crisgraham
New Member
We have a dirty water smell around out kitchen sink on the main floor. In addition, our dishes come out of the dishwasher smelling the same way. The smell is very strong, intermittent, and seemingly much more noticeable when we have our windows open than when they are closed with the air conditioning on. Though less prominent, we have the same smell from our bathroom sinks upstairs. I describe it as a dirty water smell as opposed to a raw sewage smell.
We have done the following:
1. replaced the dishwasher
2. tried different dishwasher detergents
3. replaced the disposal
4. rerouted the drain hose from the dishwasher
5. inspected the backflow valve on the dishwasher
6. used disposal cleaners
We suspect it might be the vent system. The house was built around 1990, so the plumbing is fairly modern. There is an upstairs bathroom right over the kitchen, so we filled the tub with water and drained it along with flushing the toilets and running the sinks all at the same time, but we did not detect any gurgling in the kitchen drain. About 5-10 years ago I noticed that the single vent pipe had a rubber cap on it so I climbed up on the roof and removed it. I didnt notice any immediate difference.
One plumber thought it might be the hot water heater, so he drew off some water from the heater, but it didnt smell. It did have a lot of sediment in it which he flushed out. We have not replaced the hot water heater which is the original one.
While there is a single vent pipe coming out of the roof, it serves 3 ½ bathrooms, plus the laundry and kitchen. We do not tend to notice this smell on our clothes coming out of the washer or from the other two bathrooms. There may be some connection to the one bathroom being above the kitchen.
Ive been told that running a scope down the vent pipe wont get off into the branches. Ive also been warned about running a hose down the vent to try clearing out any blockage.
I dont know what to do. I cant find a plumber who knows either. My first question is: what is the likely cause? My second question is: how do I verify that is the cause?
We have done the following:
1. replaced the dishwasher
2. tried different dishwasher detergents
3. replaced the disposal
4. rerouted the drain hose from the dishwasher
5. inspected the backflow valve on the dishwasher
6. used disposal cleaners
We suspect it might be the vent system. The house was built around 1990, so the plumbing is fairly modern. There is an upstairs bathroom right over the kitchen, so we filled the tub with water and drained it along with flushing the toilets and running the sinks all at the same time, but we did not detect any gurgling in the kitchen drain. About 5-10 years ago I noticed that the single vent pipe had a rubber cap on it so I climbed up on the roof and removed it. I didnt notice any immediate difference.
One plumber thought it might be the hot water heater, so he drew off some water from the heater, but it didnt smell. It did have a lot of sediment in it which he flushed out. We have not replaced the hot water heater which is the original one.
While there is a single vent pipe coming out of the roof, it serves 3 ½ bathrooms, plus the laundry and kitchen. We do not tend to notice this smell on our clothes coming out of the washer or from the other two bathrooms. There may be some connection to the one bathroom being above the kitchen.
Ive been told that running a scope down the vent pipe wont get off into the branches. Ive also been warned about running a hose down the vent to try clearing out any blockage.
I dont know what to do. I cant find a plumber who knows either. My first question is: what is the likely cause? My second question is: how do I verify that is the cause?