Sewer Gas Smells In Your Home

If you smell sewer gas smells in your home, you need to find the source of the problem and have it fixed as soon as possible.  Sewer gas is a combination of chemicals that not only smell bad, but are toxic too.  In addition, sewer gas contains methane which is explosive.  This is one repair that you cannot put off.

The good news is that the most common source of sewer gas smells are dried up drain traps (often called P-traps) in your sink, shower, tub, or toilet.  Each drain in your home has a U or P shaped pipe that is designed to hold enough water to fill the bottom of the U shape and stop and gas or odors from backing up into your home.

Your commode has a trap built into the base of the fixture.  If your toilet or sink is not used for some time, the water in the trap can evaporate and allow the sewer gas to escape into your home.  This is particularly common if you have been away on an extended vacation.

If you smell sewer gas, run some water in each drain and flush all of your toilets to see if that solves the problem.  If not, check each of your toilets to see if the wax or rubber seal between the toilet and the drain pipe has been compromised.

Other possible sources of sewer gas smells include clogged vent pipes and damaged drain and sewer lines.  If you cannot locate and repair the source of sewer gas smells, call a local reputable plumber.  Sewer gas is bad for your health and potentially dangerous.

Smelly Kitchen Sink Drains

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.