You don't have to run faster than the bear...
By Genipher
@Genipher (5405)
United States
June 7, 2016 4:34pm CST
...You just have to run faster than your friend!
Last night our house was blasted with a sewer smell. After hubby did some inspecting, we deduced that the smell was coming from somewhere outside. We just couldn't figure out exactly where.
This morning I called our water/sewer company and they sent a team over to check the manhole in our backyard.
The two men open our gate, start walking to the backyard, and then ran back to the front yard lickety-split when our dog started baying and running at them.
I missed the moment, but it turns out that one of the men actually pushed the other guy so he could escape.
I banished Jay to the great indoors, ensuring the city workers' safety, and then proceeded to the backyard. I was embarrassed because I had forgotten to mention we had a dog--and I know city workers hate being surprised like that--but they were laughing and shoving each other playfully.
"I thought you were my friend!" one of the guys said, "Now I know where I stand with you if anything dangerous ever attacks!"
Turns out, the manhole was fine. We couldn't smell the smelly smell of anything that smelled smelly anywhere around the house. So they left, perplexed.
The Smelly Nights Mystery is yet to be solved.
This has happened twice, always around 11:00 at night, when I can't call anyone for help. We feel like we're trapped in a giant toilet for an hour or two, and then the smell disappears.
Any ideas on what's causing this?
Because the city workers didn't have a clue.
sigh.
Why do we always get the difficult problems??
6 people like this
10 responses
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
7 Jun 16
I had to chuckle at your description of the city workers race to escape your dog.
You say the smell happens each night around eleven. I wonder if the folks on the same sewer main as you all go to bed about the same time, meaning they all hit the john at about the same time and all flush at about the same time, thus overloading the system for a brief period.
3 people like this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
7 Jun 16
I'm not sure. We've lived here for 4.5 years and this is the first time we've come across this issue.
Today I'm going around, asking the neighbors if they smelled anything last night. We have several empty houses (homes for sale or empty rentals) so it doesn't seem like the system would be too overloaded.
It is so frustrating trying to figure this out!
2 people like this
@shaggin (74987)
• United States
8 Jun 16
I get smells like this that come from our drains randomly. It usually seems to be when my washing machine is running. I can smell a little coming from the pipe where the water drains into and the pipes don't work correctly in our kitchen. Instead of the water going straight down to the sewer pipes the water from the washer comes up in our sink before going down. Its like its too much to go down at once so it backs up into our sink until it can go the rest of the way. I hate it. My father said that sometimes the vent to the roof or something will get blocked and then it doesn't open to let the smell out up there so it will back up into the house. Maybe it is something like that with yours?
2 people like this
@Genipher (5405)
• United States
9 Jun 16
@shaggin
If it happens again, we're planning on sniffing out the direction it's coming from. Like a bloodhound.
I would love for it to be the treatment plant. Then the "solution" is simple. I really, really don't want it to be a problem on our street..or our house.
1 person likes this
@shaggin (74987)
• United States
12 Jun 16
@Genipher A problem like that on your property would probably be a very expensive repair so I hope it is not on your property!
Whats ironic is the day after I commented on this post I literally did almost run into a bear. I'm not sure if you saw my post about that or not.
@LovingMyBabies (85923)
• Valdosta, Georgia
8 Jun 16
I don't know what the smell could be...I hope eventually you can figure it out.
2 people like this
@ilocosboy (45155)
• Philippines
8 Jun 16
that was fun for the workers and that was sad to not locate that smell... it could be in the other side
2 people like this
