How to Eliminate Sewer Gas Smell

Wear waterproof gloves and a paper face mask at all times. Investigate the location of the gas sewer smell and determine the precise source as soon as you can. Search in areas such as places where water may be trapped under a floor drain, laundry sink or wash basin. Focus your search in laundry rooms, basements and bathrooms.

Open the floor drain using a flat screwdriver. Find the clean-out plug for the drain. Look for two pipes that lead downward. Look for the clean-out plug functioning as a stopper for the shallower pipe.

Remove the old clean-out plug with a pipe wrench and install a clean-out plug replacement, which can be purchased at a hardware store, plumbing supply store or home improvement warehouse.

Check the drain to see whether it is dry by looking into it with a flashlight. Look for a pool of water filling the elbow of the pipe.

Fill a bucket with water and pour it into the drain to determine whether you have a dry drain. Flush the drain if you have not used it for more than four weeks. Maintain the water in the pipe above the bend of the pipe elbow.

Create a seal by pouring 3 or 4 tbsp. of vegetable-based cooking oil into the drain on top of the water to prevent sewer gas from re-entering the home as the water evaporates.

Flush any toilets that you have not used in the past month to stop toilets from leaking sewer gas if the water in the toilet trap has evaporated. Replenish the water in the trap by flushing the toilet. Repeat this step every 30 days of non-use.