home sewer system gurggling and smell

[Mike Soaper]

I've not done it, but you might have the plumber do a smoke test to check for broken pipes, in and out of the house, and to see if the vent pipes are working.

there's some videos on you tube that show how it's done

[Mike Soaper]

That there is a smell is telling me that there is a broken pipe or a dry trap

[Warren Lake]

traps all have water. Hope you are wrong on the pipe but your logic is good otherwise where is it coming from. Then know of one place with no broken pipes and smell has come back in there from a bad deal on the basement sewage basin where the power wires came into the basin and a former owner moron who put the vent tube for it out through the block wall. He had a history of doing crap work. When I went to open the septic main tube end that unscrews he had drywalled over it but thats nothing compared to all ive found so far. Saddly I can beat that with my own place. Former owner truck driver addition he put on, Zero knowledge or integrity, corrupt building inspector. Bad combination. Mike Holmes will always have work.

Did think about a smoke test on the roof vents as well not sure how its done but know most is on the net. As it stands camera people will come friday morning

[Doug Dawson]

You didn’t say where you were. Is this by any chance a suburb of Detroit?

[Myk Rian]

Warning!!!!
Do not check the vent pipe by stuffing a leaf blower in it.
I did that once to get rid of wasp nests, and turned the toilet into a bidet.
Don't be me/that guy.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Warren, if it wasn't winter I'd suggest try taking a water hose and run some water down each of the vents to insure they are open. Being winter, I would be a little hesitant to try that.

[Warren Lake]

I did try a 20 foot snake in them and water after think they were both okay but one does has that Black Locust tree maybe 40 feet away or more and little tiny leaves that go everywhere. I did run water down as it wasnt winter at that point and sure it went down effortless. Someone else was inside while i did it.

Thats funny on the Red Kneck Bidet you might have a new invention there. I changed the ride oil on the ride on mower where there was snow on the ground. Just ran out of time. It was taking way too long so after some time right or wrong put the air compressor in and low pressure just blipping it. Worked well to clean it out and asked a small engine guy and he said it was fine.

[Warren Lake]

Meant to answer back on this and not reading back on if I had snaked or not but it ended up I snaked the home and made a difference but not enough, I also ran the snake down both the stacks on the roof and dumped hot water down before it was too cold so no icing issues. both felt clear and water ran down fine.

Days later I called in a pro company with a Ridgid machine and all seemed well. He said he got a clog inside in one of the clean outs or I guess there is a trap there. Weeks later same issues so called them back and another guy came and seemed fine only days later to still have an issue. gurggling again.

I called the company back and asked for a camera. This time they sent the foreman who is the owners son and clear he had more experience. After a bit on it he figured out that there was a clog on the outside of the home at the bottom of the foundation. There is clean out behind the bushes and a trap at the bottom of that pipe. He didnt think the roto thing with the diamond shaped tip would go through the clean out but it did and ran right to the road. Still not cleaned out enough he left that and ran the camera in back and forth many times and that did the trick. He said there was grease in the pipe which made no sense as my mother never did that. Only in a can under the sink. The clog outside was just a build up of toilet paper. Said stay away from Charmin and one of the costco thick ones. Mostly the home had been empty and in that time no usual water flow going out.


other things i remembered
pipe out from the home to the street was 6", I guess this is why the clean out tool did go through, pretty sure he said pipe size they use now is 4", that doesnt seem ideal, larger would be better,
said now all have a back flow presenter, this one older no plus the trap outside how this is done was not done since 1970
he had a special plunger tool sort of a round flexible disc on a bamboo pole where you ad extensions, that went down in the clean out and brought stuff back up
said once a month to fill the bowl right up and do a flush and this sends a mass of water at once down sort of as a preventative maintenance thing

It got solved and so far has been fine. I know they did work in the area to increase the size of the trunks in the road. The road this home is on was left alone but would have flowed into the newer larger pipes. Realize we should look into the back flow, some put them inside some put them outside. Heard people do it both ways and reasons why.

One of the guys here mentioned a tool that goes on a garden hose and fills up and expands and shoots water out. Did find that last night plus one other guy had rigged up the same thing but powered by compressed air instead of using water. His view water pressure low said 35 PSI guess it depends think it is higher here than that. Both water and air pressure would be good same time.

Appreciate the time and info everyone posted. The original fee was 168.00. second time round were not charged which should be as it failed. 3rd time round was 400.00 2 hours at 200.00 per hour. Had to be done and so far has worked perfectly and hope it continues that way.

[Fred Perreault]

Small black locust tree roots can travel 25'-30'. Large, or really large locust trees travel more than 60', and are rather burly roots. In our area, which does not have town sewer, black locust is a commonly found tree. The roots travel 25' towards the roadside, then across/under the nice warm road and cause cracking and heaving. I'd bet on tree roots adversely affecting your sewer pipe, and causing gurgling sound due to poor or slow draining. I have professionally installed on-site septic for over 50 years, and have seen incremental changes in technology and materials, but have also seen some remarkable things ocurring underground near sewage carrying plumbing pipes and infrastructure. Great nutrients available from sewage......

[Jim Allen]

We had a similar problem in terms of multiple Ror-Rooter visits, camera located the problem, (manufactured house placed 1997), don't' know when the back walkway was placed, but this was the problem:

IMG_20210211_093621815.jpg

Yeah, they put the walkway over the cleanout, we've been here 14 years, and the walkway was old then.

[Warren Lake]

I know about tree roots, ive pulled super fine ones that have traveled from one home to another to find septic tanks. Once one little guy finds the tank he tells all his friends on Facebook and next thing there is a party. Ive watched friggin weeds come up through driveways that could withstand the 4000 lb vehicles on them and not sag. No wonder they told us not to eat apple seeds, id have damn trees sprouting out of my body by now.

There were zero, absolutely zero tree roots in the metal pipes below the home and all were in very good shape, I watched all the camera stuff and the camera was essentially used as a snake. I watched his technique to get the camera clean and watched it go from clogged to clear.

When he said they no longer have a trap just out of the home I should have said how and why did they change it, answers in that and typing this see I have a few more questions to send to understand it. Likely they found that to be an issue and went to no trap and a back flow preventer which also offered other advantages. My accountants home is five blocks away and up higher its flooded twice with 40k plus basement damage each time while this one at a lower level remained unaffected.