>Someone else sent me a note about garage drains, noting that they aren't
the
>winter washing panacea either. Apparently they can get stinky unless they
are
>rinsed thoroughly. I think it's the traps (U-shaped pipes) that keep
stink
>from riser from sinks and such, so I guess one of those could be built
into a
>floor drain...although I won't be tearing up my 1 year old slab anytime
soon.
Any drain attached to the sanitary sewer system has a trap. Your floor
drain in your basement has a trap. Your sink has a trap. Your toilet IS a
trap.
The only thing that does not have a trap is the vent pipe or pipes (my
house has two) which go out through your roof. These pipes vent gasses
from the sewer system. These are useful to Animal Control when they are on
rat-hole calls. They throw a smoke bomb down the rat hole and chase it
with a leaf-blower. Smoke curls out of the vent on top of the house. Time
to notify the owner that he has a break in his sewer service. Of course,
if the owner has not been filling his floor drain, he gets a smoky
basement.
I often get calls from homeowners complaining about the sewer smell in the
basement. I ask if they have been putting water in the floor drain
occasionally. The answer is usually "no".
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