Please help, smelly sump pump

Plumbing Forums

Help Support Plumbing Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

slt3969

New Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2015
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Location
,
I can NOT find a solution to this problem. We live in a house built in 1942. The laundry room is in the basement, the washer hose drains into the sump pump (not preferable but will cost an arm and leg to change it this as the pipe is underground.) We have lived here for 10 years and have noticed an awful smell coming from the sump pump on and off when I use the washer. Sometimes it is so bad you can smell it when you walk in the front door. I've had the sewer dept out-they said it is has nothing to do with the sewer system, and suggested I clean the sump pump walls with brush and some bleach. I have also put some drain build-up remove down the pipe that travels from the washer hose to the sump pump. Nothing helps. I think it has something to do with bacteria from the washer building up on the walls, or when there isn't enough rain water to keep it circulating?, but it comes back and back and back. PLEASE HELP! I don't want my house to smell like this anymore!
 
explain in detail the system.

what i am understanding, you have a foundation drain under your house. that drains into a pit,
with a pump that kicks it outside.


if this is true, then i would guess, the rock around the perforated piping under your house is saturated by wash funk water
 
Here are some pics, hope these help. In the bottom pic, the red tile opening is the one the washer drains from. Let me know if you need another pic. Thanks for helping. (The sump pump is covered with plastic to help decrease the smell.)

1-IMG_4854.jpg

2-IMG_4855.jpg

3-IMG_4856.jpg

5-IMG_4865.jpg
 
Last edited:
there is a reason for plumbing code.

your pit needs a lid, with gaskets bolted to the floor, the pipes need rubber boots sealing them to the cover

you are using a sump pit, meant for WATER only as a sewage pit. sewage stinks, has bacteria in it

if it were me. i would get a 20 gallon drum and a pump for the washer

then use concrete block sealer and garage floor epoxy paint to seal the old pit walls
 
I live in Ohio. Rainwater drains in here and washer water (which is not supposed to but they don't make me change it because this is the case for most of the houses built earlier.) Maybe when it is dry? and the pump isn't circulating often it gets smellier?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top