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You walk into your bathroom or kitchen and immediately smell an unpleasant smell. Did you forget to take the trash out? No, it’s not the trash? Did your furry friend have an accident in the house? That’s not it, either.
Finally, you find out that the stinky offender is the sink drain. You try running water but no change. You try diffusing some essential oils in the room, but after a few hours, the odour is back. It’s official, you have stinky drains. Luckily, all is not lost. With a little cleaning and preventive measures, you can remedy the problem.
Common Causes of Stinky Drains
Kitchen sink drains tend to stink because of a build-up of grease that traps food particles producing bacteria. Similarly, your bathroom sink can have build-up due to toothpaste, soap, and dead skin cells. So, if you notice that your drains smell, it is a sign of a clog developing. Treat it immediately to avoid incurring expensive plumbing costs.
There are five major causes of smelly drains:
- Bacteria and clogs
- The odour from strong-smelling food
- Rotten build up in the drain
- Sewer gases
- Plumbing errors
Each of the above causes is problematic individually. Keep reading to learn more about the signs and symptoms of each of them.
- Bacteria and Clogs
Items such as food, grease, oil and hair can clog your drainage. These clogs can cause bacteria build-up, which in turn leads to smelly blocked drains.
- Odour from Strong-Smelling Food
Does your diet consist of food items such as garlic, broccoli or onions? Such food items leave their odours in the drain if trapped there. Fortunately, this smell is easy to neutralise.
- Rotten Build-up in the Drain
Often, food builds up in your drain over time. This is as a result of sticky grease trapping food particles in your drain, which then decay. When these food particles decay, they produce an odour.
- Sewer Gases
The other reason you could be having a smelly sink drain is sewer gasses. Under your sink, there is a P-Trap designed to trap gases from getting into your house. If you notice a bad smell, it means your P-Trap could be malfunctioning.
- Plumbing Errors
Some plumbing errors such as missing vents and traps, leaks or rotting drain tubes can cause bad odour from your kitchen or bathroom sink.
How to Clean a Smelly Sink Drain
Bad odour in your home can be very depressing. The good news is that you don’t have to incur the costs of hiring a plumber to get rid of the bad smell. Most of the time, you don’t even require special pieces of equipment. The methods that you will learn in this article rely on household ingredients that you probably have in your pantry.
Sometimes you may need to combine two or more of the methods to get better results. So, always prioritise the most convenient for you before trying the next one.
- Hot Water and Dish Soap Method
Just as you clean your greasy dishes with soap and hot water, you can also clean your stinky drain with them. For this procedure, have a pot of boiled water and stir in a few drops of liquid detergent. Proceed to carefully pour half of the mixture into your sink and wait for around 10 minutes. This allows the build-up to dissolve. The next step is to run cold water down the drain to solidify the remaining grease.
Now carefully pour the other half of the boiling water to remove the solidified grease. If you can still detect the foul smell down the drain, repeat the process for better results.
- Coarse Salt, Ice Cubes and Lemon Peels
Another great method is the three-punch cleaning miracle: the combination of coarse salt, lemon peels and ice cubes. Throw in a cupful of ice cubes and coarse salt into your drain. The ice cubes knock the food from the grinder while the salt scrubs the sides. Proceed to flush the drain and then grind up some lemon peels for a fresh scent.
- Lemon, Ice Cubes and Vinegar
Freeze lemon wedges in vinegar and then crush them into the drain. The process is as simple as described. Simply slice a lemon into wedges, then place the wedges into muffin cups. Now pour white vinegar into the cups and leave them to freeze overnight.
Remove the cubes from the cups and drop them into the drain. Crush them and throw them down the drain. Allow them to sit for around five minutes and then run water into your sink drain.
- Hot Vinegar Method
Vinegar is the best home deodoriser. Other than that, it easily cuts through grease by dissolving biofilm to clean your smelly drain. Heating your vinegar can also clear small clogs that can also cause a stinky drain smell.
To start the cleaning process, bring four cups of vinegar to boiling, then pour half of the mixture down your sink drain. Run cold water for two minutes into the sink. Wait for a minute before pouring the remaining hot vinegar to rinse your drain.
