Do Your Drains Smell Foul?

Indoor plumbing is a wonderful thing. It allows you to run water, wash yourself, or use the bathroom and know that both your water and your waste will be transported out of your home and into the municipal sewer system (or into your septic draining field). The only wrinkle in all of this is that the pipes that take your waste out of the home are not one-way streets.

In fact, it is possible for foul sewer odours to re-enter your home through the same pipes you used to flush your waste in the first place. This is problematic for a number of reasons. The most obvious one is simply the smell itself, but there are also real health concerns here; you can imagine how unsanitary it is to have sewage creeping back into your home. Additionally, sewage smells coming up through your drains suggest that you’ve got a plumbing problem, and one that needs to be fixed right away.

Check the Water Traps First

Now, the good news is that the issue may not be major, and in fact may be as simple as the water traps going dry. Often, the best way to address the sewage smell is to simply run some water and allow your drain traps to fill.

Every sink in your home, is going to have a U-shaped pipe underneath it, which is the water trap. It exists to hold water, creating a barrier between your home and the sewer. If you don’t run water in that particular sink for a long time, though, the water can evaporate, and you may start to smell some sewer odours wafting in. This is potentially an easy fix, so it should always be your first line of attack.

Next, Clean the Pipes

If that doesn’t work, you might try simply cleaning your pipes. The smell may be emanating from a film of biowaste that has built up in the inside of the pipes, but a long pipe-cleaning brush can help you scrub things down.

If that doesn’t work, that’s when you have to consider the possibility of a more serious problem, like a sewage backup. That’s an issue you’ll want to have addressed by the professionals. We’re here to provide you with our investigative services, and to assist with drain cleaning and all other major plumbing services. Contact us today to set up an appointment.