septic tank and NO vent?

Well I guess it was only a matter of time before I was back on to the subject of my septic tank!!

We finally found it earlier this year and found out it had never been pumped since it was installed and it was overflowing horribly!

Anyway, pumped and re-started and all seems to be working well, the tomatoes seem to be loving the leach field that's for sure!

So, onto our next problem, the last couple of days we've noticed an odd smell in the house but mainly in the apartment beneath us, the septic tank being below that and the house.

I've checked the inspection ports on the waste pipes and all pipes are clear and smell as you would expect them to but don't smell like the odd smell in the kitchen and bathroom downstairs.

I've now realised there is no vent at all anywhere on the system, the soil stack comes straight out if the house into a 90 elbow and heads down to the apartment and eventually the tank, the tank has no vents either.

I'm assuming this is yet another bodged job by the previous people and the source of our smell?

Thanks again for all your help.

Generally, the vents come out of the plumbing, not the septic. Your plumbing (sinks/toilets) should have vents to the roof of the structure.

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the reply.

In desperation last week I did just that, extended the soil stack above the roof ending in a vent, seems to have remedied the problem entirely!

Glad to hear it worked.