Posted by Tony Colella on October 04, 2007 at 13:50:45:
I will take a couple shots at the possible cause.
The toilet may be leaking a little bit (was ring damaged) and leaking into the underbelly. I had the same problem and I can’t tell you exactly why my tenants also only noticed it during misty or rainy days.
The other possibility is there may be a separation in the vent that goes up through the roof. During damp or cold weather the fumes may not make it all the way up the tube and begin to leak out of the separation.
I would look in the access panels to the tub (usually find the vent there or near there), then check the underbelly and lastly pull the toilet and replace the wax ring.
Not sure if this helps but it should turn something up one way or another.
Posted by Barry (GA) on October 04, 2007 at 11:20:52:
Here’s the situation-I have a 1986 double wide mobile home (remodeled) as a rental. This is the first tenant since we bought it. We did a lot of remodeling before they moved in. The home sat empty for a while before we bought it.
Tenant has called and told me that whenever it rains she gets a “sewer/septic smell” in the master bath and bedroom. She says that all of the plumbing seems to be working ok, toilet flushes fine, sink, shower and tub drain ok. She says that the smell only comes when it rains and then eventually goes away after a few hours.
Any ideas what might be causing this? If it were constant then I understand there would be a plumbing problem but why does it only show up when it rains and plumbing appears to be working ok? Have looked under the home and there does not appear to be any leaks. I am stumped.
Posted by John T (WI) on October 05, 2007 at 08:36:35:
Are you on septic, or is the home located near a drain field? Would it be possible that the septic is so “full” that rain is causing the septic/field to rise (possibly through a broken line?) and causing the smell to seep in?
Not anything I can add here, that about covers everything I would check, but it reminded me of a call I got several years ago about a “sewer smell”. It was a brand new double wide that belonged to a friend. The home was set in the spring, & in the fall they started getting a sewer smell intermittantly. I went over & checked everything I could think of without results. After I’d been there about 2 hours I realized the only thing that had changed over the last few months was that the furnace was now in use. Turns out the furnace was gas, & had jets sized for natural gas. They were on propane, so every time the furnace kicked on excess gas was released into the combustion chamber but not completely burnt off, causing a “sewer smell”.
Posted by Ricky Lee on October 04, 2007 at 18:27:49:
All of the above is good sound advice, one more thing to look at, some of the mobiles came with an inside sewer vent or two, they are designed to let air in, but not out, to equalize the pressure in the sewer lines.
I have seen these “leak” sewer gas when the barometric pressure drops, as it does when it rains, then the pressure inside the line can push the sewer gas out.
These units are easy to replace once you find them, but the will be on the drain line near the tub, sink or bowl, in the bath, & near the kitchen sink, or dishwasher, or possibly in the wall near any of these areas.
I have seen them in the laundry area between the bath & laundry but inside the wall.
Look on the roof where the bathrooms & kitchen are, if there is no vent out the roof, then you possibly have one of these vents in the wall, or under a counter.
Happy hunting, I hope this helps, 'cause sewer gas stinks.
Posted by Paul-GA on October 04, 2007 at 16:43:33:
Barry, this does seem strange. I’m leaning towards Tony and the vent pipe. I had a blocked vent pipe that was causing a sewer smell, but it was inconsistent. They would just get the smell every now and then. We did not notice any trigger issues. Give me a call, I know where 1.4 acres and 2 homes are you may be interested in. It’s a bank repo in Hortense. I looked at it today and it’s a good looking piece of property.
Posted by Glen (OH) on October 04, 2007 at 14:01:32:
Once I had an intermittent sewerage odor in a rehab. Checked all of the obvious with no luck. When walking past the laundry hook-ups I got a whiff of the funk. The buyer was not using a washer and I found that the water in the washer discharge trap had evaporated. This let the odor rise through the trap because of no water seal. Told the buyer to keep water in the trap and she had no further problems.