We moved into our new home 5 weeks ago; it has smelled of sewer gas for 4 of the last 5 weeks. My house is a 2 story with a finished and unfinished basement. There are 2 bathrooms upstairs, one on the 1st floor and one rarely used in the basement. In the unfinished basement, we have 2 pumps; one for ground water and one lift pump for the basement bathroom and they both run to our SEPTIC TANK. Over the 4 weeks of smell, it progressively gets worse throughout the day. It also seems to be worse with more usage; running the dishwasher and doing laundry.
Background: the previous owner was a single man who had little use on the system (we are assuming) for the last 20 years of it's 28 year existence. We found out from a plumber that he also had dealt with the issue, and that they replaced the lids to both pumps and the plumber didn't hear from him again, so he assumed that fixed the issue.
Now, looking at both lids, the groundwater one looks brand new and the other pump lid looks horrible; there is rust and the calking/silicone seal appeared loose.

I have had a plumber come to look and he was unable to figure anything out. I called another plumber and he was the previous owners plumber who told us about the lids and then said he didn't know of anything else to do. SO, I am needing someone who can help us!! I can't believe that we're meant to smell sewer for the rest of our days.

One ray of light: I did an emergency septic care treatment 3 days ago and the house didn't smell of gas (however, the unfinished basement part did) and I also tore off old silicone, cleaned and resealed the lift pump lid. Today was 3 days post treatment and the smell was back (not as strongly) this evening. Someone please help us figure out where this leak could be coming from, because coming home everyday to a sh!t smelling house is really bad for morale. Thanks for your help Alisha

Note: we have also smelled it outside of the house on occasion and there is no standing water on top of our tank. Yes we had the tank "inspected", yes, it only took 2 minutes, and yes, the system could still be completely shot. (Our last house's was; even after inspection) ;(



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Is there any plumbing pipes in the unfinished basement ? I would look for a uncapped drain pipe, or a floor drain
or any other unfrequently used plumbing fixture whose trap has dried out,

You did not mention the age of the house of its septic system. How old. What type of septic tank? Concrete, Fiberglass or block? Does it have a cap/cover and was it removed? Was the tank completely emptied, back washed before you added treatment?
With septic systems you have to be aware of what the previous owner did and did not do. How long was the building vacant before you moved in?

There is equipment that can sniff orders, but they are expensive to use.
Best Wishes

We've ran water in every drain to have traps full and I don't believe there are any uncapped pipes; the plumber checked all of that.

The septic system is also 28 years old. I believe concrete but I wasn't there for the inspection. I did speak to the septic guy about this issue and he said our tank looked great, was at the appropriate level and had very little sludge so it didn't need cleaned out. I just added Roebic Septic System Cleaner Emergency Care and followed instructions. I have to say that after the treatment, we are now 5 days odor FREE. I'm not sure if that permanently fixed the issue (along with me sealing the lift pump correctly), but it's working so far. The septic guy suggested that wind could be getting into our vent on the roof and creating a backdraft, so I guess we will test that out if the odor returns.

Thanks so far!



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I am glad the sewer gas problem has resolved, check that the pump lids are resealed tightly, often this could be an issue of spreading smell, once even I had the same issue when my pumps lid where not sealed properly, there was a problem of drainage that had caused all overflowing the water all around which had also ruined my carpet, but I contacted to our regular plumber to inspect the pumps and he resealed it properly.

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Well, we made it 8 days before the smell has returned in the unfinished part of the basement, so I'm assuming any day now that it will start filtering its way upstairs.
Our heat and air unit is on the opposite end of the room as our lift and sump pump. This time and I know last time, the the smell originated from there and then later smelled around the pumps. I have no idea what that could mean or why it's happening.

It smelled horrible today. Does anyone else have any ideas?

After replacing the check valve on our ejector pump (surprise! There was no valve)and still having the smell, I wanted to replace the check valve on our ground water pump just to be safe, especially since that's the first place our septic would back flow to. When we took the valve off, there was sewer water in our sump pump line! We also tested the old check valve and it was leaking. So assuming that the new valve is working, we now need to determine if there is sewer water in our ground water tank. (I feel that the pump runs more often than it should) We should be having a plumber come this week. So, we either have clogged lateral lines and when the tank fills, it back flows into our pumps and lines in the basement or there is a leak outside that drains sewer water into the pit around the house and into our tank. I'm still trying to figure out why I smell sewer at our ejector pump lid when we hardly use the basement bathroom. I'm going to have the Plummer open both lids to inspect the tanks and get a good seal on them. I also did another septic restore tx for the right size of our septic tank (which helped the smell last time) but we STILL have the smell. I'm just so ready to figure this out!