Our home has a sewer gas smell? Can you help?

YES

Pacific Northwest Inspections Group performs sewer line inspections and can find the cause of your homes sewer piping leak and determine where the gas smell/leak is.

We also can perform sewer video inspections.

 Sewer gas can be a vexing problem to solve, but it is by no means impossible.Our inspectors are experienced and keep up with technology. Sewer gas is created by the decomposition of waste materials that are found in public and private sewer systems and private septic systems. The characteristic odor can be overpowering and it is toxic. To add further insult to injury, the gas is explosive as it often has a methane component.

Plumbing drainage systems are designed to keep this sewer gas inside the pipes and any that does exit to the atmosphere happens outside the home through the vent pipes that poke up through the roofs of houses. These vent pipes on the roof are actually intake vents, not exhaust vents as most people believe. When a large volume of water enters a plumbing drain pipe it pushes air in front of it towards the sewer or septic tank. This air must be replaced and it is sucked into the plumbing system through the roof vents.

The source of the sewer gas can be plumbing fixtures whose traps have gone dry or have lost enough water that the water seal within the trap has broken. You would be surprised to discover that water can rapidly evaporate from toilets and the traps below tubs, floor drains and just about any fixture within a few months.

 

Cracks in either plumbing drain lines or vents pipes are the other source of sewer gas leaks. If the crack is in a drain line, you often see an associated water leak. But vent pipe cracks are far more elusive. They can leak vast amounts of sewer gas and you might not be able to locate the source easily without a special machine. The furnace and air conditioner clue tells me the leak might be in a vent pipe that is close to a return air duct. The leaking sewer gas is being sucked into the return air system and then broadcast throughout the entire house by the air handler in the furnace.

Sewer gas leaks can be quickly discovered by our certified inspectors. Serving Seattle, Bellevue, Issaquah, Puget Sound and All of King County.