Smelly drains are easily solved but can often be very stressful and embarrassing. They often leave horrible odours which simply cannot be covered with any amount of odour neutralising spray. You can eliminate these bad smells and stop them from coming back with this simple guide of tips and tricks.
Smelly Drains in the Kitchen
Smelly drains are most common in the kitchen due to lots of different things being put down the sink plug. When you’re washing your plates/bowls, bits of left-over food may be flushed down the plug. If you’re cleaning pans/trays, all of the oils, fats and grease will go down the drain which will eventually create a build up in the U-bend of your sink drain. Sometimes it may be unavoidable, but we would strongly advise you to make sure the plates are clear of any food before washing and to put the fat/grease/oil into a container and pop it into the bin.
How to Prevent Smelly Drains in the Kitchen
Kitchen sinks with smelly drains are usually caused by food waste so they’re usually easy to resolve. One way of resolving the issue is by filling the sink up with boiling hot water mixed with a few splashes of bleach and let the plug out, so it flushes through the drains, clearing the food waste build up. If this doesn’t work, you can try pouring 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda into the plug and then rinsing with boiling hot water. Both methods should remove the smell from the drains as they will break down the food waste so it can be flushed away.
One simple way of preventing any food waste from going down the drain is by using a basket plug. You can purchase these at most DIY stores, including B&Q for less than £10. These are brilliant for stopping food from going down the drain as they act like a net and catch it all. They’re extremely useful and prevent any unwanted smelly drains.
Smelly Drains in the Bathroom
Smelly drains in the bathroom can either be caused by a build up on soap/limescale or most commonly, hair! When you’re using excessive amounts of shampoo and conditioner, it can stick to the sides of your pipes and eventually the soap will build up and settle in your drains. As you can imagine, after a while as the water flushes past the soap build up, germs and bacteria will settle causing smelly drains. Hair can also stick to the soap build up, creating more smells and potentially a blockage.
How to Resolve Smelly Drains in the Bathroom
We all remember to bleach our toilets but often forget about cleaning our plugs in our sinks, showers and baths. Simply fill the bath ¼ of the way with hot water and a splash of bleach then let the plug out to break down any soap build up. If this doesn’t work, you can also use the same trick as in the kitchen by adding a few teaspoons of baking soda into plug and then flushing it away with boiling water. We also recommend using a Shower Drain Hair Catcher, if you search into eBay you’ll find lots of different ones, often for less than £5! These will catch all the hair allowing you to empty it when required and then put the catcher back into the plug to prevent any more hair going down the drain.
How can Metro Rod help with Smelly Drains?
If none of the methods above resolve the smelly drains issue, there may be more of a serious build up which would require a professional clean or CCTV survey. If these techniques don’t work, chances are that a Fatberg may have formed. A Fatberg is a build-up of fats, oils and grease, you can read more about the effects of a fatberg on BBC. Fatbergs are very popular causes of long-lasting smelly drains and require professional help from our expert engineers to resolve the problem. Our expert engineers can fit internal grease traps once the issue is solved so that they will collect all the fats/grease/oil that goes down the drain and our engineers will return and clean the grease traps for you whenever you need them.
Why choose Metro Rod?
The range of services offered by Metro Rod is extensive. Whether it’s for gutter cleaning, regular pre-planned maintenance or a specific technical problem, Metro Rod will solve the problem. Simply give us a call on 0808 208 2655 and we would be more than happy to help. We’re available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year!
Metro Rod (Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham)
Visit: https://www.metrorod.co.uk/local/sheffield/
Call us on: 0808 208 2655
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