Smell of Solvent coming from Sewer

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Replaced lid near street last night to reseal sewer pipe. Lots of solvent vapour in bathroom this morning, same for the neighbour. It could be white spirit/paint thinners. Can smell it on the drive tonight, coming up through the sewer cover near the house.

Anglian water man coming back tomorrow. Very strange that no other neighbours have this smell, apart from my next door neighbour with whom we share connection to main sewer.

The mystery continues. I'd suspect decorating contractors are bunging thinners down the sewer, maybe but don't really know. None of the neighbour's we have spoken to in the vicinity have an obvious fuel leak, though some fuel pipes do go underground and several condensing kerosene boiler drains go into the sewer, which I find a bit disturbing.

Surprised the local sewage works hasn't picked it up as it discharges to river, what with their ability to detect 0.1ppb and all that!!?? Doesn't seem to be any urgency to find the source of the contamination on their part.
 

Lincsman

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
If the situation is still the same there is a leak into the system from a tank... somewhere, pipes to house boilers are underground, its getting to a drain, at some point someone will find his tank unexpectedly empty.
On new builds its very common to run pipes together if the trench is open and close to where needed.
 

Tomtrac

Member
Location
Penrith cumbria
If the situation is still the same there is a leak into the system from a tank... somewhere, pipes to house boilers are underground, its getting to a drain, at some point someone will find his tank unexpectedly empty.
On new builds its very common to run pipes together if the trench is open and close to where needed.

How old are the houses it should not be getting in the sewer as the pipes are sealed and should all have water traps on toilets and sinks etc
unless very old tile drains and unless as above its following down the outside off the pipe like a french drain
But then lid on off wouldnt make a difference ?
As prev post painter poring thiners et down the drain
You should get some sealed jars or bottles and try and get some samples of it
Sister lives in Hastings on the south coast and there wAs all the news about the poisons mist. Coming in from the sea i met up with her and mentioned it and she said. No one took a sample and it went so they dont know what it was
So it sounds daft but get a sample or two you dont know what happens in the future could be tested in a lab in an extreme circumstances
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
A significant amount of solvent/kero vapour is now present in the bathrooms of another two houses along the street as you go up the hill from us always strongest early morning and strongest in houses closer to the main sewer pipe.

Still not traced the source but getting closer to tracking it down. Possibly some old dear with a tank and not even aware it's leaking. I'm only interested in stopping the leak, not in upsetting people.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
@holwellcourtfarm , is there a detector that can measure hydrocarbon vapour concentration which might give us some idea of source of leak? Could be lowered into sewer manholes? We used gas detectors in turbine enclosures but not sure about liquid fuel vapour detection.

Concentration is always highest in early morning before sewer starts running but difficult to tell concentration just by smelling it.
 

holwellcourtfarm

Member
Livestock Farmer
@holwellcourtfarm , is there a detector that can measure hydrocarbon vapour concentration which might give us some idea of source of leak? Could be lowered into sewer manholes? We used gas detectors in turbine enclosures but not sure about liquid fuel vapour detection.

Concentration is always highest in early morning before sewer starts running but difficult to tell concentration just by smelling it.
I'm not aware of one but I'll ask.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Can't quite believe there are a dozen or so kerosene tanks in this vicinity alone with no bunds, no inspection or maintenance schedule, dodgy pipes running underground at garden fork depth to the boiler, rainwater drains nearby and the water authority shows little interest in tracing leaks. The EA don't want to know at all.

Yet on the farm everything has to be bunded and the EA inspect every 4 years.

Same with septic tanks, never cleaned out, sewage running into watercourses yet if we did that with manure on the farm they'd fine us heavily.

If they really are serious about getting water pollution down they would tighten up on domestic systems but they won't do that because it would upset the voters. They will keep wrongly blaming farmers instead (for phosphates in particular) as they are easy targets.

