Sewer Gas Smoke Test Saves the Day for Restaurant

We were called out to a family pizza restaurant in Orange County Ca by the owner of the restaurant.  They had been suffering from sewer gas issues for years and they were losing business and customers because of it. They had been working with the landlord who had been very helpful and supportive in the effort to solve the problem.  The landlord had multiple plumbers over the years each take a crack at it. Some performing smoke tests, some just recommending certain repairs.  Each one declaring the problem was fixed only to later find out that the problem persisted.  The landlord even hired a "night watchman" to sit in the property overnight for a period of months to verify if indeed the smell was still present.  He did indeed verify just that.

They even had someone come out from some official air quality management agency to take air samples.  Which is funny because typically sewer gas issues are something that comes and goes.  It's not going to be there all the time. There are many variables that will affect whether the smell is present at any one point in time.  So the odds are against you of doing any sort of a one time test and verifying the presence of sewer gas.

I'll give you a for instance. We had an architect who's office complained of sewer gas only at certain times of the year.  Without a doubt, it would go away for months at a time and then all of a sudden it was back with a vengence.  Finally the city was threatening to red tag the building so we were called in and we performed a smoke test.  We located  a cast iron sewer stack behind a toilet hidden in a wall that was split wide open for about 4 feet or more.  Well it was obvious that the hole in the pipe had been like that for years but still the smell would go away for months at a time.  The access point for the sewer gas was always there yet the gas was not always present.  That is quite common and has a lot to do with prevailing wind, doors and windows left open and so on.

Back to Orange County, multiple smoke tests had already been performed and some small leaks found and fixed.  Now the consensus was that it was the adjacent nail salon that was responsible for the leak possibly because there was a shared attic and no solid demising wall.  So we were in essence testing the nail salon looking for a source of sewer gas.  We blew smoke in from the nail salon for an extended period of time without any sign of smoke showing in that business.  Then after approximately a 15 to 20 minute period of time, the pizza restaurant quickly filled with smoke.  Still no smoke showed in the Nail Salon.

As it turned out, there was a shared enclosed void that had an opening above the water heater in the pizza restaurant.  The leak was far away to be sure at the other end of the void and it took time for the void to fill with smoke before it would exit the opening.

There was likely a cut off vent stack hiding at the far end of the void. It was up to the property owner to chase it down at this point.
After years and years of sewer gas issues with I don't know how many contractors and agencies involved, we solved the issue in just a couple of hours.

Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, we're the ones that know what we are doing.
www.Superjetdrains.com

Building Hydro Jetted Back From the Dead with Warthog nozzles

We were called out to a growing emergency at a school in a district that we regularly provide service to.
There was a contractor there working on site that was in the process of "mud jacking" the foundation.  It's a process where they forcefully pump a fluid concrete like material under the foundation to raise a portion of the building that is sagging or settling.

In the middle of this process, some of the toilets in the administration side of the building stopped working.  Well things quickly snowballed after that point. We hydro jetted one inside toilet line to a stop point and then started locating with a camera to map things out.  Initially maintenance and I were not sure that this was all related yet but we were suspicious.  After a little more legwork and plotting the runs which included some overhead runs in the sub basement area, we determined that somehow the concrete mud had found it's way into the sewer line and the pressure behind the pumping of the material was so great that the concrete had made it's way into about 200 feet of 2", 3" and 4" pipe going both upstream to the 2nd floor and downstream about 100 feet to the mainline tie in.

It quickly turned into a military type of operation with all available maintenance personnel directed over to our site to do whatever could be done to expedite a fix.

We all had a serious conversation with the contractor who was doing the mud jacking about the feasibility of hydro jetting this material out  of the pipe.  It had already hardened solid and was becoming harder as more time passed.
We all knew that if it couldn't be hydro jetted out of the lines, the only alternative would be to dig up the pipes and break open the walls.  Your talking about 200 feet of pipe running all over this building.

We ran a quick test on a section of pipe and determined that with a rotary nozzle it would be slow going but we could chew up and move the material.  The maintenance crew excavated a spot outside that I had marked with camera to crack open the mainline so we could attack it from two different directions and pull the material back to a pit to drop it out of the line.

We immediately started on what turned out to be three long days running into night of messy and hard work but we pulled it off.  We pulled off an absolute miracle.  We cleared all of the lines and mind you the lines were packed solid, absolutely solid and hardened with that concrete.

We brought that building back from the dead and saved that contractor's insurance agency well over a hundred grand.  You know that contractor never did send me a thank you note.

The only way I was able to clear those lines was by using the best rotating nozzles that money could buy.  We used Stoneage Warthog nozzles.

So when a jetting contractor tells you " We use warthog rotary nozzles", you will have an appreciation of the capability that brings to the job.

"Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what were doing."

Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning LLC
www.superjetdrains.com

This photograph shows a horizontal run in the elevator access way with a maintenance technician's hand on it. Notice the riser going up that is absolutely solid with material.  At this stage we have already hydro jetted the horizontal clear of debris.

Major Restaurant Sewer Gas Issue

Ok, just finished this sewer gas smoke test, we got a phone call from a large popular chain restaurant in the San Diego area that has been suffering from plumbing sewer gas smell problems for years, literally years. They were referred to us by a property management company that we did an amazing sewer gas leak detection and smoke inspection for a year or so earlier. We had 2 attorneys and 3 or 4 principals following us around at every turn on that one. We nailed it and documented 4 points of infiltration. Everyone went home happy and all the lawsuits went away.

