I recently moved into a home in August. I have not had this issue until last week. The sewer/fart smell comes at the same time for no apparent reason. My husband and I both work, so my daughter who was home was the first to notice. She text me that the house suddenly smelt like a fart. I thought we had a gas leak, but when I ran home I could tell it wasn't gas. It comes from the same area, which is the hallway that has the laundry/bathroom, master bedroom and master bathroom, but it literally smells in the hallway. It has happened a few times now, each time in the afternoon. I shower in the morning, my husband showers at night and my daughter showers at all different times. We are lost. It was and still is a clean well maintained home. The prior owner was a single lady that was never home. My husband and I work a lot, between 55-70 hours a week, so there isn't a lot of water movement, if that matters at all. Also we have city sewer, not a septic tank.

just some ideas that may or may not apply...

Does the hallway have a vent for furnace/air conditioner? The odor may be coming thru the ductwork vents. Since the odor occurs at a predictable time you can try to connect it with an event that is happening then, like doing laundry, turning on the air conditioner, doing the dishes, taking a shower or flushing the toilet, etc.

You will want to make sure every drain in the home has some water put down it, one of them may have dried out from infrequent use. As you probably know, every drain has a bent section of piping called a "trap", the trap should always have water in it to prevent sewer line odors from coming up thru the drain into the home.

You can wrap damp towels all the way around the base of the toilet. Sometimes the seal (the wax ring) on the bottom of the toilet leaks sewer pipe odors into the house. If this stops the odors then you will need to pull the toilet and replace the wax ring.

Find out where your air conditioner condensate drain hose goes to. The part of the a/c equipment that is in the home will have a rubber hose or plastic pipe that drains off the condensation that forms when the a/c unit is running. If it runs into a floor drain and the a/c has not been used for a few months then the floor drain may be dry. When the a/c is running make sure the water freely runs out of this condensate hose. If it is blocked the drain pan inside the a/c equipment will retain some water, mildew will form and that can smell. That odor can be pulled into the ductwork and come out vents in the home.

If the home has a basement you can sometimes inspect the drain piping under the main floor, look for leaks or something else wrong. Since you are new to the house there may be conditions you are not aware of.



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Those are all great suggestions. The one that really caught my attention is the non use of drains. We have 3 bathrooms and all 3 of us use the same shower because we like the space and water pressure. We don't use the master at all except for the sink and toilet. Which leaves a bathtub and shower in my bedroom. I'm still going to try all. That smell is horrendous. Thank you

Another drain that is not always in a residence is a floor drain or sink. Sometimes one is located under a dishwasher or clothes washer in the event of an overflow. Make sure you haven't overlooked these possibilities.

Wow, never thought of that. Not sure how, but I will. Thank you



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The lower panel on the bottom front of the dishwasher (sometimes called the "kickplate" is fairly easily removed, usually just attached by a screw on each side. After you remove it you can shine a flashlight under the dishwasher to see the area.

To look under a washing machine is a little harder, if the back of the washer isn't too close to the wall you can often put something strong under the front of the washer (like a pry bar or strong board) and lift the washer a couple of inches while someone else looks under it. Best to put down an old towel or similar for the end of the pry bar or board to rest on so you don't damage the floor.







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I think we located the smell. It's in the master bathroom shower. It's been raining for days, if that has anything to do with it. We used that shower twice when we first moved in and haven't used it since. That was September.

That length of time getting unused would do it. The water in all drain traps eventually evaporates. You need to pour some water down them once in a while if they are seldom used. If you don't plan to use it much at all you can pour a little light cooking oil down its drain, that will cover the top of the drain trap water and keep it from evaporating for quite a while. The sink drain in that bathroom could have the same thing happen to it.

I don't think the raining would have anything to do with the odor.



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Strange, maybe you should call the plumbers and find out if the plumbing is the reason? It's just that you can cover the smell with various means as much as you want, but if you don't find the cause and source of the scent, then this will continue indefinitely. If you're going to get rid of the smell while looking for the reason itself, I can advise you what I use in my husband's garage; this is Professional Odor Removal on [www.amazon.com]. With this tool, I remove the acrid smell of the car engine from the garage because, through the ventilation, it rises to our house, and it is impossible to breathe. I hope you find the source of the smell and solve your problem as quickly as possible



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