Sewage smell in basement - floor drain is full of sewage

[neilt]

Hello!

Last night I started to notice a sewer smell coming from my basement. It was late, so I did a quick inspection of my sewage pipes as well as checking all the walls of the basement for wet spots - both were fine. This morning the smell is still there.

I checked my floor drain and upon opening it I knew where the smell was coming from!!! The drain was filled to about its usual level, but the water in the trap appeared to be raw sewage. I flushed a few gallons of water through it, followed by some bleach and water, and the clarity and smell of the water improved a lot. However, about 10 minutes later when I checked again the water was once again looking and smelling like raw sewage!!

Nothing has backed up, or at least not yet. My wife had a shower this morning and the water level in the drain did not change.

Do I just try running some more water through it?

 

[phishfood]

What made you believe that it was raw sewage?

How long have you lived in the home?

Do you hear any gurgling noises in the floor drain?

 

[neilt]

The smell...and yes I've smelled raw sewage before. It has a "unique" smell to it

We have lived here for a little over a year. It's the 3rd townhouse of a row of 8.

I called the management and they sent out a repairman. He tried putting one of those inflatable rubber things down the drain and blasted it with some water. When he took it out we could immediately hear the sound of water running down a drain. It lasted for about a minute, but at no time could we see any water flowing in the drain.

The smell went away, so we thought that was it and he left. That was about 4 days ago. Now the smell is back, although not as bad as it was before, and the drain once again appears to be full of sewage

(attached is the pic I took of the drain after it had a few gal of fresh water run into it)

 

[neilt]

Here is a picture I just took...notice the "stuff" floating in the drain

 

[johnjh2o]

Are you sure it's not a clean out with the plug missing?

 

[neilt]

Are you sure it's not a clean out with the plug missing?

No, I'm not...though when we got the townhouse it was the only opening in our basement floor, is right by the laundry area (the back corner of house, ie. not where the sewer is), and had a grate covering it that appeared to be there for quite some time.

Also I never noticed the smell before, and I have had the cover off of the drain before.

 

[neilt]

The repairman seemed to think the side opening in the drain was connected to the weeping tile. He also seemed to think that our entire row of townhouses only had a single connection to the sewer, and that it was a few houses over at the end of the row. I don't know how true all this is...I don't know much about townhouse construction...but it seems plausible.