Shower room smelling badly these last few days

FreeBear

Wonder if it is a leak under the shower tray. Access is going to be near impossible, but a cheap USB endoscope type camera might help.

pieroabcd

FreeBear said:

Wonder if it is a leak under the shower tray. Access is going to be near impossible, but a cheap USB endoscope type camera might help.

I wonder how easy they are to manoeuvre in a very constrained space with a semirigid cable 

Anyway, today the smell has moved to the two lower bathrooms.

Last week I felt the same smell on the road two or three times.
Can it be bec due to the sewer?

kipsterno1

Have you got an access point to you external drains? I would be checking to see if there is a blockage and working from there.

pieroabcd

There's no manhole cover in my garden, if it's what you mean. It's 2 or 3 houses away.

pieroabcd

Could the smell have anything to do with this pipe? (is it a vent pipe to exhaust the sewer gases?)

Grumpy_chap

pieroabcd said:

Could the smell have anything to do with this pipe? (is it a vent pipe to exhaust the sewer gases?)

That type of vent pipe normally extends to above the highest window. meaning any odour blows away.
When they do not there is usually a carbon filter in the top to capture any odour.  Eventually the carbon filters become exhausted and require replacement.
Is that black cap with a slot in the side the carbon filter?
Not sure how you get up there to check.  Can you see from the window above?

pieroabcd

Tomorrow I'll see if the ladder gets high enough, or I'll ask my roofer/handyman to inspect m anyway, it doesn't get above the loft conversions, so...

Vortigern

The thing on the top of your soil pipe is an air admittance valve. If faulty, flushing the loo can cause water to be siphoned out of other waste traps on the same stack.

See: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/help-and-advice/product-guides/surface-water-drainage/how-to-use-an-air-admittance-valve/&ved=2ahUKEwiP_cPU6YGIAxVBU0EAHT-oExsQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0StN4anK4e8faqkVxnvGLD

pieroabcd

Vortigern said:

The thing on the top of your soil pipe is an air admittance valve. If faulty, flushing the loo can cause water to be siphoned out of other waste traps on the same stack.

See: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/help-and-advice/product-guides/surface-water-drainage/how-to-use-an-air-admittance-valve/&ved=2ahUKEwiP_cPU6YGIAxVBU0EAHT-oExsQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0StN4anK4e8faqkVxnvGLD

The "other" part looks quite scary 😳.
Thanks, this sheds a lot of light and permits me to direct the plumber in a specific direction that I didn't even think possible.

It's clear that whoever built the loft conversions did a "wonderful l" job, not considering this air admittance pipe in the system. Besides, they didn't use any felt nor membrane under the  tiles of the small slant part of the roof. You can imagine what happened.

Kiran

Grumpy_chap said:

pieroabcd said:

Could the smell have anything to do with this pipe? (is it a vent pipe to exhaust the sewer gases?)

That type of vent pipe normally extends to above the highest window. meaning any odour blows away.
When they do not there is usually a carbon filter in the top to capture any odour.  Eventually the carbon filters become exhausted and require replacement.
Is that black cap with a slot in the side the carbon filter?
Not sure how you get up there to check.  Can you see from the window above?

AAV's don't have to terminate above the eaves, they are designed to act as a one way valve, pulling in air to follow the foul water and stopping the pipe from gurgling and traps from being sucked dry. If they are faulty then they can cause a vacuum effect on shallow P traps, you may have one of these on your shower  and even small bottle traps on sinks. If you have the window closed and you are still getting a smell its unlikely that the AAV is stuck in an open position. It could however be stuck closed.

Just an observation, I can't tell accurately from the picture, but the horizontal pipe that joins the stack seems almost flat? I could be wrong but if it is, that could do with a bit more of a fall on in so that the pipe is self cleansing when the toilet is flushed