Ok, so we walk in the front door at this restaurant and whoa, no mistaking this one. Most of the time its, " well we smell it sometimes here or over there in the afternoon", not on this one. It was so strong that it was amazing. I can't believe anyone would sit and eat and we were told that it was like this all the time.

As usual, we got the call after numerous plumbers before us had been there and come away empty handed without finding the cause for the sewer smell. We found the little charcoal vent caps on the roof and some plumber had even re-routed vent lines but dumped them into enclosed building spaces. It was a mess.

So, we progress with our test and almost immediately, we determine that XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX when you put your nose up to the hole, it was amazing, it was almost an instant headache from the sewer gas. It was a problem staying there at the top of a ladder. So we continued to XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX. It was incredibly difficult to see. The crawlspace was too tight for human access. We used a sewer camera to get a visual on the area. It told us what we wanted to know. The gas was coming from an attached column, via a crawlspace, that was outside of the restaurant.

Poor manager, here we are telling him, ok you have to bust into that column. It's in there somewhere. To his credit he didn't say it but he just looked at us like "I'm not comfortable with this." He had faith, after permission was obtained from the property management company, we cut two inspection holes into the wood framed stucco column. Don't forget this was outside his restaurant bordering on the walkway that went around the exterior. When we cut into the column, strong sewer gas was clearly evident. The first hole didn't provide a clear view so the second hole was cut on the opposit side and after a bit of searching inside the column, a hole in the concrete slab was located. It may have been a c/o that was improperly placed and broken off or an intended vent pipe snapped off and never fixed. In any event, we nailed it. We properly capped it and informed the property management company so they could follow up. Also I do believe that because the problem originated from the area outside of the restaurant under property management control, they are on the hook for the testing and repairs. This was a difficult one. I was really excited to solve this man's problem.
I called him the next morning to check up on things after the leak was capped. He told me he almost cried. I think he meant it. For the first time ever the smell was gone.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, we're the ones that know what were doing.Superjet Hydro Jetting Sewer and Drain

Never Never Never sign a lease or buy a building without a sewer inspection.

I can't tell you how many customers I have that are just sick. They hold leases on their restaurants or buildings and they come to find out that they have major sewer or drain line problems that have clearly been there prior to their move in. Unfortunately most commercial leases that I am aware of make the tenant responsible for all the drains and sewer lines within the building up to the mainline tie in outside of the building. I have a sweet lady, we'll call her Edith. She has been in this restaurant space for 6 or 7 years and she has constantly had to fight various drain problems. We have smoke tested her place several times on different occassions because of very strong sewer gas leaks within the building. We found degraded vent pipes in the walls and in the drop ceiling. These sections of degraded pipe allowed sewer gas to enter the building and it was affecting her business in a big way. We find and fix her problems when they pop up but there is a cost. The cost of the test, sometimes the walls have to be opened then repaired and then there is the business lost. That's just the vent pipes.
She also has regular sewer line backup issues because of degraded cast iron lines. Some lines are old and very rough. Sometimes this can be helped a bit with hydro jetting. Hydro Jetting with a large powerful machine can smooth out this rough pipe to some extent but if the pipe is getting thin with age or worse yet has holes in it, there isn't alot you can do short of major repair. The repair costs for what Edith is facing are easily in the ballpark of $6,000 plus. All this falls on her because of the way the lease is written. Take a look at the following link that shows a video of a seriously cracked sewer pipe that runs just under the corner of an apartment building.
http://www.superjetdrains.com/videos.php
We were able to line it with a cured in place pipe liner. If we had to excavate things would have been very expensive.
I would strongly recommend to anyone who is considering buying any sort of a building or leasing a property that they perform a camera inspection of the sewer and accessible drain lines. I would suggest a sewer and drain expert or specialist as opposed to just a run of the mill plumber. The specialist is going to have a much better understanding of what there looking at because it's all they do. If your in Southern California, give us a call. SuperJet Sewer and Drain Cleaing. SuperJetDrains.com It is what we do.
A visual inspection will quickly locate problems like a severe belly or low spot in a line that acts as a collection spot for debris. These are very often the cause of repeated backups. These cant be fixed short of digging it up and repairing it. ( We just did a diagnosis inspection of a beautiful house worth over a million dollars with a wide open floor plan and a long span across the house covered in beautiful stonework. The sewer line runs across the house under this same stonework and is plauged with multiple low spots or bellies in the line that regularly cause backups. The only way to fix this is to dig it up and regrade the pipe run. His only other option is to hire us on a regular basis to do a preventative maintenance with Hydro Jetting the sewer line.)
The other thing that comes to mind is that now many cities are making the homeowner responsible for the entire sewer lateral that runs from their house all the way to the cites mainline tie in point in the street. This is serious stuff. If you have a problem in that run after it hits the street, the cost to repair can be huge. A common number for a repair in the street with all it's additional issues, permits, certifications and costs can go $30,000+ very quickly. Think about that for a minute. How many houses or properties have you bought and did you ever do a sewer inspection?
One last thought, I do this for a living. About 50% of the time when we run a camera to inspect a line for whatever reason, we find a problem.