Basement Floor Drain P Trap

You have a water trap under a floor drain laundry tub or wash basin that has dried out from lack of use.

Basement floor drain p trap.

The waste stack runs to the basement and changes from 3 to 4 cast iron 3 feet above the basement concrete slab. I have a 1st story bathtub with a 1 1 2 pvc p trap connected within 18 to a 3 cast iron waste stack and vent. Most of the time the sewer smell is caused because the water in the p trap has dried up or evaporated. This will re prime the.

The diagram at right shows a p trap which can be found at sinks showers and bath tubs. Under every drain in your house there s a trap that holds water and prevents sewer gas from flowing up into the air you breathe. The rest of the drain is always buried in the basement floor. Will your basement floor drain always remain clogged.

Finding the source of the basement smell. The p trap is a u shaped section of pipe that is designed to hold water to block dangerous sewer gas from rising up and into the home. Water in any trap under unused drains will eventually evaporate. Many basement floor drains tie directly to the home s sewer system but in some communities local building codes require floor drains to run to a sump pit where a pump lifts the water to the exterior surface of the house.

Take a gallon of tap water and dump it down the floor drain. There is a p trap in the 4 cast iron under the basement slab. But what if you don t have an auger or plumbing snake. That lets in stinky or even dangerous sewer gases.

Start the process by turning on the backflow preventer and removing the cap of the trap. Usually you can fix a dried up p trap by taking a gallon of water and simply dumping it down into the drain. Shaped like the round end of a p or a u the p trap is the place in your drains that stops sewer gas odors from shooting back up your drains into your place of business. Unclog basement floor drain without using a plumbing snake.

But if you have a shower that s been abandoned since the kids moved out or a floor drain that never gets used the water in the trap can eventually evaporate. When the drain line gets clogged if the. It connects on one end to the drain such as a floor drain or the drain of a restroom fixture and on the other end to the line going to the sewer. The p trap is located under your concrete floor and when it dries up it will allowing the sewer gases to enter into your home.

Here s what you need to do to 1.