Many people complain that their kitchen sink ‘smells’. Usually, these kitchen sinks have garbage disposals and a few simple tricks will help make the smell go completely away.
If you have a smelly kitchen sink, and you have a garbage disposal, it is likely that your garbage disposal needs to be cleaned. When you turn on the garbage disposal, blades spin around grinding the food particles into small enough pieces to allow them to flow down the drain.
Often, the grinding isn’t complete, and pieces of food get stuck in your kitchen drain and begin to smell. Basically, the food has begun to rot and that is what is causing the unpleasant odor.
The first step is to fill the kitchen sink where your garbage disposal is at up with warm, soapy water. Degreasing detergents tend to work best, as grease particles are often the cause of some of the worse smells. Next, remove the stink stopper, and turn on the garbage disposal. Allow warm water to flow into the sink at the same time. This action should help dislodge any ‘stuck’ food particles or grease, and will eliminate the smell. You should notice immediate improvement.
If this didn’t work, and you still have an unpleasant odor, try the same thing, but this time use ½ cup of baking soda plus ½ cup of vinegar instead of detergent. Continue to stream warm water and run the garbage disposal. After approximately five minutes, pour 2-4 cups of clean, boiling water down the drain.
If you are still experiencing problems, you should contact your local plumber for assistance. They will be able to further trouble shoot the cause of the odor and help remedy the problem.
