Bad smell in the dining room when the family bathroom above

[Zehroni]

Dear All,
I wonder if any of you experienced this before. Our main family bathroom is used occasionally whenever we have guests around, we normally use the ensuite. However, not always but sometimes we have sewer like smell in the dining room which is underneath the bathroom. Furthermore, the waste pipe of the bathroom (including the toilet) runs through the dining room (alongside the wall), through the floor broad, under the ground where I believe it is connected to the main sewer system of the house. This pipe is well ducted and sealed and I can not understand where the smell is coming from. Any idea, suggestion, and help would highly appreciated

 

[HERTS P&D]

Check your manhole for blockages.

Start with the easy things first.

Andy

 

[Zehroni]

Andy,
Many thanks for your reply.
There is a manhole cover just outside the dining room (in the garden), where the soil pipe is leading to, do you mean this one? But I am still confused, ….. assume there is blockage, how come the smell travels backward in the soil pipe and ends up the dining room?

 

[HERTS P&D]

Lift the manhole cover and see what's inside, it should be empty. Get someone to flush all the toilets and they should free flow into the manhole and to the next one or into the street.

Andy

 

[Zehroni]

I have two manholes in my garden one is just outside the dining room and the other one is further up. I will carry out the inspections you detailed. However, I am still wondering, … If there is a blockage should the smell escape through the soil pipe up to it is extention above the roof of the house . Why we can smell it in the dining room?

 

[HERTS P&D]

The smell can travel up the soil pipe and can come out when the toilet is flushed.

Andy

 

[Symptoms]

al - little/rarely used bathrooms can sometimes be a source of 'sewer' smells. The various water traps (bath trap, basin trap, bog trap ... sometimes called U bends) can emit a 'sewer' stink because the water has evapourated over time and is not being replaced due the facilities not regularly used. Once this water trap has lowered, due to evapouration, it causes a direct open path to the soil pipe/sewer thus allowing the stench to enter the property. The fix is to flush the bog, run the bath/basin/bidet taps on a regular basis to replenish the water in the trap.

 

[Zehroni]

I have inspected the two manholes in the garden and found the main one was indeed blocked, open it and let the water run for a while. Hope this will eradicate the bad small in the dining room.

 

[HERTS P&D]

I take it you mean that you unblocked the manhole and now it is free flowing?

Andy

 

[Zehroni]

Andy, many thanks for your help, yes, that what I meant