Smoke Test on the DWV (for sewer gas/leak detection)

A Sewer Gas Leak smelling up the home is not only disgusting, but it also creates a potentially dangerous situation and needs to taken care of immediately.

On a finished home where all the plumbing fixtures are set and in use, Sewer Gas Leaks can be very hard to find. One way to narrow down where the sewer gas is coming from and potentially pinpoint the leak is to do a Smoke Test on the DWV piping system. DWV is an acronym for Drain, Waste, and Vent.

The Drain, Waste & Vent piping in your home is all connected to make a functional system for carrying the solids and wastewater to the sewer and letting sewer gas escape via the venting through the roof. Occasionally there is a breach in the DWV system that causes gas to enter back into the home. Smoke testing the DWV system is the quickest & most economical way to perform leak detection and to narrow these leaks down.

Smoke Testing is a method of blowing non-toxic smoke into the DWV system creating pressure in the system in an attempt for smoke to exit the system where the leak is. This is an effective way of finding the leak or breach in the DWV system however the drawback with this method is it creates an odor in the home but dissipates in a couple of hours.