Air blasting from floor drain. Not dry trap.

[mdsjohna]

Hello all,


Noticed a couple of weeks ago there is cold air blasting out of the floor drain in the basement. I mean lifting Marilynn Munroe’s skirt blasting. The whole basement was cold. There is no smell and there was water in the trap but just in case I poured a bucket full of water down it and it didn’t make a change. I can see a pipe running of the side of the drain which must be weeping tile. I assume it must be coming from that. I have never noticed it before and I was thinking it was because of the extreme cold winter we have had but my reasoning behind that isn’t really clear even to myself, it’s all I can really think of. It is in the room with the furnace and hot water tank which are both gas. The furnace is hi-efficiency so the intake is plumbed to the outside. The room is open and the house shouldn’t be that tight that it is creating a negative pressure. It was built in 1974. I also looked on the roof and cleared snow away from the plumbing stack and it seemed like that it was plugged up a bit so I did the best I could to clear it. I am pretty confident that it is open. We don’t have gurgling toilets or anything like that.

I guess my question what would cause a huge amount of air to blast up though the floor drain in the basement like that though the weeping tiles. Maybe I am completely off track with that assumption and it is something else I am not thinking of. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I guess I should just block the thing for now. In some ways that defeats the purpose though in case there is a water leak down there. Let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[atvalaska]

air is coming from out side ...go look....if u have to block it ...use something like a block of blue foam with just enough weight on it to stop air flow...that way if a water trouble happens it will float and let the water flow...but I don't see how if air is coming in ...go look!!

 

[mdsjohna]

Lol there sure is a lot of air outside. I'm not getting you though. There is four foot of snow covering the ground in the surrounding area outside. I understand that it's possible that this is a normal phenomena but it seems excessive to me.

 

[atvalaska]

go get a little boaters air horn (caned) ...lay it on the drain.... place horn "noise hole" facing drain. Cover the set up with a couple towels ... get someone on every floor ... and outside!
> late night/early morning as that's when things a all quite with the world ....blow the horn >>>>>>there u go ! if there is no water in the drain the sound will travel rite to the problem ...and pizz off the guy next door to boot I would take that as a bonus

 

[atvalaska]

and no it ain't close to normal !

 

[mdsjohna]

I will check that out Ty for the suggestion, won't be for a couple of days though as we are getting another 6 inches of snow. Like we need more.