Without the blower on, the furnace room would stink really badly.
Amber and I first thought that it was a gas leak. I shut off the gas to the furnace unit to see if it would help. However, the smell was still there. So I then shut off the gas to the entire house. To my dismay the smell still did not go away.
I wondered if we were having septic tank issues again. However, the drain closest to the septic tank is on the other side of the house. There were no weird smells there.
We have had a number of people stay at our house over the past few weeks, and we have had to circulate the air and use fans to try to dispel the smell throughout the house. It has been quite embarrassing.
This weekend, I was asking my good old plumber brother-in-law if he had any ideas for me. Dave asked me if there was a drain in the furnace room. I explained to him that there was.
He then told me that he thought that he knew what the problem was. He said that every drain in the floor has a P-trap. This nifty device will hold water trapped inside of the pipe. This blocks the smells from the sewer from coming into the house. He explained that occasionally that water will dry up and allow room for smells to come through the drain from the sewer.
As soon as we got home this weekend, I put a bucket full of water down the drain. That solved our problem! I am so relieved for Dave's help. With Alayna's baptism coming up this weekend and with a funeral on the Reed family side, we will have a very big house full of people. I am so grateful that that smell has now been taking care of.
Hats off to Dave! I owe you one!
