We moved into our house 6 months ago and from time to time, we smell a sewer gas (rotten egg) smell coming from our basement's ejector pump pit. The ejector pump was installed in 2015. The smell usually stays in the little closet the pump pit resides in, but sometimes, if the smell is strong enough, the smell fills the whole basement (and a handful of times, the rotten egg smell has gone through our entire house (if the HVAC was running)). The smell usually only lasts about 10 minutes and then dissipates. The smell seems to occur about 40% of the time the pump is run. However, sometimes, it smells even if we have not run the pump. We have confirmed the smell is not natural gas (we have two natural gas detectors in our basement) and we've had two different plumbers come check out the ejector pump. They couldn't find any issues with the pump or any of the traps in the basement. They did seal the pit lid with a lot of caulking to make sure there were no leaks. To try and find a pattern to why/when the smell happens, we ran the water in the basement (sink, etc.), to make the pump run at least once a day, but even when we did that, the closet where the pump resides would smell about 40% of the times that we ran the pump). Our next step is to ask one of the plumbers to do a smoke test, but they have said they aren't very hopeful that it will show anything. Does anyone have an idea of what the issue could be? Thank you for any advice you can provide, we are really at a loss of what our next steps should be and I really want to make sure our kids aren't breathing in toxic gases! Thank you so much!!

there is a faulty / failed gasket on the pump's pit, probably the cover

or

there never was a PROPERLY installed / sealed (by GASKET, not caulk) 'container'




y'all need a better licensed, bonded, insured plumber




{right click on image, then left click on open in new tab}

note the MULTIPE 'pit cover seals' which are gaskets and grommets NOT caulking

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

Thank you for the information! Also, we believe the smell we smell is hydrogen sulfide. It's definitely not just the smell of the waste in the pump. Do you know how hydrogen sulfide could end up being emitted from that pit? The plumbers we had visit said hydrogen sulfide should never be in that pit.

hydrogen sulfade IS a 'byproduct' of sewage

it is what makes 'sewer gas' so pungent



y'all need a LICENSED, INSURED, BONDED plumber

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

peppermint test.

[www.google.com]

they already know they have a leak

but

the peppermint may, or may not, confirm the leak


PROVIDING


the peppermint solution is poured down a roof vent AND the pourer immediately leaves the 'job-site' for the day AND nothing was 'spilled'


much more betterer: [www.forensicsdetectors.com]

==============================================

"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

The seal that comes with most sewage crocks isn’t very good I’ve seen most of them siliconed at the rim of the lid and around the discharge,vent and wire grommets also try flushing some pine sol down the basement toilet once a month

bsipps wrote:
>The seal that comes with most sewage crocks isn’t very good I’ve seen most of them siliconed at the rim

I've only seen three ejector pumps, all siliconed.