Cleaning Smelly Drains Solution

Do you suffer from smelly drains aside from the foul odour from your garbage disposal? Not like a musty odour but like something has croaked? When you think about the food, dirt, and hair that got stuck, of course, you’ll get a smelly drain. The build-up is the most common cause there is for your stinky drain smells. Or it could be moulds having already thrived in the moist environment, releasing tiny puffs of gas that smells causing your smelly drain problem.

This is a perfect time to unclog your pipes and get rid of the foul smell and sewer gases filling up your home. There could be bacteria and gunk build-up in your blocked drains causing the drain smells. True, plumbing maintenance is highly recommended, and you’ll need plumbing services every now and then, but believe it or not, unclogging your pipes of build-up and giving your blocked drains a proper clean today — it’ll save you from a lot of spending and headache in the future. And it’ll prevent the drain flies from coming to your drains.

There are many ways, without calling for a professional plumber and plumbing service, to go about cleaning drains. You can either pour boiling water down the drain pipes or explore other simple solutions. To clean a double sink, plug the drain on one side and work on the open side before swiitching sides. But have you ever wondered what are the common causes aside from the build-up behind the bad odours and sometimes, the accompanying gurgling sounds, in your kitchen sink drain or smelly bathroom drains?

There are many causes of smelly drains. Some causes can be fixed by having hot water and hot vinegar baking soda mixture poured into your smelly drain and others. But with sewer line problems, like a sewer gas trap problem, behind the bad smell and foul odour, you might need something stronger than a a bading soda vinegar concoction to clean a smelly drain and the p trap. Your piping system must have a p trap and a vent system. For instance, for your bathroom one side of the U-shaped pipe is connected to the septic system, while the other runs up to the roof. This allows for bad smells to exit the house and fresh air to come in. You must also pay attention to your vent and p trap and regular maintenance is a must.

Here are three of the most common reasons behind your smelly drain.

Drain Trap

Nothing prevents sewer smell from coming to your home without a drain trap installed in your sink or bathtub. So you’re most likely to notice a bad smell coming from your drains without this.

Grease

Never pour grease down your drain. If it gets stuck down your drain, your will end up with smelly drains.

Food Scraps

This is by far the most common cause of the foul smell in your drains. When left to rot, unconsumed food will cause moulds and your kitchen drain to stink and emit a foul odour to match your garbage.

To prevent smelly drains is always one of the goals. But in most cases, this isn’t always realised. When faced with no choice and your bathroom sink smell and you already have a minor clogged drain, the goal becomes different and now, aside from getting rid of the causes of smelly drains, we can add preventing further problems in the plumbing system or figuring out if you have sewer line issues to your goals. And we can start with getting rid first of the smell coming from your drains using hot water and these organic ingredients.

Let’s clean a smelly drain and get rid of a blocked drain quickly with these ingredients and easy ways! With some of these solutions, it’ll even leave your drains smelling fresh. No more sewer gases, causes of smelly drains, and further pipe damage.

Hot Water

For your garbage disposal, you must be used to using cold water and ice cubes. But in your drain and p trap, you’ll have to work with boiling water or hot tap water. Slowly pour hot water into your smelly drains to get rid of the unwanted debris in your drains and p trap. Using this for unclogging your drains will help dissolve your congested pipes and clear the other remaining debris and solve your smelly drain.

Vinegar

Pour half to one cup of vinegar and insert the drain plug. Its acidic nature can help soften grease, grime, soap scum, and other wastes which causes smelly drains. It also kills bacteria.

Citrus Peels

Its sweet scent can cut through the foul smell and sewer gasses. And like a cup of vinegar, it can also suppress the growth of bacteria.

Here is a straightforward recipe for an environmentally friendly solution to cleaning smelly drains and minor blockages. Don’t wait for a serious blocked drain to plague you. Let’s not only get rid of the stinky drain smell but also clear up your minor blocked drains now. So, before you rush out and buy a commercial drain cleaning product and the harsh chemicals that come with it, try this first!

Baking soda and vinegar are natural, non-toxic ingredients. While unclogging drains, they pose no health dangers. They are preferable to the sodium hydroxide, commonly known as lye, found in most drain cleaners.

Combining baking soda (base) and vinegar (acid) can form carbon dioxide and sodium acetate. This presents as the bubbles scrubbing the drain’s insides. These natural, non-toxic ingredients get flushed further down, ensuring a clog-free drain.

Check the ingredients below and follow the application.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups baking soda
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 cup white vinegar

Application:

1. Pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain, making sure that it makes it down the drain.
2. Pour 2 cups of boiling water down the drain. The baking soda mixed with boiling water will dissolve the sludge and gunk in the pipe.
3. After a few minutes, pour the second cup of baking soda, add 1 cup of white vinegar and plug the drain immediately. There will be foaming and bubbles, and you will hear some sizzling from the drain.
4. When things get calmer, add the remaining boiling water down the drain.
5. Repeat this process if necessary.

This should help with smelly drains and even minor blockages. And you can also use an old toothbrush to scrub the drain.

If your baking soda vinegar mixture and other environmentally friendly solution to clean smelly drains doesn’t stop the smell, or you’ve noticed most of your drains with sewer odours, then the problem is likely a damaged sewer line or in your sewer gas trap. It’s time to call a plumbing expert, then. The sewer line takes the wastewater from your home to the local sewer system or a septic tank. If the sewer pipe becomes blocked or sustains damage from corrosion, tree roots, ground shifting, or construction, it will start to back up sewage into your pipes and eventually into your smelly drain.

This is an urgent concern. Act on it immediately, or sewage will start to seep into the basement and cause severe damage to your structure’s foundation. You will need a professional plumber to perform a sewer pipe repair or replacement.

Do you think, you’re dealing with more than just bad smells and you need a great service provided immediately? Despite trying different solutions already in your shower drain, bathroom sink, and other drains in the house, from half a cup to two cups of hot vinegar to boiling water mixture and drain snake; are there still bad smells? And now, you’re attracting drain flies and in other cases, you also have stagnant water refusing to go down the drains. You could be facing a different problem or worse plumbing issues. Call a plumber immediately. Call us for a good advice and a great service!

For a more severe blocked drain, read our post on unblock a drain for more DIY tips, or call us about your other plumbing problems or if you need prompt response on your hot water service and our drain unblocking services for Gold Coast residents. Call a plumber today to get rid of tree roots in your pipes, septic system issues, sewer gas trap problem, and many more. Contact us!