TransWikia.com

Laundry drain smells like sewer after washing clothes

Home Improvement Asked by Kusha on November 29, 2020

I have an in-wall laundry drain – pictured below.

Since we moved in it had a significant clog which I unclogged with a combination of wet-vac sucking on the drain and snaking the vent pipe. Finally we got it to drain without flooding but now there’s an awful sewer smell after doing laundry. Before unclogging, while it did flood fairly quickly, there was no sewer smell

So my questions are:

  • How can I determine if the sewer smell is from a lack of p-trap in the wall (ideally without removing drywall)?
  • Could the sewer smell come from another clog?
  • Whether or not there is a p-trap in the wall, could I just put a p-trap outside of the wall attached to the plate to solve the smell?

in wall drain

2 Answers

How can I determine if the sewer smell is from a lack of p-trap in the wall (ideally without removing drywall)?

It would be very unlikely for there not to be a trap; they are required by code. More likely you have a trap that is being siphoned dry, which can be caused by various problems including poor venting, clogged or partially clogged drain, poor design.

Could the sewer smell come from another clog?

YES... well not really coming from another clog, but caused by a clog or partial clog.

could I just put a p-trap outside of the wall attached to the plate to solve the smell?

NO you can't piggy-back traps. If there is a trap in the wall (and I would bet $5 that there is) you can't install an additional trap.

I would recommend that you ensure that all house drains are running free and clear (by whatever means necessary) and same with all vents. The fact that you merely wet-vacced the line and did not snake the drain line (

Answered by Jimmy Fix-it on November 29, 2020

I had an issue with the smell as well. In my case, I had to make sure that the washing machine's drain tube was not inserted too far down into the wall drain. After reading a suggestion on the web, I retracted some of the tube back out of the drain. The smell went away after the p-trap resealed itself with water. The smell hasn't returned (3+ years ago).

Answered by PHXAggie on November 29, 2020

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP