What to Do About a Stinky Kitchen Sink

Have you ever had a bad odor in your kitchen, but you are not sure where it is coming from? You take out the garbage, look for spoiled food in the fridge and spray disinfectant, but the odor still hits you from time to time. Often, that stinky smell is not in your garbage or refrigerator, but in your sink. All the food particles that go down the drain don’t always make it out of the plumbing. You can have rotting food in your pipes or garage disposal, causing a nasty smell in your kitchen. Here are some tips to freshen your kitchen drains and get rid of the stinky odor.

  • Clean your garage disposal. Often it is not your drain, but your garbage disposal, that is the source of the smell. To avoid kitchen sink stink, put about two cups of ice and a cup of salt down the drain and run the water while turning on the disposal until the ice is gone. Do this once a week to clean out any debris.
  • Cleanse your drain. The curvy pipes under your kitchen sink are often where food particles get stuck, creating a bad odor. Cleanse the drain with a cup of baking soda and a cup of vinegar once a week. Let this mixture do its job for at least ten minutes, then rinse it clean with boiling water.
  • Add a little fresh scent. To deodorize after cleaning, you can put some very small lemon or orange rinds down the garage disposal and grind them up to add a pleasant odor.

Sometimes, the bad smell is more than just a few pieces of rotting food under your sink. If cleansing your disposal and drain does not eliminate the odor, call your plumber. You may have a bigger problem, like a larger clog or sewage backup that will only get worse and cause more than just an odor if not fixed soon.

Posted on behalf of:
Seagraves Plumbing Sewer & Septic
4980 Plant Atkinson Rd SE
Smyrna, GA 30080
(494) 792-2221

Dealing With a Smelly Garbage Disposal

A garbage disposal is a useful kitchen appliance, but it can develop an unpleasant odor due to food particles remaining on the walls of the grinder.  Bacteria growing in the bits of food left behind create unpleasant odors in garbage disposals.  Here are few simple tips for dealing a smelly garbage disposal.

To get rid of garbage disposal smells you want to do more than just mask the odor.  You need to clean the leftover food particles from inside the unit.  Running a few ice cubes through the disposal will help knock loose stubborn food particles and scour the inside of the disposal and blades.  Making the ice cubes out of vinegar is even more effective.

Flush away the loosened particles by filling the sink with six inches of soapy water, then unplug the sink and run the disposal while the soapy water drains.  A common household plunger works well to stop up the drain to fill the sink with water.

Another method is to cut up a lemon or orange and run it through the disposal.  The citrus juices will help clean the disposal and leave fresh clean scent.

To help keep your garbage disposal clean, be sure to run plenty of water through the disposal when grinding up waste.  Also, be sure to allow the disposal to run long enough to dispose of all the waste.  Not running the disposal long enough is a primary cause of garbage disposal smells.

Finally, avoid pouring grease and oil down the drain.  Grease and oil will accumulate on the walls of the disposal and the drain pipes and cause odors.  If you must dispose of small amounts of grease or oil, run cold water to help prevent the grease and oil from adhering to the drain pipe and the disposal.