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This is What Your Sewer Gas Detector Really Does

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Sewer gas is what you think it is–gas that escapes from your sewage lines and backs up into your home. You don’t have to have a sewage backup to experience sewer gas issues which can make it all the more confusing.

Many of your neighbors install a sewer gas detector in St. Peters, MO to help figure out when this starts in their home (if it happens at all) and call for necessary repairs. Let’s talk about how you can get a sewer gas detector installed and why you should.

What Does Sewer Gas Do?

First and foremost, it smells terrible and makes your entire home smell awful if it leaks into it. But that’s not the most devastating effect. When you breathe in sewer gas, you’re breathing in methane and that reduces the amount of oxygen in the air you breathe.

You can encounter slurred speech, issues with your vision, balancing problems, nausea, vomiting, and headaches, and it gets worse from there. Without sufficient oxygen and enough exposure to methane, your heart rate can go up, your face can flush, you may experience numbness, and eventually become unconscious.

How Does a Sewer Gas Detector Work?

Similar to a smoke detector, your sewer gas detector reacts when there are high levels of methane and/or hydrogen sulfide in the air. These aren’t gasses normally found in your home. These are both produced from the act of waste breakdown.

Without being crude, you have experienced methane in the past, since it’s released during flatulence. However, this is a small amount and not harmful to your health. It dissipates into the air quickly.

When there’s a consistent amount of methane and hydrogen sulfide coming from your sewer line, that’s when health problems begin to persist.

My Sewer Gas Detector Went Off, Now What?

Now you need to figure out why. Or better yet, call us to do it for you. It means there’s a leak somewhere in your home where it connects to the sewer line. Since all drains go to your sewer line, it can take a little bit of time to figure out exactly what the problem is.

The waste in your home isn’t adequately draining. If your sewer line leaks in the bathroom, it’ll be more noticeable than if the pipes in your kitchen sink are releasing sewer gas back into the air.

It’s also important to note that there’s a lot of misinformation online–carbon monoxide detectors do not already detect sewer gas. So just because you have a carbon monoxide detector doesn’t mean you’re in the clear.

It’s a Health Risk, Take it Seriously

Nobody wants a rotten egg smell wafting through the air in their home. Sewer gas backup is a potential health risk, but it doesn’t have to be anymore. Take the necessary steps to get a detector installed and repair the leak before it gets worse. We’re here to handle the entire process for you from start to finish so you can get back to enjoying the comfort of your home.

Contact Performance Plumbing today to schedule your gas detector installation and start living safer today.

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