And my new shower is the same drain as the one that got plugged when I tried to bottom-water some seedlings.

No, that takes it farther off-topic.

I don't understand the odors either. Most of the cleaners and glues smell like acetone to me.
Silicone he may have used, I think smells like acetic acid, and can take days to fully cure. That could be responsible for you lingering odor.

>> acetic acid,

It was a little like that. My last impression was "like a gas station", so perhaps benzene instead of diesel fuel.

Acetic acid sounds so likely that I'm inclined to say I must have mis--smelled it.

Not an uncommon mix up. Benzene, gasoline, fuel.
I worked haz mats for years and having a good nose was an asset. Never in my case, but in some, a lifesaver.

I used to work in a chemical plant.

One night I cam back to the office in OUR building and mentioned the wonderful smell of fresh-mown grass outside.

The chief instantly went relatively pale and ran to the phone to tell the other building about their leak

(Was it phosgene? I forget. They used one-ton cylinders of phosgene and one guy, before my time, managed to UNSCREW the whole valve assembly when he thought he was tightening it. Luckily he was wearing full protective gear and the wind was away from town that night.)

When dilute, it smelled great. It didn't rip your lungs out until it got thicker. I was just lucky with the wind.

They also used cyanide in that building. "If you see anyone go down on one knee, RUN AWAY!"

Acetic acid and diesel fuel don't smell ANYTHING alike to me... (Maybe working in the chemical plant affected your nose, Rick? -- and maybe Ric, too??)

>> (Maybe working in the chemical plant affected your nose, Rick?

Very possibly. With "normal" smells, my sniffer is very weak. What it smelled most like was a gasoline station - maybe a 1960s gas station. Except for knowing that diesel fuel would not be in any pipe-gluing concoctions, my guesses would be, in order: diesel, benzene, acetic acid.

I can't imagine why any plumber would use silicone to glue PVC pipes. In fact, in all my years I have never seen that done. Even my lean-to greenhouse, whose bones are all PVC pipe, has every connection glued by primer/PVC glue or where there are 3-way and 4-way metal connectors, screws hold it in place.

I have no idea either - what he used or why it still can be smelled a little, weeks later.

I think I know what you and I would do in this situation, Rick.

I wonder if it was some sort of solvent that was used for cleaning something up? But it still doesn't seem like the odor would last so long, unless there's a saturated rag that got left behind...

Weedwhacker said:I wonder if it was some sort of solvent that was used for cleaning something up? But it still doesn't seem like the odor would last so long, unless there's a saturated rag that got left behind...

Yes, and somehow it got left INSIDE the water pipes. (???) I think he would have to rip the whole shower out to get at the pipes again, unless he can cut through the insulation under the house. I think "live with it". is the only solution.

Or maybe waste a lot of water letting it flush out. However, it acts like it has to leach slowly out of something and into the water. Then, the first few gallons smell more or less bad.

At least I can ask him: "What IS this smell?"

I'll be able to ask him about it ... if he ever responds to my phone message.

From experience, when I put my Marble shower walls up in my bathroom I used 100% silicone and I could smell the silicone for a month.
I kept my bathroom window open but it still didn't alleviate all the smell.

luckyzl230 said:From experience, when I put my Marble shower walls up in my bathroom I used 100% silicone and I could smell the silicone for a month.
I kept my bathroom window open but it still didn't alleviate all the smell.

Exactly my point. He may have used the silicon in the repairs, not the plumbing; and plumbers silicon, as used on o-rings and inserting new faucet cartridges, has no taste or smell.

When I remolded my bathroom this summer I did everything from the tile on the floor to the texture on the walls.
When putting my faucet on granite vanity top the directions strictly said to use silicone. But, there is a type of plumbers putty that is strictly for granite. Which is what I used.

Also, when cleaning up 100% silicone you can't use just water. You have to use mineral spirit to clean it up.
I'm not sure if he left a rag (paper towel) behind with mineral spirit and silicone on it.

On another note, a friend of mine back in the day used silicone on threaded pipes instead of Teflon tape. Worked just fine until it came to changing them out.

Had a friend once try Mohawk gasket cement on pipe threads. Big mistake!