- Baking Soda Method
You probably made a volcano using vinegar and baking soda in grade school. Do you remember it? Yes, that one. That same foaming method can be used to eliminate bad smells from your sink drains.
For this method, pour hot water down the drain to soften the build-up in your drain. Then put a cup of baking soda in the sink drain and pour two cups of vinegar after it. Allow the fizzing to decrease and pour four cups of hot water then, chase it with cold water for around two minutes.
- Lemon Juice, Baking Soda and Boiling Water
Just like vinegar, lemon juice reacts with baking soda to create a fizzing reaction. It may not be as economical as using vinegar, but it is as legit as the vinegar method. As an advantage, the lime juice will make your kitchen smell nicer. If buying lemon juice is expensive, you can juice a lemon as well. Whether you use lemon juice or vinegar is your decision, but both are effective.
- Using a Plastic Drain Snake
You probably do not have a drain snake. However, since smelly and blocked sink drains are common household problems, you may want to get one. Here is how you will use it. After removing the drain plug, feed the drain snake slowly down the drain while holding it by the handle.
The drain snake is covered in hard bristles that collect debris in the drain. This method is effective but as a warning, be ready for disgusting results.
- Baking Soda, Boiling Water and Essential Oils
Sometimes you can get rid of awful drain smells by just pouring boiling water down the drain. But, what if you want a pleasant smell in your home? It is simple; dump some baking soda into your drain, and add a few drops of your favourite essential oil- tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender or vanilla. Let it sit for a few hours or overnight, then finally rinse with boiling water.
How to Clean Smelly Garbage Disposal Drains
In a few cases, build-up in your garbage disposal can cause smelly drains. In fact, it gets worse every time you run your dishwasher. To clean smelly garbage disposal drains and get rid of this odour, try either of the following methods.
- Run Ice Cubes Through It
Ice cubes are great when getting rid of filthy build-up. To get better results, first, pour hot water down your drain, then push a cup of ice cubes down the drain. Follow this with cold water from the tap running at full blast. Allow your disposal to run for about three minutes. Once you are done, pour hot water and turn off the disposal.
- Using Citrus Peels
Placing lemon or orange peels in your disposer will deodorise it and clean the disposer’s blades. The acidity in the peels removes grease. The first step is to run hot water through it to loosen any grease in the drain. Next, put some citrus slices in the disposal past the rubber flanges. Finally, run the cold water at full blast and start the garbage disposal. Let it revolve for a few minutes and turn it off.
Useful Tips to Keep Your Drains from Stinking
Let’s face it: unless you have an idea of how to survive without using your kitchen sink, you will always deal with stinky drains from time to time. Thankfully, there is good news. You can prevent odours from your drain without using expensive harsh chemicals available in the market. Read on and learn!
- Routine attention to your sinks can keep your drains from awful smells. In the kitchen, this means flushing the drain with boiling water regularly and not pouring grease in the drain. You can also sprinkle baking soda in your drains on a weekly basis to control the odours.
- For the bathroom sink, always pour hot vinegar into the drain at least once a week, to remove scum and oils. If your hair sheds a lot, run a snake drain monthly. You can also install a drain cover in your bathroom sink.
- In addition, you should not let the P-traps dry out. P-traps are designed to hold water that blocks sewer gases from getting into your house. Always run water for a few minutes into the drains of unused sinks to refill the P-trap.
- If you do not have a garbage disposal system in your sink, you should always use a drain screen. It helps to block all solid waste from going into the drain, keeping it free from grime.
- Lastly, be mindful of what you pour down your drain. Do not pour adhesives, paints, chemicals or grease. Try to rinse your utensils from foods that can get clogged in your drain. Remember all decaying matter that you drop in a drain can cause a bad odour.
A Reliable Plumber Can Fix a Smelly Drain
Are you experiencing foul odour from your sink even after trying the above methods? Or is the odour coming back after a few days of trying the above methods? If yes, you should contact a professional plumber as the problem may be more complex than you anticipated. Your local plumber should be reliable and equipped with further knowledge of odour removal services.
