The shop I rent used to be a wash bay of some variety, and the pit smell is terrible. Does anyone have any suggestions for keeping the odor under control?
Make sure the drain pit, if it has one is cleaned out. A lot of these had grease trap pits that can get pretty rank. I am sure you are aware of that, but it is just an idea. Good Luck with the yuk. ~Sololobo~
This stuff works great for smells... http://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies....en=PROD&Product_Code=WCSNBA&Store_Code=NWS001
Combining chemicals and elements can kill ya... If you don't know what's already in there, then don't just start dumping bottles of stuff in there after it. For all we know, the smell you already have might be toxic. I'd see about a "mechanical" method first... shovel, scraper, roto-rooter... etc. Maybe some cat litter or some other absorbent. Maybe add a little water to that and swish it around... lather, rinse, repeat. JOE
Yep, you gotta watch what you dump in there! If someone has put ammonia in it and you add bleach, the chlorine gas that results can kill you. Dead!
You got to make it worse before it gets better, like the others have said your going to have to clean the pit out first. Then rinse with fresh water and bleach.
The Plumber is here, What kind of pit, what was being drained into it? If it was just a wash bay it should be ok to put a rubber expansion plug into it, if only dirty water went down it. If it has any kind of chems in it you may have it run to a basin or triple basin set up. If there is any chance at all that the pit may have had any other item than water waste, wash waste with common soaps you should call in a reputable Plumbing outfit from your area. They may need to evacuate the basins to purge them of the chems, chems would include waste oil, fuel, trans fluids, ps fluid. Bleach should only be used for home drains and I rarely tell the customer to just dump in some bleach, usually a good long water flush will push the debris that is causing a stink to flush through, if you want to freshen it further use a touch of peppermint oil, a small bit of pine sol, lemon joy or straight bleach and 10% water mix,use only one of these, don't make a mix of this, only one, repeat every month or as needed. This may sound OT but could keep a guy from getting a snoot full of noxious chems and a set of scorched lugs so if Ryan could let it sit a bit he would be doing a service, thanks. If you have any plumbing questions ask me in a PM.
I worked at a dealership who frequently had drain pit stench problems, and they delt with it two ways 1: shovel and scrape the pit clean then use soap and water to rinse it out. This is heavy on manual labor but cheap so its worth a shot. 2: have roto rooter come out and do it. I have no idea what it costs but he did the 24 bay dealership drain pit system in one work day so im sure it would be real quick for where you rent assuming its not huge. good luck with the smell, I know they can get terrible.
Ask for a quote, get three if you can. Ask for a quote on a rod and flush, a basin pumping and cleaning if you have one, most likely do, most likely a triple basin. Watch them do it, if you think you can pull it off yourself rent a rig and do it yourself next time, the suck truck is the pricey bit. I'd give you the fair market price for it so you can compare but my area tends to be high compared to yours which I believe is Kansas. If I were to venture I would say between 300. to 700. not small coin. That said, if you are not using that drain, it has water in it and still smells, I would put in an Econo plug, rubber plug with a screw cap on it, per the size of the drain and just plug it temporarily. I know times are tough and this will at least keep you from getting sick smelling toxins for about 6 bucks.
Out here in flyover country they have some chemicals available at some of the livestock supply places that help control the smell from the pits under hog confinement buildings.
I would think the livestock stuff would be pretty good, I do use a netrual PH cleaner made by ECOLAB monthly pretty sure the number is 810, we use it on floors and all trench drains,,,, does so-so on the floors using Tennant scrubbers but the drains do not smell.... also we try to force air in the trench's to dry them I think that is just as important.
first thing i would suggest is dump a gallon of water in the drain and see if it goes down. if it does great for the next week dump a 1/2 gallon in the drain every other day if the smell goes away the seal of the trap has dried out and a bucket of water every few days will keep the smell away. if the smell doesn't go away check to see if there is an oil interceptor pit outside . check to see if there is a fresh air vent and make sure it is open. if the pit is flooded then call a pumping company. depending on what is down there and the gallons you could rack up a big bill so be careful who you call. if the pit is basically clean on the bottom you can lookup a chemical called bioclean it is a natural bacteria which feeds upon organic material but is enviromentally safe
Joe is absolutely right. See if there is a big concrete box inder the grate, pump that sucker out then fill it with fresh water. Or if there is no big grease trap then there is bound to be a drain in the floor. it will be a bucket trap and should be full of water to keep the sewer gas from comming back into the building. Chemicals is a bad idea, some mixes self combust and other just emit highly dealy gases.
coffee grounds! they got rid of propane smell in a tank i had. cheep to try just dump a bunch were it smells.
we have a large pit in one of our bays to that has a nice order. It was pumped and cleaned out a few months ago but cutting down on the smell didn't last long! Make sure there's enough water in the pit, if it gets to low a lot of the smell comes from that. We turn on the garden hose for about 10 minutes every 2 weeks and dump in a larger bottle of Dawn dish soap and that usually hold down the stink for about 3-4 weeks, we also picked up a heavy rubber floor mat to cover the grate opening which helps to.
There is a bathroom in the building, which is what we use. Further inspection just has more questions. Outside in front of the building there is a heavy metal plate that covers a hole, but it seems to just be full of dirt. That may be a clean out site. The pit itself is deep, and mostly full of water. It seems that at some point in the past the drain would have been of the carwash variety, welded tubes or pipes or angle, but the ends have been welded shut with heavy diamond tread and the middle is heavy welded plate with slits plasma'd into it with a four inch pipe coming out of the center with a removeable cap. So, if there is any kind of traps down there, it seems one would not be able to get to them. Another thing that we have discovered, is that the utility sinks on my side and my neighboring renter(just through the wall) both drain into this pit. So all of our hand washing water and soap has just been pouring into this thing. The oder is annoying and the fact that no one seems to know what's down there is even more annoying.
I rented a shop that had a pit like you are describing. We used to just pour bleach in it when it got rank. It works fine.
Number one, sort out your plumbing and get the seperators working. Number two, scrub with soap and water. Number three, go to a carpet cleaning or floor restoration place and get a gallon of Nutra Quat and scrub with that. Profit $$$$$
Just a side note, dont go diggin around in the funk. A good friend of mine was helping dig up an old funky drain (I think it was a sewer line) and got a serious blood infection from a cut on his hand................ he died, but only after they cut his legs off. True story.
There are deodorizers that restaurants and markets use for dumpsters that neutralize the smell of rotten food. I think it comes in five gallon jugs. You could try and find it at a food service supply house locally.
Looks like you need to look into having it dug/pumped out. Probably a job for the Roto rooter type guys rather than attempting to dig it out yourself especially when the sinks drain in to it. That should be the responsibility of the landlord though unless there is a reason to not get him involved in cleaning it up. Once the thing is cleaned out the smell should pretty well be gone an you can run a bit of bleach through it every once in a while to keep it from developing smells.
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