Occasional sewage smell from airing cupboard/bedroom

[rec]

We have a new(ish) house - it was completed 2 years ago - and we are occasionally getting a sewage smell from the airing cupboard. This cupboard houses a spiffy new MegaFlow hot water system which includes some sort of overflow pipe that has a weird fitting that has holes in it allowing you to see if the system is leaking - note it has holes and not transparent plastic - and this is where the smell is coming from. My first thought was to tape up the fitting to keep the smell at bay but I think it could be indicative of a related problem...

About 6 months after moving in we noticed the occasional sewage smell in our daughters bedroom. We eventually traced it to a vent in her built-in wardrobe which, I believe, is where one of our sewage stacks is located (her room is next to a bathroom.) The smell came and went, but could get quite bad so we eventually taped a sheet of paper over the vent to get rid of the smell. We did mention this to builders but they said that a smell through this vent was not always avoidable and that covering it would be OK as long as we made sure the toilet in the bathroom next to it was still flushing properly.

I now wonder if this original smell is related to the smell we get from the weird overflow pipe in the airing cupboard and I'm not sure what to do. There doesn't seem to be any blockage, all waste water drains fine and we have no smell coming up from the drains.

So before I tape up the fitting in the airing cupboard I thought I'd seek advice here. I am no plumbing expert but have some idea of how a DWV should work (we have two and they go into the loft and then out through the roof via some special tiles I guess.)

I wonder if the builder has fitted something incorrectly because no-one else in the street (there are 20 or so houses) is having a problem. We do have a sewer main running down the side of our house and when the weather's hot you can sometimes get a whiff.

 

[stardanny]

Hi.

About the overflow on megaflow, is it made of plastic or copper? If it is copper, can you see the overflow on the wall outside?

It may be that it connect to drain where the smell come from. It should not be connect to drain if the overflow is part of TRV / PRV.

Another users will have answer.

Dan

 

[seco services]

your getting the smell from your waste sewer venting out the tundish.

the waste is best vent to the outside of the property but can be fitted to the soil pipe providing its fitted with a trap to stop smells come up the discharge pipe.

 

[rec]

It's a plastic pipe and it assume it runs to a drain. My guess is that it goes under the floor into a waste pipe in the bathroom opposite. Is this a normal setup?

What's TRV/PRV?

 

[seco services]

should be copper.

MEGAFLO

read up on discharge pipe.
and you need a G3 cert to work on megaflos.

 

[stardanny]

PRV - pressure relief valve
TRV - Temperture relief valve

Both are part of megaflow safety system.

You have a megaflow but plastic overflow connect to somewhere?

Can you do a photo of the airing cupboard with all pipework?

 

[rec]

your getting the smell from your waste sewer venting out the tundish.

the waste is best vent to the outside of the property but can be fitted to the soil pipe providing its fitted with a trap to stop smells come up the discharge pipe.

Thanks for the reply. How would I know if this vent pipe has a trap? The pipe goes straight down into the airing cupboard floor so I'm guessing there isn't a trap. Any trap would have to be "dry" wouldn't it?

Is it safe to tape up the tundish?

 

[seco services]

the tundish should be visable.
that can be boiling water come down that pipe.

you can fit a hepv0 trap they are dry trap but you wouldn't get any smell back

have a of read the link i gave you.

 

[rec]

My apologies - it is a metal pipe but the tundish is plastic and has a strange looking fitting attached. Here is a picture:

To make matters worse the plastic fittings are damp but there isn't any water coming down the pipe (at the moment). Help!

 

[stardanny]

My apologies - it is a metal pipe but the tundish is plastic and has a strange looking fitting attached. Here is a picture:

To make matters worse the plastic fittings are damp but there isn't any water coming down the pipe (at the moment). Help!

That white fitting is a hepv0 trap. The trap seal might have fail.
Was the tundish running?

Dan

 

[rec]

No, the tundish wasn't running but you can see the build up of limescale on the picture and the white fittings below the tundish are wet. I have never seen water flowing through the tundish but it seem strange that it's a) wet and b) been smelling quite bad the last few days (it has done before in the past but then the smell has disappeared.)

 

[stardanny]

it might be derbis has got into trap, keeping dry seal open. it look like TRV or PRV has released water. It might be best to arrange for a G3 cerf plumber to take a look / service megaflo.