Drain smell

shinytop

We have a bit of an intermittent drain smell in our en suite; sometimes smells, sometimes not.  Using my personal drain smell detector (my nose) I think it's coming from the shower waste.  Can these traps fail, i.e. can something go wrong so that it lets the drain smell through?  It's quite easy to access and it's not leaking.  It's one of these - is it worth replacing before I do anything more intrusive?

Homer_home

It could be that the water seal that stops the sewer smells coming up is being pulled out when something else is used such as the toilet being flushed

First I would do is give the trap a good clean , check for a water seal , then have a play to see if the water seal is pulled when other sanitary ware is being used

Can you see how your wastes are plumbed in?

shinytop

Homer_home said:

It could be that the water seal that stops the sewer smells coming up is being pulled out when something else is used such as the toilet being flushed

First I would do is give the trap a good clean , check for a water seal , then have a play to see if the water seal is pulled when other sanitary ware is being used

Can you see how your wastes are plumbed in?

thanks, never thought of that will have a look. Though not sure what I'll do if the water seal is being disturbed ...

draingouk

To help prevent nasty smells from sinks...
You could have a really dirty trap!
Advice... Take one cup of soda crystals, pour over the plug, now pour one cup of white vinegar over the crystals. This will create the crystals to fizz. To take away the vinegar smell, pour a few squirts of pure lemon juice into the plug hole.
Leave for about 20 mins, then pour boiling water into the sink. You can do this every couple of months.
Also, you can pour boiling water into the plug hole, then add a good squirt of washing up liquid straight into the plug hole, as this liquid is a grease remover. Then pour boiling water about 10 mins later. Do this weekly, and it will help to keep the pipes clean. 
I tell this to all my clients.
Hope this helps