Is there a foul stench emanating from your kitchen sink? Perhaps your bathtub smells strikingly like a sewer? If you’re detecting awful odors in areas of your home that have water faucets, there’s a strong likelihood the stink you smell is coming from your drains.
So how do you get rid of that funky drain aroma? Our drain cleaning specialists are sharing all the stink-blasting tactics you need to know below.
Pour Boiling Water Down the Smelly Drain
The simplest way to get rid of a nasty drain smell is with boiling water. Hot water can easily wash away any residue along the interior of the drain that may be growing odor-causing bacteria. Here’s how to get the job done:
● Bring a pot of water to a boil.
● Immediately pour half of the piping hot water into the drain opening.
● Wait a minute or two to allow the hot water to loosen any residue inside the pipe.
● Flush the drain with warm water from the tap.
● Pour the remainder of the hot water down the drain.
● Flush the drain with tap water once again.
If you regularly boil water for tea, pasta, coffee, or anything else, it’s also a good idea to pour any leftover boiling water down the drain when you’ve used what you need. Periodically pouring hot water into the drain can help prevent residue from building over time.
Clean the Garbage Disposal
If your garbage disposal drain stinks, soapy water may be able to help get rid of the stench. To use this method, simply fill the sink with hot, soapy water and when it’s full, remove the drain plug. Run the garbage disposal while the soapy water drains to flush the disposal and loosen any residue or food particles that may be stuck to the blades.
You can also run a few ice cubes through the disposal to remove any stuck-on gunk from the blades. If you have any lemons or oranges on hand, peel them and run the peels through the disposal to release the peels’ essential oils and deodorize the disposal and drain.
Use Baking Soda and White Vinegar
This tactic can work for any stinky drain in your home. Since baking soda and vinegar naturally bubble when they react with one another, the combo can help scrub away any odor-causing residue inside a stinky pipe. Here’s what you need to do:
● Get two cups of baking soda and two cups of white vinegar.
● Pour the baking soda into the drain. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes.
● Pour the vinegar into the drain.
● Let the mixture bubble for 10-15 minutes inside the pipe.
● While the mixture is bubbling, bring a pot of water to a boil.
● Pour the boiling water down the drain to flush the baking soda, vinegar, and the loosened residue from the pipe.
Try Baking Soda and Lemon Juice
Like white vinegar, lemon juice is acidic, so when you pour baking soda and lemon juice into a stinky drain, the combo will react quite like baking soda and white vinegar do. Since lemon juice also contains natural essential oils, it can also help freshen the drain. To eliminate the odor, follow the same procedure as you’d use for baking soda and white vinegar.
If the stench persists after you’ve tried all the above tactics, call a drain cleaning specialist to schedule service. Water jetting is highly effective at getting rid of drain smells since it removes all traces of residue from within the pipe. A camera drain inspection can also alert you to the culprit behind the stench, so you can take measures to prevent drain odors from recurring.
Why Do Your Drains Stink?
Now that we’ve shared our best odor-eliminating solutions for household drains, it’s important to acknowledge why those drains might start stinking in the first place. The best way to avoid smelly drains is with routine plumbing maintenance, and having an idea of what might be prompting that drain stench is the best way to prevent the problem from recurring.
Generally, malodorous drains are caused by one of the following three things:
● Rotting solid material. If your kitchen sink has a garbage disposal and the drain smells awful, decomposing food is a likely culprit behind the odor you smell. Even a small amount of food can easily produce a vile odor when it gets stuck in the disposal.
● Drain blockages. Soap scum, oily residue, and small, solid particles can easily stick together inside your drains and form a blockage. Since the clog is constantly exposed to moisture, it can begin growing bacteria, mildew, and mold, which will naturally cause it to smell terrible.
● Clogged sewer line. All of the drains in your home feed into the main sewer line, so if that line develops a serious blockage, the clog can prevent multiple household drains from clearing properly. As you continue using your plumbing system, sewage and other materials will begin building up within the line. Eventually, those liquids and solids will back up to the point that they’re either very near the drain opening or flowing out of it backward. Naturally, that chunky liquid will smell horrendous.
How do you prevent the above issues from causing your drains to stink? With routine, full-service drain cleaning. If your drains tend to develop odors fairly frequently and you’ve never had them professionally cleaned, it’s likely in your best interest to start getting them serviced regularly.
How often? Annually or biannually is usually adequate, depending on the number of people in your household and the frequency with which you use your plumbing system. To get a personalized recommendation for your home, you’ll need to speak with a drain cleaning specialist who can assess the health of your plumbing system.
Schedule Drain Cleaning With Drain Blaster Bill
Do your household drains smell awful? Let our team at Drain Blaster Bill’s help you eliminate that terrible stench! We provide drain cleaning services for homeowners throughout Stillwater, MN, and the surrounding Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area and offer same-day service for your convenience. To learn more about how professional drain cleaning can help you or to schedule service, feel free to give us a call today at 763-913-8719 or request a free estimate.