Hypocritical and a joke.
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Large old empty property up the street is being renovated. Floors being retiled and possibly tile sealant being applied with large volumes of xylene or similar solvent given off as the sealant dries, especially with tiled wet rooms etc. Getting into the sewer because no toilets fitted so no trap and vapour going straight down open hole into sewer. It smells more like xylene type substance than kero. Renovator says the solvent is coming up from sewer into their property as toilets aren't fitted and holes are open to sewer, but they would say that. Well it could be, but can't be certain. Certainly smell started at about same time as they started tiling work. It's a transient thing then I'm not really be bothered but would be courtesy to inform neighbour's or block sewer outlets in property to prevent vapour ingress to sewer.
 

sulky

Member
Location
northyorkshire
For the past few days both my and my neighbours bathrooms have smelt very strongly of something like paint thinners or kerosene. Initially I blamed a neighbours kerosene burner for putting out the fumes out of it's chimney but closer investigation by self and neighbour, lifting the sewer pipe covers in our gardens has revealed the source of the fumes to be the sewer that serves both of our properties. I contacted the water company and they said it can be quite common where work is being done to reline the sewer with resin sealant and the solvent isn't ventilated off properly. Can't see any work being done locally though.

This a new one on me, and I'm surprised the water traps let the vapour in but maybe it's getting in though cracks round the various waste pipes. It is certainly getting out through the drain cover lid. They are coming out to investigate.

Anybody else has this?
this may sound a bit strange but traps only work to stop air/gas coming back when not in use .basin/ baths/shower trays /toilets let smells back when used re flushed , as the water gushes down air comes up ,not a lot but enough to let a build up of pressure back out , weve all heard it when you pull the plug out this I was told at a building engineers conference. I have finished in the building trade and are now farming part-time sow used to bulls**t,ps renovation sounds suspect
 

Fiona23

Member
Large old empty property up the street is being renovated. Floors being retiled and possibly tile sealant being applied with large volumes of xylene or similar solvent given off as the sealant dries, especially with tiled wet rooms etc. Getting into the sewer because no toilets fitted so no trap and vapour going straight down open hole into sewer. It smells more like xylene type substance than kero. Renovator says the solvent is coming up from sewer into their property as toilets aren't fitted and holes are open to sewer, but they would say that. Well it could be, but can't be certain. Certainly smell started at about same time as they started tiling work. It's a transient thing then I'm not really be bothered but would be courtesy to inform neighbour's or block sewer outlets in property to prevent vapour ingress to sewer.
Did you ever find out what was going on. We have exact same smell tonight and house over the road is being renovated so wondered if it was to do with that
 

Fiona23

Member
Large old empty property up the street is being renovated. Floors being retiled and possibly tile sealant being applied with large volumes of xylene or similar solvent given off as the sealant dries, especially with tiled wet rooms etc. Getting into the sewer because no toilets fitted so no trap and vapour going straight down open hole into sewer. It smells more like xylene type substance than kero. Renovator says the solvent is coming up from sewer into their property as toilets aren't fitted and holes are open to sewer, but they would say that. Well it could be, but can't be certain. Certainly smell started at about same time as they started tiling work. It's a transient thing then I'm not really be bothered but would be courtesy to inform neighbour's or block sewer outlets in property to prevent vapour ingress to sewer.
Did you ever find the source. We’re Having the same issue tonight and wondered if from the house over the road being renovated
 

DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Did you ever find the source. We’re Having the same issue tonight and wondered if from the house over the road being renovated
@Fiona23 The only thing we heard of that might have caused it was that the church boiler up the hill from us lost an entire tank of kero into the drains because of a boiler fault. Otherwise we couldn’t pin down definitively the source of the problem. It hasn’t occurred since. Was there a kero tank associated with the house opposite you? Did they get rid of it. Where did the tank contents/dregs go? Or are they using solvents in the renovation? A difficult one but hopefully for you as for us it will be a temporary if annoying problem.
 

roscoe erf

Member
Livestock Farmer
For the past few days both my and my neighbours bathrooms have smelt very strongly of something like paint thinners or kerosene. Initially I blamed a neighbours kerosene burner for putting out the fumes out of it's chimney but closer investigation by self and neighbour, lifting the sewer pipe covers in our gardens has revealed the source of the fumes to be the sewer that serves both of our properties. I contacted the water company and they said it can be quite common where work is being done to reline the sewer with resin sealant and the solvent isn't ventilated off properly. Can't see any work being done locally though.

This a new one on me, and I'm surprised the water traps let the vapour in but maybe it's getting in though cracks round the various waste pipes. It is certainly getting out through the drain cover lid. They are coming out to investigate.

Anybody else has this?
Dennis Neilson's neighbours had the same issue
 

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