Smell in Cabin -- gas from septic?

[DrRod]

My cabin has a persistent odor that we had always attributed to dead mice or mouse nests in stuffed furniture. We had the furniture recovered [and cleaned out as needed] and cleaned everything including the log walls. But the smell persists particularly in a corner where we typically don't open the windows -- therefore dead air. If a breeze is blowing through the cabin, I can detect the smell in the middle of the living room and sometimes upstairs but its very temporary. Mostly it hangs in the small front room area. So I'm wondering if this could be the country version of sewer gas. We have a primitive cesspool system that works well given our relatively infrequent use of the place. But I'm wondering if there is some sort of gas finding its way back. Aside from a major plumbing intervention -- which may not be called for -- is there something I might flush into the system that might affect its processing of waste or the neutralizing of gases?

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[bcp]

Things that first come to mind are drain traps drying when not used for a long time, or vent pipes plugged.

Bruce

 

[boggen]

Things that first come to mind are drain traps drying when not used for a long time, or vent pipes plugged.

Bruce

ditto

most propane / natural gas has an additaive added to it. to make it smell like rotten eggs as well.

mold/fungus could be an issue as well.

 

[dave1949]

Things that first come to mind are drain traps drying when not used for a long time, or vent pipes plugged.

Bruce

Also check the vent stack integrity, correct install and no leaking connections.

Any chance there could be an abandoned drain pipe in a wall with no or a dried out trap?

 

[Harlan B]

One thing you could check is the traps in your cabin. One time I had that sewer gas smell in my house and I check everything I could think of. Finally figured it out. I and my wife never take a bath, we always use the shower. The water in the trap evaporated out and the smell was coming in thru the bathtub drain.

 

[oosik]

ditto on the "dry trap" & check on the integrity of the sewer vents ( both for disconnects and plugging). Infrequent use of the cabin is most likely "dry traps" and problems with the sewer vents can be due to the age of the cabin, squirrels, or even wind storms or other environmental situations. Problems with the cesspool is very unlikely. And I would definitely recommend against the practice of flushing weird or unusual products(sewage activation products, sewage deodorant products etc) down the drain - it can actually hinder the operation of the cesspool.

 

[Toyboy]

Locate all your drain traps (even floor drains) and put a teaspoon/tablespoon of cooking oil in them. Then when you leave do it again to all the ones you've used and see if that helps. The cooking oil will keep the water in them from evaporating out.

 

[PILOON]

I hear that some RV'ers wrap the toilet bowls with saran wrap to prevent evaporation of the trap.

Around here we use RV antifreeze in all the traps over the winter and that works fine.

 

[Ford850]

Also, check close to the toilet bowl. The wax ring might not be sealed properly.

 

[DrRod]

Thank you for all the ideas. We use RV Antifreeze in the traps during the winter as we don't leave heat in the building when we are not there.

As for dry traps, I suspect there is something to that except that we still get the smell when we are there, even for a week, so I have to think its coming from elsewhere. I think the next step is a trip to the basement to check the pipes, vents, et al. It is a very old, simple system so there's not much to check - e.g. I don't think we have sewer vents or at least I don't know where to find them. Basically, all the drains empty into a relatively small pipe which runs through the basement and out a side wall into the ground. After that its anyone's guess where it ultimately goes.

Still, it works fine even in winter and there's no green area in the lawn indicating where it pools. I'm wondering if it could be something else but I'm out of ideas. Even a dead animal stops smelling in a month or so and this continues all year all the time.