Weird basement drain issue. Opinions sought. Also looking for handyman and plumber... | GTAMotorcycle.com

Weird basement drain issue. Opinions sought. Also looking for handyman and plumber...

Zoodles95

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Hi All,

First off what in the world is going on with my basement drain! Wowsa!
[video=youtube_share;fnh_yPAx53o]https://youtu.be/fnh_yPAx53o[/video]

There is steam coming out of the drain and some of the concrete near the drain is warm to the touch. Very strange.

We are thinking of having our main checked out with a camera and possibly snaked. Any suggestions for a company or individual around Guelph who could do it?

We are also looking for a handyman for a whack of work around our house. We want our downstairs bathroom pretty much updated. New flooring, toilet, tilework around bath/toilet one piece unit or possibly even getting rid of the builders grade one piece unit and we could do something pretty cool with it. Just the same this is sort of the guest room bath so how much do we want to go nuts with it?

We also want to replace all of our weatherstripping, have some landscaping done, possibly refinish some of the hardwood floors, replace rear door, have the front step redone with outdoor tile or patterned concrete and other stuff.

We would love to have our kitchen updated with refinished kitchen cabinets but that may not be what a typical handyman would do.

Any thoughts on our weird basement drain issue?

Anyone know a handyman or contractor who would want to tackle some of our projects?
 
Sounds like you need a reno guy/company...more than a handyman would tackle usually.
10 - 4.... Just the same it would be cool to find someone to do the weatherstripping and a few of the other things.

We had a reno guy but he found the job to not be big enough for him. Wowsa...
 
I was about to ask about the chances of your washing machine or dishwasher draining down that way but it appears that this is water in the trap that is hot; hot water passing by that junction shouldn't make the water in the trap hot.

Def get a plumber in on this one.
 
The hot/ steamy drain could be caused by a leak in your hot water tank. Check the area around and under the tank to see if it's leaking anywhere.

Sent from my SM-A500W using Tapatalk
 
Head over to home depot and rent a drain snake,easy to use and save big,if the snake doesn't clear your issue it maybe a dig situation.l
 
Funny I just had a similar issue tgis weekend. Almost spent my entire weekend trying to fix it. Luckily I just had a blocked kitchen pipe. I didn't have the heat problem. I don't know know why there would be heat down there unless something is leaking water down there.

Every individual problem you can probably call a professional in that aspect. Like you can call a plumber for the pipes, a cabinet guy for kitchen, electrician for wires, etc. That's what a contractor will do. In some cases it might be cheaper to go this route.
 
re: drain....do you have a central water softener system?

Interesting... I thought about this post last night before I went to bed. Moved the bypass valve on the softener and the problem went away! Immediately the gurgling stopped, the water meter stopped going crazy, and the water was receding. Move the bypass valve back and... Problem came back.

So, something awry with the softener? We put it in shortly after we build the house so it is pushing 18 years old. It has been repaired a couple of times and despite the fact that Ecowater was a well regarded make when we bought it the softener owes us nothing.

Perhaps a new softener with a fresh install might help with the problem?

If we do go with a new softener is there a model or make which is better than others? Guelph has very, very HARD water.

In the meantime I have unplugged the old softener and left the bypass open until I have time to address it.
 
It's good you found the main source of the problem, but what was the source of the heat?
 
Interesting... I thought about this post last night before I went to bed. Moved the bypass valve on the softener and the problem went away! Immediately the gurgling stopped, the water meter stopped going crazy, and the water was receding. Move the bypass valve back and... Problem came back.

So, something awry with the softener? We put it in shortly after we build the house so it is pushing 18 years old. It has been repaired a couple of times and despite the fact that Ecowater was a well regarded make when we bought it the softener owes us nothing.

Perhaps a new softener with a fresh install might help with the problem?

If we do go with a new softener is there a model or make which is better than others? Guelph has very, very HARD water.

In the meantime I have unplugged the old softener and left the bypass open until I have time to address it.

wow....stab in the dark was accurate

I was thinking the salt discharge from the softener was maybe reacting with something in the drain
producing _______ sulphide, and a steam like discharge

glad to be of some help
 
wow....stab in the dark was accurate

I was thinking the salt discharge from the softener was maybe reacting with something in the drain
producing _______ sulphide, and a steam like discharge

glad to be of some help
Java man to the rescue. :cheers:
 
Was the softener regenerating when you put it into bypass?

If the timer had stopped mid-regen and never came back on or the valve on the top of the bead bed is screwed you could have had an internal leak that would present as always-flowing water.

I don't think that explains the heat though, unless your softener is somehow hooked up to the hot water outlet of your water heater...
 
If someone was having a hot shower at the time, then another theory is that the main drain line is blocked/restricted and due to the excess flow from the softener, the hot water coming from the shower was backing up to the floor drain p-trap...
 
Floor drains usually have a small water line running to them from somewhere that squirts water into it every now and then - without such the water would eventually evaporate and there would no nothing blocking sewer gasses from coming back up into your basement.

On our house this little line comes up through the concrete by our laundry sink and is hooked to the tap there - whenever we turn on the taps the pressure feeds water into the floor drain.

So, is it possible that this is actually a two part thing - the water softener is somehow involved (although I still don't totally get that, where is the drain plumbed into?) AND the little water feed line is where the hot water is coming from?
 
I'm still guessing the steam is a chemical reaction from the water softener in constant regen

OP, are you going through a ton of salt?
 

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