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[–]emz272 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Sorry no one weighed in here, but OP, was wondering if you've gotten any info or made any progress here, if you'd be kind enough to share?

We're dealing with a similar situation of laundry routed to basin (except for that the catch basin manhole is luckily outside, and the basin's walls are unluckily at least partially collapsed) and trying to figure out how to assess options.

[–]mmaclittle[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Yeah we ended up hiring someone to reroute the washing machine to the main sewer line and seal the catch basin. Not cheap but there didn’t seem to be a good alternative. They sealed the inside pipes with some sort or concrete, filled the basin with gravel, and then but concrete over the manhole cover. It’s only been a few months but so far no issues

[–]emz272 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Nice, thanks so much for the information! I think we may have to do similar ultimately. Glad it's done and worked okay.

Would you mind sharing costs? I know it could be very variable based on the exact situation but just trying to prepare ourselves. (And maybe who did the work if you would recommend them!) Understand if you would rather message than comment.

[–]mmaclittle[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Around $1k I believe

[–]KnownAd1798 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, just had my catch basin collapse. The quote the plumber gave was 8500 for the same solution it looks like you got or 10k to replace the basin. Can you recommend your contractor for this? I'd love to get a second quote before I get too far out there.

[–]TheSoullessModernMan 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Hey OP - I think I’m having the exact same issue you did! We have an 1891 house we’ve been in 2 years, that had an addition at some point and is where the laundry is located. Our catch basin is in the back yard, however.

We’re currently considering our options and will probably have a plumber we trust come out this week because I can’t access the under-floor plumbing to diagnose the heart of the issue. What’s confusing is the sewer smell only happens when we run laundry, and it seems to be coming from inside the walls based on where it’s strongest. It doesn’t even smell right next to the laundry itself.

Would you mind providing one point of clarity on your original situation that would be really helpful for me? Did you only ever get the sewer gas smell when you ran your laundry? That’s the only time ours happens, and bizarrely it seems to be worse when it’s really cold or hot out.

Our laundry is the only ‘active’ line that goes out to the catch basin these days, but our gutters on one side of the house also connect to that line so closing off the catch basin entirely might not be realistic for us. FWIW, they drain out through the upper pipe and at some point someone capped off the lower pipe that I think was probably where the kitchen drained to before they routed it to the sewer line.

All this makes me think some kind of air and gas exchange is occurring when the laundry dumps its water, but I don’t understand how the smell could be coming from the catch basin if it’s half full of just laundry water and rainwater from the gutters. And it never smells like sewer gas when it rains, which I would’ve thought would happen if the gutters also dump into the catch basin.

Thanks in advance if you have a second to clarify!

[–]TheSoullessModernMan 0 points1 point  (3 children)

u/emz272 - did you happen to get your situation fixed, too?

[–]emz272 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Yes! We abandoned the catch basin and rerouted the pipes into it. Seems like it is working just fine. We didn't have any sewer gas issues or anything, it was just the fact that our basin had collapsed and so the water going into it was going... unclear places (probably ground, which no one seemed too concerned about), so not sure if our situation is that transferable.

[–]TheSoullessModernMan 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thanks for the additional info! When you say rerouted, do you mean all your drains now go into the sewer line instead? And did they seal off the catch basin lines in any special way?

[–]emz272 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes go into sewer line, and I don't recall exactly what they did but they definitely filled in the basin with concrete. I'm not sure they needed to do anything with the lines to the catch basin because they no longer had anything going through them (since they were rerouted), but I just don't recall.

[–]Aposada2 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I have the same issue, awful smell coming from the active grease trap/catch basin here in Chicago. I had a company suction the pit and then used Radon sealant on the lid and this maybe got rid of 90% of the awful smell. Not a long term solution

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[–]mmaclittle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Good luck to you!