How to get rid of smelly drains
Smelly drains can occur in the bathroom, kitchen, laundry or anywhere else in your home where there is a drain opening. They can also occur outside of the home, in the main sewer or stormwater drains.
Smelly drains in the home indicate one of two things. The first is a build-up of matter in the pipe directly attached to a particular drain, for example, hair and soap scum in the floor waste of the shower drain. This build-up may not be enough to cause a blocked drain yet - but it could lead to a drain blockage down the track. It’s known as a local clog because it’s only impacting one drain.
The second issue that can cause smelly drains is a blocked sewer main. If this is the case, you will notice a foul smell coming from multiple drains around the home, as opposed to just one drain.
Identifying whether your smelly drain is due to a local clog or blockage in the sewer main is the first step in working out how to clean smelly drains. The correct solution depends on what the issue is and where it’s located.
How to get rid of smelly drains that are caused by local clogs
If just on of your drains, eg the shower shower drain, smells like sewer gas or rotten eggs it’s most likely caused by some gunk sitting near the drain opening. In the shower, this may be a slimy buildup of hair and soap scum. Smelly drains in the kitchen are more likely caused by food scraps trapped in the S-bend that have started to decay. Below are some tips on how to fix a smelly drains around the home.
How to get rid of smelly drains in the shower
Lots of things pass through shower drains including shampoo and conditioner, body washes, natural oils from our skin, dead skin cells, soap scum and hair. These substances build up over time and can sit in the floor waste and the pipes running underneath the shower. As they decompose they create bacteria that causes you shower drains to smell.
In order to get rid of smelly drains in the shower you need to remove this buildup up sediment. If the gunk is sitting close to the drain opening, simply put of some gloves, remove the drain cover, reach your hand down and pull out whatever you can. A wire coat hanger can help you to reach further down the pipes if you can’t feel anything with your hand. Alternatively, you can use a plunger to dislodge any clogs. We go into each of these methods in more detail here.
Hair and soap scum stuck in the pipes underneath the shower is one of the main causes of smelly shower drains.
Once any large clogs have been removed, you can clean the pipes further by pouring a homemade solution down the shower drain made up of boiling water, distilled white vinegar and bicarb soda:
Boil the kettle, let it cool down slightly so as not to damage the pipes, then pour it down the drain
Pour a cup (250ml) of white distilled vinegar down the drain, immediately followed by half a cup (125g) or bicarb soda. A chemical reaction causes these two substances to bubble and fizz, gently cleaning away any remaining residue.
Wait two hours and then pour another kettle of boiling water down.
You can repeat these steps a few times. If the smell persists, call a professional plumber.
How to clean a smelly kitchen sink drain
As mentioned above, a smelly sink in the kitchen is most likely caused by food scraps or grease that is decaying in the S-trap located directly under the sink. You can try using a plunger or the same homemade solution of hot water, bicarb and vinegar outlined previously. If this doesn’t get rid of the smell, the next step is to remove the S-trap so you can manually remove any sediment in the pipe by hand.
Get a bucket to place under the pipes, put on some gloves and have a few old towels on hand to wipe up any excess water
Use a wrench to carefully unscrew the slip joint. Make sure you write down or take photographs of each part so you know how to put it back together again
Once you’ve removed the trap, use a cleaning brush or a rag tied around the end of a coat hanger to clean out any debris in the pipe. Take the pipe to another sink and give it a good rinse.
Once cleaned, reassemble the S-bend and use the wrench to secure the slip joint in place.
*Note - this method can be used on smelly sinks drains in the bathroom and laundry.
Smelly drains caused by a blockage in the main sewer line
If there is a foul smell coming from multiple drains throughout your home you should call a local plumber as soon as possible. A foul smell from multiple drains most likely means there is an issue with the sewer itself, and the smells you are encountering are sewer gas. In addition to being unpleasant, sewer gas (which is predominantly methane) is also dangerous to your health. Large quantities of methane leaking into your home through drain openings can cause headaches, weakness, nausea, sinus infections, bronchitis, vomiting, dizziness, loss of coordination, loss of consciousness and even suffocation. It affects people and pets that are exposed to it over a long period of time.
In addition to smelly drains, a blocked sewer line is a ticking time bomb. You should not attempt to fix it by pouring homemade solutions, like vinegar and bicarb, down the drain. This will do nothing to remedy the problem and will only delay the issue getting repaired by a professional plumber.
If it’s not dealt with quickly, a sewer pipe will eventually become completely blocked. All of the drains in your home are connected to this sewer line. If the wastewater from the kitchen sink, toilet, shower, washing machine or bath etc can not travel through the pipe safely due to a complete obstruction, the only place for the wastewater to go is back up the pipes and out of drains within your home.
This phenomena is known as a sewage backup and it’s a serious health hazard. Raw, untreated sewage is full of diseases, parasites and harmful bacteria. Any contact with untreated sewage is a health risk and should be avoided at all costs. When wastewater is backing up through the pipes it doesn’t discriminate between drains openings. It won’t just overflow from the toilet, it can come out of floor wastes, the bathtub and even the kitchen sink.
Getting the sewer unblocked will protect your home from damage, ensure your family remains safe and it will also get rid of smelly drains.
How to unblock a sewage drain
Rather than calling any local plumber, we suggest calling an expert blocked drain plumber. Plumbers specialising in drainage focus on blocked drains exclusively and carry certain industry tools that not all plumbers have access to. When calling around, make sure you ask the plumber if they own a CCTV sewer camera (also known as a plumbing camera) which will enable them to inspect the drain pipes and ascertain exactly what’s going on.
Depending on what CCTV pipe inspection uncovers, the plumber will be able to recommend a number of solutions. For example, there could be extensive tree root growth in the pipes, a cracked pipe, a dislodged pipe or bellied pipe causing the blocked sewer. Alternatively, the pipes may be clogged with wet-wipes, sanitary products and grease. If the pipes are undamaged the blocked drain plumber can clean the drain using a jet blaster. Jet blasting is a quick and reliable method of drain cleaning and it will flush your pipes completely free of any debris causing the drains to smell.
Call the expert blocked drain plumbers at JAB Plumbing Solutions
Need fast and effective relief from smelly drains in your home? Call the drainage experts at JAB Plumbing Solutions. We carry all the tools to clean smelly drains quickly, including jet blasters which can blast virtually all sediment out of your drain pipes in a matter of minutes. The benefit of jet blasting is that it scrubs the interior walls of pipes completely clean, removing oil and bio-film and eradicating smelly drains.
