“Dave, you were recommended to us by one of our friends. We have a foul odor in our laundry/mechanical room, and three plumbers have been here in the last ten days, and the odor just keeps getting worse.”

Don’t you just love calls like that?

Maybe it’s a dried-out floor drain trap, allowing sewer gases to freely flow into the room, or a laundry tub P-trap being siphoned when the ACW (automatic clothes washer) discharges. I try not to overthink calls like that before arriving on site, so I don’t waste time chasing preconceived notions.

Turned out, I knew the owners of the fairly-new condo in the less than ten-year-old development, so no doubt the DWV system was going to be PVC, which is prevalent in our area. Upon arrival, Jan answered the door and husband Jack, retired candy salesman who loves playing golf every day now that he’s retired, was in the kitchen enjoying his morning coffee. The odor smacked my senses while entering because the laundry/mechanical room was to the left of the entrance. “If you can’t fix this, we’re moving!” declared Jack.

The usual suspects: floor drain trap seal was just fine with standing water in its PVC P-trap. Threaded side cleanout plug was secure and obviously sealed, and putting my schnoz directly over the floor drain revealed it was not the source of the most foul odor that darn near knocked you out with its stench. The laundry tub checked out, too, as did the ACW standpipe and its trap. The high efficiency furnace and air conditioning coil with its RectorSeal EZ Trap model 200, which has a clear trap you can view the contents, both drained to a condensate pump that was piped to discharge into the ACW drain standpipe as a safe waste had no odors either. Telltale signs on the floor indicated a power auger had been used to clean the drain, so that too was ruled out. Could be the ACW discharge combined with a partially clogged drain line could cause sewer gases to be discharged from the floor drain, so we ran the ACW through a fill and drain cycle. Nothing/nada/zip/no-stink! Now I’m scratching my head.

Thinking back, I recall the time I got called out for a foul odor in an almost new home that “smelled like” it was strongest in the half bath off the foyer. Looking around, I noticed a wee bit of drywall dust on the floor beside the pedestal sink and asked if that medicine cabinet had always been there? Turned out, it had been installed just a week ago. Cleared out the medicine cabinet, removed the four screws holding the recessed cabinet and pulled it out of the wall. Hah! The installer had simply cut off the vent pipe above and below the cabinet and did not cap off either side of the 1.5-inch PVC vent pipe! The builder agreed to have the wall opened to reroute the vent pipe, repair the wall and reset the recessed medicine cabinet. The old schnoz didn’t fail me that time!

“Jan, are you missing any chicken you may have brought home from the grocery store?”

“NO!”

“OK, just asking because I’m about to be stumped just like the other plumbers.”

While I couldn’t rule out a cracked drain or vent pipe, the foul odor did not get stronger at the floor level where the natural direction of underground plumbing would logically be located and there were no cracks in the concrete floor. Same for the wall around and directly above the laundry tub. As I was about to toss in the towel and admit defeat, I decided to close the laundry/mechanical room door and turn on the furnace blower to see if negative pressure was pulling sewer gasses up through either plumbing trap, but spied a bag of potatoes hiding behind the door. When I picked up the bag, I made the mistake of sticking my schnoz in it and inhaling: OMG, I darn near passed out from the stench! Who knew a rotten potato could produce such a foul odor, but that, my friends, is exactly what was the source of the stink, stank, stunk funk.

The odor smacked my senses while entering because the laundry/mechanical room was to the left of the entrance. “If you can’t fix this, we’re moving!”

As plumbers, we have an iron constitution where foul odors are concerned. I’ve witnessed more than one apprentice and/or customer lose their lunch where a seasoned plumber would barely be adversely affected. I was immune, or so I thought!

The call was for a foul odor in the commercial kitchen of a church. The closer I got to the in-floor grease trap, the stronger the odor. In checking with the office staff, I learned the last prepared dinner had included baked onion soup with a ton of leftover soup. Hah! Now knowing the direction to pursue, I removed the Wade interceptor’s bolts, and pried open the lid.

The odor, I swear, wafted forth with green-colored vapors and was so foul, I darn near lost my last meal and immediately opened the kitchen door and windows to air out the kitchen while stepping outside for a breath of fresh air. This was going to be a gag-me deal, because the fetid onion soup had begun fermenting and the vintage was not going to be a fine wine! I thought I’d let the office staff - located a fairly long distance from the kitchen, down one long corridor, around a corner and at the far end of that hallway, only to find the office vacated. I would find out later, that when the stench reached the office, one threw up and all decided to vacate for the day!

I got-er-done without retching, but there were moments when I came closer than I had ever experienced before or after that grease trap cleaning. As always, the job site was cleaned thoroughly, including wet-mopping the floor because nothing will cause customers to drop you like a hot (foul smelling) potato than leaving a mess behind for them to deal with and we picked up more than a few excellent customers because of messes left behind. Locked up after closing the door and windows and left the office staff a detailed note so they wouldn’t call in a hazmat team!

Do not pour leftover onion soup down the drain - never ever again.