Smell from behind washing machine and under boiler in new kitchen

[Chris101]

We had some extension work done a few months back and ever since the work was completed, occasionally we have been getting some musty type of smells from behind the washing machine and under the boiler (which are next to each other).*I have attached pictures of while works was being completed and after the work had been completed in tge above link.*Initially I thought it was to do with no U Bend present in the waste pipe behind the washing machine, so I recently bought a white connecter for the 2 (waste flexi pipe of WM to verticle black waste pipe, as seen in the picture) however this has made no difference and we also can smell it very strong from the gaps in the floor where the pipes connect to the boiler.*

Any ideas what it could be?

*A suggestion by a friend was to foam and silicon up the gaps and see if the smells still persists but I am guessing that isn't really resolving the issue but just stopping the smells from existing from that location which could mean it could find another gap to exit from....

 

[Chris101]

Pics located here - imageshack.us/g/1/10330923/

 

[stevetheplumber]

pics dont work for me i would be looking for an un trapped washing machine waste or unsealed condense conection

 

[Chris101]

pics dont work for me i would be looking for an un trapped washing machine waste or unsealed condense conection

If you add h t t p : / / to the start of the link, it should display the images.

There is no trap at the waster pipe and the condense connection goes directly into the same waste pipe as the washing machine.

 

[stevetheplumber]

you need a trap for the washing machine waste

 

[adampaul]

Water in the washing machine is almost certainly coming from the sink waste due to poor layout of the waste pipe connections. The washing machine waste must be connected to a trap not directly into the waste pipe. It's also good to loop the drain hose so that at its highest point it is as close as possible to the level of the sink overflow.

 

[Chris101]

Apologies for the delay in the response all.

Since my last post I had a plumber down who installed a trap behind the washing machine that made no difference.

I was left with little options to contact the builders again who came and had a look.
They advised me to find out if any of the smells were worse off when using any of the appliances (The sink, dish washers, washing machine and condenser off the boiler all connect to the same waste pipe).

We tried to limit the user of each appliance however we found no real pattern.

They have advised now that they will be coming again some point this week to break some of the tile to look under the floor boards and if they find nothing, they will simply seal up the hole in hope it sorts out the smell issue.

As this is a brand new extension should simply sealing it up be an option as that would no eliminate the smell under the flooring although it might stop it from coming into the kitchen.

At the moment we also are getting mice from that same gap and so far killed 2 using a trap (never had any mice probs in the last 3 years of having the property and only occurred from the new extension)...

 

[Chris101]

Just an Update -

I think I have identified which item out of the 3-4 appliances is causing the smell or at least for it to worsen.

During a 3 days spell, I stopped using the dish washer, washing machine and sink (which all use the same drain pipe) and simply due to the cold used the boiler for central heating.

The central heating vent pipes uses the same waste pipe as the sink, dish washer and washing machine.

During this 3 day period I decided to put the thermostat temp up more than required so it was on more consistently.

The result was the whole kitchen smelling and as the at the first instance we left the kitchen door open, the whole ground floor had the smell.
For some reason the smell also has been coming out of the downstairs bathroom which is next to the utilities section...

The moment we put the temperature down on the thermostat, the smell was confined to the utilities area only.

The builders/plumbers are hopefully coming next week but any advise in the mean time would be great?

 

[lame plumber]

get in someone who knows what theY are about, I doubt your builder does as he has left you with this problem!

 

[Chris101]

Update - Plumber visited two days back and agreed traps were missing and will add 3-4 traps under the boiler this Saturday as he thinks the current setup is sucking the water down the traps which is allowing the smells to enter.

In the bathroom he put water down the sink, shower and toilet and within a few minutes the smells had more or less gone.
So with regards to the bathroom he said he will replace the trap under the sink with a better one and if the issue is the shower, he will look to replace its trap as well.

On Tuesday evening after he had left a new smell was lingering around - smelt far more eggy rather than the other smell.
It went away when we opened the kitchen sink tap....

The only thing different they did yesterday was take out the washing machine and push it back in (don't know if that impacted anything? )