quoted hundreds of dollars to break up the entire basement and replace all the sewer lines. The real problem is usually that the trap under the floor has ...
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  Tracing the source of nasty plumbing odours

  Evert from Brownsburg, Quebec has the problem of a sewer odour in his bathroom but isn't sure where it is coming from and whether or not he needs to change his toilet. It can in fact be difficult to localize the source of sewage odours and hence which fixture or drain is guilty.  One technique ...
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  What is wrong with my gurgling double sink? The Vent Valve

  David writes that he recently installed a double sink but it gurgles and backs up. It is 10 feet away from the plumbing stack and goes through a garbarator. What did he do wrong?     When you attach a large double sink on a long horizontal run, the drain pipe will tend to fill up with water ...
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  Venting the plumbing in an island sink

  Putting a sink in an island in the middle of the kitchen presents some plumbing challenges.  Generally the venting for a sink goes upward in the wall while the drain water flows downward towards the floor – but in an island, going up is not an option.  To have a large sink that drains properly y...
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  The mysterious toilet that drains itself

  Several years ago when we had my live hot line TV show across Canada, I got a call from a homeowner who had a toilet that functioned perfectly except that every night when he came home from work, the water in the bowl had dropped low enough to let the sewer gas smell into the bathroom. He ha...
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  The plumber left a cap on the vent stack and it smells bad in the new house.

  Ron from Guelph, Ontario writes: "My wife and I moved into a newly built home in June 2001. There is an orange plastic cap on top of our vent stack. The builder says that the plumber needed this cap on so he can pressure-check the system, but that it is to be removed following the test. He sa...
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  How do you get the smell out of the garborator?

  Putting harsh drain chemicals or bleaches into a garborator is not a good idea because of all the metal, rubber and plastic parts. You might damage something. If it is really smelly it probably has some food stuff stuck in corners that just don't flush out.Here is where enzyme cleaners come to ...