what is this septic pipe for and can I "fix" it? (see pictures)

utilitylocator

In my crawl space is this white pipe sticking up from the ground. I think it is a septic clean out maybe. Well there are gasses of some sort excaping from the duct taped top and from the rubber gasket at the base. can I fix this somehow?? It smells in the house sometimes, usualy when it very cold. Also, can the vent come out through the foundation and just end outside about 4 feet up from the ground? The small white waste water pipe in the picture is the bath drain. to the left of it is a small black pipe. that is the vent. It goes out through the above ground foudation wall and than angles down slighty before terminating. Any Ideas on this mess???? There is NEVER any backup into the house and every thing drains just fine...no gurggling and no toilet clogging issues. Just a small septic oder from that big white pipe and a question about the vent pipe. Any help would be most awsome. Thanks.

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utilitylocator

Picture one shows the big white pipe that is some sort of clean out. Picture 2 shows the black pipe to the left of small white pipe that is the vent pipe. I have no knowledge of how a septic works. I am wanting to clean it up though and eliminate the septic smell.

DangerMouse

it may be an old drain that was closed off when something was redone above? (hence the occasional stink when outside pressure changes)
what is it connected to at the floor? is that a steel flange? you might keep it as a cleanout at floor level, but if it was made as a cleanout, i think it would have a cap.....

DM

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AllanJ

I think what you want to do is remove that white section of pipe and the gasket and get one of those compression fitting cleanout caps to go in the metal pipe end just below the surface. So long as you have more or less closed off and insulated the crawl space, you need to make that portion of the drain system airtight which it is not now.

Vents should go through the interior of the house up to and out through the roof. They will still work if they go through the foundation to the outside and then up but if they end below roof level then odors can come into the house through open windows.

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utilitylocator

Thanks for the imput. I will dig it out gingerly and post a few pictures before I seal it up. Thanks again...btw, nice signiture..

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