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netla

Getting rid of smell from sink drain?

netla
17 years ago

My kitchen smells like a mixture of sour milk and rotten vegetables. The smell is coming from the sink drain. I've tried methods that worked in the past, like pouring boiling water down the drain, running the tap for a long time, a vinegar and baking soda rinse, and an overnight chlorine treatment. It's not working. Whan can I do to get rid of the smell? Is the stuff you use to unblock blocked drains good for cleaning away the stuff that is making the stink?

Comments (8)

  • dirtdiva
    17 years ago

    If you have a garbage disposal, toss a lemon down the drain and grind.

  • sheilajoyce_gw
    17 years ago

    Pull the rubber gasket out and wash it off. That is where most of the smell comes from. Gunk splashes up on the underside of the black drain cover and sits there rotting and reaking.

  • netla
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    I don't have a waste disposal and it's not a septic tank system, but the plumbing in the house is rather old (dating back to the sixties, I think). I was thinking about removing all the plastic pipes under the sink and washing them, but I want to se if I can do it in an easier way first.

  • elphinstone
    17 years ago

    Try pouring some bleach down the drains, about a half a cup, let it sit awhile and then flush with hot water. I had some simular troubles years ago and a plumber told me about the bleach trick, he also said I should run hot water down all my drains for about 3 minutes a week to keep the gunk from building up.

  • netla
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Thnaks for the suggestion. I repeated the baking soda and vinegar rinse, then let some chlorine stand in the drain over night and washed it away by running the hot tap for about 10 minutes. It worked this time. There must have been too much gunk down there for the previous treatment to remove everything.

  • mikie_gw
    17 years ago

    I had the same thing going on for a long time until i discovered I had a leaky pipe leaking into the wall. Had to Unsolder and replaced the pipe into the vent pipe to fix it and then went ahead and replaced everything down there.

    Hasn't had the recurring smell since.

  • dotcom2000
    17 years ago

    Don't dump sour milk and moldy food from fridge down your drain or garbage disposal. Flush down toliet instead.

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