I have noticed a foul odor around the shower drain in our guest bedroom. What is happening?
Probably what you are smelling is “sewer gas” which originates from your septic system. While the gas is a normal condition, that is, a by-product of the bacterial break down of waste before the waste is sent to the drain field, it is unpleasant. By building code, all waste water drains must have “P-Traps” installed in the line, usually above ground just after the drain itself. If you look underneath the countertop of one of your sinks you will see an “U” shaped configuration of piping just below the drain to the sink. This is the P-Trap. When water exits the drain there will always remain an amount of water in the “U” of this P-Trap which serves as an air-lock. The air-lock prevents any air from the lower sewer drain to come back up into the room. If you are smelling sewer gas, the air-lock has been lost. This usually applies to little used drains where the water creating the air-lock has evaporated since no water has come out of the faucet recently. To restore the air-lock, simply ru
