It is a question of smell....or stink on occasion. Our shower rooms, one of which in en suite. They pong.

I have read somewhere that this is a common problem, but can't remember where. Our house was renovated six years ago and new septic tank put in. Since then it has been empty and boilers drained. Sometimes it's whiffier than others, and it seems to come from both the shower and basin. The basin has no u-bend which might be a problem, is this right? And the shower in the en suite drains slowly due to a shallow fall on the waste pipe, so presumably that won't help. But the other shower is not as bad on drainage, but still pongs, not nice if we ever have visitors. Is this likely to be a problem a plumber needs to see or is there anything we can do other than mix the pong with air freshener, not nice?

We are still trying to find out who reliable tradesmen are locally but at the moment we have only had one name.....to avoid. It seems people are rather possessive of their good ones and won't recommend. Such a shame and not fair on the tradespeople.

Mrs Eq

Common problem not fitting u-bends/traps especially in the wetroom "
plug hole"
in the floor, usually there isn't enough depth so it doesn't get fitted, or if there is traps they have dried out, dry filing them with nice smelling disinfectant (it also stops the creepy crawlies too). If they are smelling more than normal it's maybe because you have had some rain and filled the drains causing them to pressure up, forcing the foul air up thro yours, leave the plugs in.

Equinus wrote:

It is a question of smell....or stink on occasion. Our shower rooms, one of which in en suite. They pong.

I have read somewhere that this is a common problem, but can't remember where. Our house was renovated six years ago and new septic tank put in. Since then it has been empty and boilers drained. Sometimes it's whiffier than others, and it seems to come from both the shower and basin. The basin has no u-bend which might be a problem, is this right? And the shower in the en suite drains slowly due to a shallow fall on the waste pipe, so presumably that won't help. But the other shower is not as bad on drainage, but still pongs, not nice if we ever have visitors. Is this likely to be a problem a plumber needs to see or is there anything we can do other than mix the pong with air freshener, not nice?

We are still trying to find out who reliable tradesmen are locally but at the moment we have only had one name.....to avoid. It seems people are rather possessive of their good ones and won't recommend. Such a shame and not fair on the tradespeople.

Mrs Eq

For some reason U-bends appear to be an optional extra when plumbing is undertaken over here, we had the same problem with our utility room and the smell rose up from the washing machine. It was connected to the soil pipe and no U-bend, very nasty and no excuse for the person who fitted it. If you haven't had it fixed by the time we get to you on Friday, I will have a look and see what can be done to fix it!! In the meantime a garden peg over the nose may suffice!!

it isnot and never has been the "
norm "
to fit them in BG....at one time , not that long ago , they were not even here....peeps used to post re bringing them over from UK when they visited

Leaving the plugs in place will help in the short term..for the shower drain and floor drain, try soaking a handkerchief sized piece of cotton or similar with disinfectant or nice smelling liquid and placing over the hole. I used to have a similar problem until I fitted 's' bends.

we had this problem too. we fitted u-bends everywhere, it is only a problem in the summer, but when the gas builds up it will seep through your defenses at times.
we put a vent on the cesspit cover to prevent gas build up and it works well.

I fitted a 3 metre long section of 2"
poly pipe to my cesspit..the top end vents into a mulberry tree and the slightest breeze takes care of any odour.

The septic tank isn't a problem, it has a pipe and apart from it being an eyesore (which we will sort next year) unless you stand over it it doesn't pong.

I will try soaking some fabric in Zoflora in the short term.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Mrs Eq

So long as you keep it damp all the time, you will notice a vast improvement Sara.

Maybe it doesn't pong because it's actually venting into the house and not through the vent pipe, as it's taking the least line of resistance.

One suggestion that might be worth trying, even if only on a temporary basis would be to fit a 'in-line' fan to the outside vent pipe thus pulling the air out of the tank.
I believe you can even get solar powered fans (although that might work out slightly dearer, especially if it's only for a trial basis)

A small version of the 'whirlygig' extractor fans you see on factory roofs would work..every time the wind blows, it spins and extracts any nasties. I've seen these in Practika.

Good idea, I never thought of those.

Now that you have put this post on the Forum it is probable that half of Bulgaria now know of your problem and no one wants to visit your abode. But that doesn't include us because we will be over to see you on Friday as planned!!

itchyfeet wrote:

Now that you have put this post on the Forum it is probable that half of Bulgaria now know of your problem and no one wants to visit your abode. But that doesn't include us because we will be over to see you on Friday as planned!!

I'll get the Zoflora out! Dave has watered the floor drains and sniffed about, but he has no great sense of smell. He says I have a sensitive nose. It seems better already, but it comes and goes anyway.

And don't worry, the garden is quite private!

sounds to me that you have all had a bacteria problem. You haven't got the correct bacteria. It is easy to rmedy. All off cuts of fresh meat when cooking keep in the freezer until you have a couple of kios and then throw it into the cess pit or add a road kill the bacteria will start workking again in no time at all and the cess pit will be clean again. This needs to be done every year or if you have the problem arise. So feed it you will smell the difference