Terrible smell of sewers in flat

dieselhead

I hope someone can help, I live on the 5th floor of a new block of flats. Our bathroom contains a bath, shower, sink and toilet. Over the last couple of weeks we have had a really bad smell of musky damp in the bathroom, which has developed to become a smell of sewerage that comes in waves. It is really getting disgusting.

As it is rented and we have a caretaker for the block, we asked the caretaker to take a look, his attentions focused on the shower trap, which has one of these hair trapping inserts in it. Having long hair I do have to clean this on a regular basis as it does its job well. His diagnosis was that this piece had not been replaced correctly or the 'O' ring type washer was not doing its job.

I don't actually think this is the problem, I think its much more serious than that, but what I really don't understand is how this hair trapping insert can have any bearing on the ability of the trap to work effectively.

Could someone explain or link me to a section through this type of trap so I can understand how it works or offer any light on the situation.

ariba10

The S bend you see under a sink is a water trap that stops foul odors coming back from the drains.

There is a similar system (only smaller) with a shower.

If the trap is not full the smells that come back are unbelievable.

If left in a closed room you would think there had been a dead body left there.

I would get someone to examine the trap.

dieselhead

I'm guessing that we have a bottle type trap, but what I can't understand is how the hair trapping piece within the trap could actually make so much difference to the smell. If I understand the mechanism correctly the fitting of the filter piece should have no bearing on the traps effectiveness.

eco-friendly_2

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If I understand the mechanism correctly the fitting of the filter piece should have no bearing on the traps effectiveness.
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Correct, if the wrong shower trap has been installed flushing the toilet can pull (remove) the water from the trap in the shower. :eek:

silvercar

two simple possibilities.

Do you only use the shower or the bath? If one is left unused for a long time the water in the trap can evaporate, allowing smells to enter the room.

Other possibility is some gunk has lodged itself in a trap. Try using one of the cleaners that the supermarkets now sell that aim to clear the whole width of the pipes. They cost about £4, makes like Mr muscle and sink unblocker.