ANSWERS: 2
  • A month - yes/no/maybe. Depends on the plumbing. Some elbows are fairly deep, holing a lot of water, while others are shallow. Depends mostly on where the shower is on the sewage line. The tendency is to have a deeper J after a toilet since toilets produce more "suction" as they are flushed being able to pull water a tad further up and over the sewage end. If you are smelling sewage or "odd smells" then run water in th she shower for about 5 minutes. That will flush the sediments out of the trap and insure that there is enough water down there to prevent out gassing. The Gas can be dangerous - it contains a complex mix of chemicals - more complex when you consider household cleaners are added to the mix of "raw sewage" and depending on how dense your neighborhood is and how your lines are laid you could be getting gases from all the way down the road or a bit more (ew is the the right word): http://www.dhfs.state.wi.us/eh/Air/fs/SewerGas.htm goes into depth. Yes it is nasty and potentially very dangerous. We are speaking of gasses, not so much viral or bacterial agents (there are some, but not suspended in vapor in most instances of sewage gas leaks) so cleaning the bathroom is not needed. The tub or shower pan - yes. The rest of the room is should not be needed. You may if you want to. Hydrogen sulphates, methane, Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other chemical gases are in sewage gas. Further if say your neighbor to the left clean with ammonia and your neighbor the right cleans with bleach and both dump those down the drain, then it is possible that you can get some interesting combinations: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A795611 Most notable here is the fact that during WWII Germany used ammonia and bleach gases as chemical warfare. Yeah it can be that serious. If using the shower weekly is out of the question then getting a rubber plug for the drain is advised. Mind when plumbers take out toilets and have the toilet sewage open for a while then only stuff a rag in the hole - the gas is not under pressure, it is more or less "free moving" and tends to rise in most cases. So you do not have to seal the drain for pressure, just cover it too prevent gas from rising out of the drain.
  • maybe you should have a plummer come in and look at it

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