Funny, I have the IDENTICAL problem. 2nd floor laundry, smell every so often. I snaked out the trap. Sort of works.

My theory is that the power discharge from the washer overwhelms the trap/vent and creates a siphon that pulls water from the trap as it drains. Only takes a small gap in the p-trap to get the smell into the house.

I had a co-worker who had a similar problem in his condo. His plumber replaed the P-trap with a bottle trap which he said worked. Bottle traps are not code compliant.

Other than that, I would be intersted in hearing solutions as well.

EllEll,

Just in case you didn't know, there should be a trap that holds water in it that keeps the sewer gas from coming back up that drain pipe.

It could be that the trap is being siphoned dry, or that the vent is blocked and allowing the gas to push past the vent or siphon the water out of the vent.

Try simply adding some water... a quart say... to the washer drain without running the washer. The idea is just to get some water in the trap without adding so much that it might siphon the water out of the trap. See if that fixes the smell. If so, you need someone to really look over the venting system.

During our remodel, it seems that one of those vents that sends sewer gases up and out of the roof, came undone. I would never have known that this happened but the sheetrock that was covering it, had to be opened for something else. I was smelling sewer gasses before that.

I think that there is a colored gas that you can put where you suspect the problem is, so that you can trace it. It might be worth while to get a professional home inspector involved.

Yesterday, I put about 1 quart of water in the washer and did a drain cycle, as advised. Well, that has been over 20 hours and the smell is gone. Our house is on the drier side. I'll put a bucket of water in laundry room to see if that will keep the trap water from evaporating. And I'll to keep adding a little water and extra drain cycle after using the washer.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!

Well, the smell is back after I did two loads of wash this am. We had 2ft of snow last weekend and roof is covered. I am really trying to wait to call the plumber when he can check the roof vent pipe, too. We did have a home inspection done on the house when we bought it 5 months ago. We had the washer repaired a few days before the smell started. The master board was replaced due the washer not draining. Keep thinking the washer repair might have something to do with this smell.

Again thanks for the all the help. I am so lost.

Found this posted on another board.

We are getting a sewer gas smell when we do laundry! This started as just the odd time and then became almost everytime we did laundry. We have a brand New Kenmore front load washer and front load dryer.

While we can't pinpoint the source we can point you to the most likely offenders. This is only a guess but We've had so many complaints like yours I just have to voice it. it would seem that the washer manufactures,( especially Maytag, check to see if that's who made your Kenmore) make their pumps stronger. If you have a 1 1/2" trap and drain it might not be large enough to handle the volume the pump puts out. If that's so the discharge will build up and produce backflow. Backflow will produce a "bubble" of sewer gas that it pushes back up the drain line coming out the washer stand pipe. That's where you get your smell. All indications point to this as the cause. The only remedy that I know of, outside of increasing the drain size, would be to install a compression fitting on the standpipe and a check valve next to the hose outlet on the washer. This would make it a closed system that no gas could escape from.

We, too have an new front load washer(5months old.) I am thinking the drain never worked right and now that it is fixed, the high power drainage is preventing the trap from working.

Is this suggestion about the same of sealing the drain pipe with duct tape?

Still going to need a plumber.

Ok, the smell was coming from the trap, it was dry. I had the pump repaired on our new washer a few weeks ago and now the pump is pumping to hard and draining the trap. The Kenmore washer is known for this issue per other message boards. It looks like we are going to have to increase the length of the drainage pipe to allow for the over powerful pump.

It the mean time, I am adding waster to the drain pipe after each wash to keep the trap full. It is a pain but, until we get the plumber out here, it is keeping the smell out of the house.

Again, thanks for the help everyone!

So when you say add water to the drain, does that mean just pour some in the washer? I don’t know where the actual drain is? washer? I don’t

Pour water into the drain/standpipe/wallbox into which the machine's drain hose is placed, not into the machine's spin basket/tub.