Forum menu
Can you explain what you do with it, particularly the clearing long hair from a clogging bath drain?
It will react with fats/grease to make soaps (which are soluble, and then in turn wash away more fats/grease). And it's corrosive so will eat the hair as well, but mostly it's getting rid of the gunk that binds all that hair together into a matted mess.
Is your house new (or newish) build? We had a whiff in the kitchen on and off. Did the whole bin/ dishwasher/ washing machine clean thing. Took the kick boards off, the plasterboard behind the kitchen units was unpainted. Apparently (this maybe myth) the cheap plasterboard when it dries out fully over time can give off a chemical smell. Ours was chemical smell rather than a proper drain pong.
Obviously the rest of the plasterboard in the house had been over painted.
Picture of dishwasher drain into sink waste needed. As mentioned, if it's plumbed in after the u-bend then it will have nothing to stop the smell.
Right, so, an update. Things done to date:
- Washing machine cleaned with washing machine cleaner. Filter cleaned too.
- Ditto the dishwasher.
- Waste to dishwasher checked - it's on the right side of the u-bend as is now routed better so it's not looped around as much as it was.
- Sink waste, inc, overflow, stripped out and cleaned. Not a lovely job but really not that grim or stinky.
- Soda crystals/hot water in the sink waste pipes left overnight then flushed with hot water
- Fridge checked as best as I can; there's no condensation drain that I can see. Nothing on the inside, I even took the base panel off the back but that just had the condenser and the coolant 'tank' thing. No hint of a whiff back there either.
- Fridge pulled out, nothing behind/under it
- Kick boards off, no sign of damp.
There's still a whiff. What am a gan do?
Move house?
Ever see the film Se7en?
Can't you narrow down the general location of the pong by sniffing?
FWIW my money's on either something lurking at the back of one of your kitchen cupboards or a small leak from the washing machine running into the grout lines between the tiles. In 25 years of doing social housing refurbs, 90% of dampness / smells and rotten floors in kitchens have been ultimately traced back to the washing machine.
Can’t you narrow down the general location of the pong by sniffing?
This is the frustrating thing; no. There's an overall whiff, but it's not stronger anywhere in particular.
I'll double check the washing machine and dishwasher for leaks. So frustrating.
Ever see the film Se7en?
Yep, I remember seeing Ms Paltrow in it and thinking she were purty. You've given me an idea for a scented candle to overpower the whiff...
Fish?!
What's above your kitchen?
What’s above your kitchen?
Two bathrooms. Don't tell me this is going where I think it might be going...
Don't rule out a dead mouse because you have a dog. We had mice getting in and stealing food from our cat's bowl for a number of weeks before sourcing the entry hole. The cat did nothing. Just asked for more food. Probably cut a deal with the mouse. Ba***rd.
Have you asked the guys in the sewage works next door if they've noticed anything?
Have you asked the guys in the sewage works next door if they’ve noticed anything?
They haven't. The fellas in the abattoir on the other side haven't either.
Two bathrooms. Don’t tell me this is going where I think it might be going…
That depends if you think it's going in the direction of a leaky bath/shower tray etc trickling water down the inside of your kitchen wall. If it is, yeah it's going the way you think it's going.
If you were thinking Conti vert Pro, then no it's not going the way you think it's going.
If it helps I found the source of a manky foisty smell in my old flat when a damp patch became visible on the exterior brick about 5 feet off the floor.
That didn't help did it?
(oh, and check any extractor hoses/routing, water pooling in those can stink)
*Thread revival*
Well, you know what, I think I've sorted it.
(oh, and check any extractor hoses/routing, water pooling in those can stink)
Funny you should say that! I took the kickboards off and pulled the washing machine out over the weekend. The drain outlet on the wall is approximately twelve inches from the outlet on the machine. Between the two was about four feet of hose, with a gert big droopy loop 'twixt the two...
Hose shortened, whiff (so far) gone 🙂