Are your tenants embarrassed when their friends visit because there’s a persistent stale smell in their kitchens or bathrooms?
Or are your customers complaining about the smell of drains on visiting your place of business?
If you have a problem with smelly drains at home or at work, the first step is to discover its nature and location.
Causes of bad smells in drains
There are a number of reasons for smelly drains, some relatively easy to deal with:
- Bacteria from organic waste trapped in the pipework or waste disposal unit, such as cooking fat or matted hair
- Dirty water trapped by a vacuum in the system (your soil vent pipe may be too small or blocked)
- Kids forgetting to flush
- A cracked drainpipe, allowing dirty water to escape.
Fixing smelly drains
Plenty of household products will shift blockages or cover bad smells, but a cup of baking soda followed by two cups of hot vinegar down your drain can work wonders. Leave for 30 minutes before flushing away with boiling, water.
If there are smells emanating from a waste disposal unit, try cleaning trapped matter from its blades by pouring two cups of ice and one cup salt into it. Then flush with cold water and run the disposal until the ice disappears.
And if you want a waste disposal unit to smell nice, feed it with strips of orange, lemon or grapefruit peel.
If none of these methods work, you may have a more serious problem; drains are often decades old and can crack over time or become damaged by subsidence, tree roots or building work.
But don’t worry; gone are the days we’d have to dig up all your drains to find the problem. Modern contractors use lightweight CCTV equipment fitted to vehicles that can navigate the narrowest pipes to carry out a high-resolution survey.
We can then assess the best way to fix your problem with the least amount of mess, disruption or cost to you.
To find out more about how we can help you, call Drain and Sewer Services on 01252 312738 or email info@drainandsewer.co.uk.
