smelly sinks

domestic_goddess

There is a funny smell coming from my sink..... I have tried one of those sink unblocker foaming things and that worked for about a week. What can I do
It smells worse when i run water!!!

mandy_moo_1

Hi
Have you tried pouring some soda crystals down it, followed by about half a bottle of cheap vinegar? that might do it :rolleyes:

twink

soda crystals work for me too i just rinse some down every so often

Thriftylady

when you say 'every so often', how often would you need to do it?

I have a 'stale water' type smell in my bathroom, and I've tried everything - bleach, soda crystals, those 'plughole freshener' powders, but nothing seems to last more than a day.

OH says that he can only smell the bad smell occasionally, he thinks I'm imagining it most of the time, but its driving me crazy......

twink

i suppose i do it every other week do you do the bath as well you could try the crystals and hot vinegar maybe overnight so it sits in the u bend a good while

**purpleprincess**

Put a few teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda down the plughole, followed by a few glugs of vinegar and then it will WHOOSH!! leave for 30 mins and then pour hot water down the plug hole and this should work, worked for me!

upferret

We too had that problem after moving in our flat, until my other half decided to use the hoover attchment to hoover the plughole ( the hoover was being thrown away anyway).. out came some old persons grey hair and yellow fingernail clippings! as well as lots of other junk, toothpicks etc urgh. It stank and the hoover stank but after that its been just fine. I wouldnt recommend ruining your hoover though but theres probably another way!

Rachie_B

**purpleprincess** wrote:

Put a few teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda down the plughole, followed by a few glugs of vinegar and then it will WHOOSH!! leave for 30 mins and then pour hot water down the plug hole and this should work, worked for me!

i do the bicarb fizz method too its fab and really keeps everything fresh and clean


works on stubborn stains in / on oven & hob too

filigree_2

I suggest taking the U bend off and giving everything a good scrub. If you haven't done it before:

Clear out the cupboard under the sink
Put a bucket or washing up bowl under the U bend
Unscrew both unscrewy bits and the U bend comes away
Give the U bend a good scrub in a bowl of hot soapy water. An old toothbrush is good for this. Don't pour the soapy water down the plughole!
Re-attach the U bend

Sometimes you get solid waste stuck in the pipes, like bits of plastic foodwrapping or ringpulls and chemical cleaners won't get rid of that. Then food waste particles stick to the detritus and clog up the pipes. Sometimes you get better results from clearing out the blockage manually.

jesster_2

Is it your kitchen sink?

Mine whiffed from time to time and i'd tried all the pour stuff down it malarkey. Then clever OH (who fits kitchens and bathrooms) pointed out that it's because the waste pipe from the washing machine connects to the waste pipe under the sink, and the connection is above the trap (bit of water in the bend which stops whiffs from drains coming back up you plughole). So the smell was actually coming from the waste pipe of the washing machine, apparently. This can be remedied by changing the plastic pipe bits under the sink around.

poppycracker

Thanks for that jesster, my OH has been complaining about the smells coming from our kitchen sink for ages... he's driving me mad cos all he does is complain about it, he wont do anything about it.... so now, I'm going to get some bicarb and vinegar, do both the kitchen and the bathroom sinks and the bathplughole, (thanks to the various ppl who have suggested that), then if that doesn't work, I'm going to get him to have a look under the sink (or do it myself) and see if its the washing machine pipe thats the problem.

The washing machine has been stinking as well, even after washing it out, putting vinegar in with a wash and even doing an empty cycle with bleach!