Smell 'o' Death

[ZipZap]

I have a bathroom in the basement. About ten days ago we started smelling an obnoxious odor. Over the past week, I made sure all the traps were functioning and filled. I checked the vent stacks. I replaced the wax ring on the toidy. I still would get the smell. So today, I finally went after the only remaining ingress point in the bathroom; the vent fan.

It's the vent fan. I figured that out, finally, by sealing the fan box with plastic and the smell has not returned.

All I can figure is something got in to the vent and exhaust system and decided to shit/die/eat, whatever. I pulled all of the stuff I could pull given the box is new construction.

Now I'm kind of at a standstill. I could tear into the problem further, but I'm not looking forward to drywall repair, etc.

So, who does one call? Is there a specialty (plumbing, HVAC, whatever) that deals with this type of issue?

****in' varmints...

BTW, I'm also about to shoot me a Flicker that's after my soffit.

[Torqaholic]

My kid lost his pet hamster once. Figured out that it went into the vent in the upstairs bedroom and fell all the way to the bottom in the basement. Must have died on impact because that's right where I found it. Judging by the smell you'd think the thing was the size of a rabbit. Absolutely ridiculous!

Within a week of becoming lost it had melted into a pile of black goo. Wouldn't know what it was just by looking at it.

[Torqaholic]

Oh, I forgot to mention how I found it. Removed a vent in the basement ductwork and shined a flashlight in there. Look for something like that, can use it as an inspection hatch. I would imagine it's directly between the stinky vent and your furnace. Just start disassembling ductwork... Or you could rent a hotel room for a couple weeks until it mummifies?

[Torqaholic]

oh, it's a vent fan. haha, I'm tired. Maybe a bird tried to nest in there or something. There's no ductwork to one of those fans? Can be removed with a screwdriver?

[Olustee bus]

geez!!!

[snide]

[Vandelay Industries]

I had that problem in one of my apartments a few years ago. Seems the screen came off of the exhaust outlet for the bathroom fan and a bird got in there. The little ****er made it all the way in to just above the fan box where it died. Took me about an hour to pull out all of the bird parts with needle nose pliers, forceps, what ever I could find that reached up there. It was early July. Hot. Really, really humid.

I soaked everything in sight with odor x-it and told the tenant to leave the fan on for...ever.

The next day when I went up on the ladder to replace the screen (2nd floor), there was another bird eyeballing it already. Almost needed a damn gas mask to get near the outlet with air coming out.

[Rodnok1]

Snake a camera it there and take a look see. I'd remove the outside vent cover and blast the duct with leaf blower/vacuum output to remove. Be careful as the duct wikk come apart.. Not that it's happened to me or anything.

[SnikPlosskin]

Had a ringtail cat die in between joists. Holy shit, it was uninhabitable in one of our bathrooms. Unbelievable. I made a video of going after it, removing and then pumping baking soda in using a shop vac as a blower. I’ll see if I can find the video. Disturbing.

[Jeff '79]

Trailer park problems.
ICNLT.

An heating/, A/C guy can scope it, find it, and know exactly how to eliminate it with a minimum of guess work and damage..
It's only $$$$

[Giraffe (He/Him)]

Originally Posted by SnikPlosskin

Had a ringtail cat die in between joists. Holy shit, it was uninhabitable in one of our bathrooms. Unbelievable. I made a video of going after it, removing and then pumping baking soda in using a shop vac as a blower. I’ll see if I can find the video. Disturbing.

I remember this oddly enough you posted it.

[Anjdog2003]

John Wayne Gacy

[6spdC6]

Coming from a undertakers family I had way too many occasions to smell death. Your talking about little animals here, try being around a 200# person that has had a few days to ripen.

Most morgues have a exhaust system so powerful that they can just about suck up small cars!

[Mike Mercury]

Smell 'o' Death

describes my first wife... about a year into marriage.

[Aerovette]

It had to be done...

Lynyrd Skynyrd - That Smell - YouTube

[ZipZap]

Originally Posted by Torqaholic

oh, it's a vent fan. haha, I'm tired. Maybe a bird tried to nest in there or something. There's no ductwork to one of those fans? Can be removed with a screwdriver?

I've taken everything out, including the fan unit. Since the housing was put in as part of new construction, there are tabs under the drywall. I may get a pic to display my dilemma...

[ZipZap]

Got my scope into the flex vent hose. Could only get up to about two feet in because I did not want to tear it.

No death observed.

Will be calling a guy tomorrow...

[SnikPlosskin]

Originally Posted by ThomasTheGiraffe

I remember this oddly enough you posted it.

It was a masterpiece.

[Torqaholic]

Originally Posted by ZipZap

Got my scope into the flex vent hose. Could only get up to about two feet in because I did not want to tear it.

No death observed.

Will be calling a guy tomorrow...

Must be very small to get inside a wall like that. Maybe a mouse. Have had a few of those die in my basement over the years. If that's the case the bad news is it does stink a lot, the good news is it only lasts a few days. Lucky for me my basement is well ventilated though. Place was built back in the 1800's. Foundation above ground is made of cobblestones and daylight can be seen coming through in a few places. No secret how the mice got in

[Jeff '79]

I had two amigos over today to fix a cat piss issue. It had come out into the open that our cat pissed on the bathroom floor and it seeped into the heat - a/c floor duct. You'd think that my wife would have said something prior to the reeking. It took me about 2 minutes to track it down. $425 later, it is fixed.
In the pics below, the one end reeks but the other end doesn't. A new 6' piece of insulated 6" flex duct and the metal floor duct work was replaced.
No more smell.