My family just moved into a new house in Maryland. In the basement there is a finished part and an unfinished part we use for storage. Over the last few days, we noticed this smell/odor coming from the basement, most notably from the unfinished side. We discovered a large PVC pipe which dead-ends has been leaking this dark brown water, and identified this water as the source of the smell.Does anyone know what this dead-end pipe is for?Thanks a bunch!
It' must likely your sewage line there around 3to4 in pipe
It may be a clean out plug, or for future expansion. Either way it should be repaired.
its most likely a drain pipe that used to flow from a fixture on your first floor but the fixture was removed. The easiest way to fix this is to see if you can lift it up slightly so it runs the other direction and then strap it in place. However this could break a connection further down if the pipe is old. The other option is to either cut off the end and put a new end cap on it (clean it and apply PVC glue) or determine where it connects to the main drain and cut and cap it there and remove the 'dead' pipe, that way it isn't just hanging out waiting to get hit with someones head and broken. btw, I'm assuming this pipe is whiteish and at least 1.5 inches in diameter. if it's not then it will probably be something else.
Well, okorder /... and that will stop the leak until you can make more permanent repairs. That silicone tape is pretty effective, I've used it on pressure lines, and in fact have a repair on a pressure line that is now 2 years old. Don't frown at that, we've been planning to make changes in that building for two years and I keep thinking the plumbing's going to get rearranged, or else I would have made a permanent repair already...but even so, it hasn't leaked yet. IMPORTANT: tell everyone not to flush any toilets, run any sinks, run any laundry or showers or any other water while you've got that pipe open. Because that would be, you know, gross. Good luck with it.
