Our kitchen whiffs. No matter what we’ve tried to date, it whiffs. Case in point, we’ve just been away for a week and before we went all the bins were empty, the washing machine had been put through a self-clean cycle with some, er, washing machine cleaning stuff, ditto the dishwasher. When we got home after a week, the kitchen stank. As ever, it’s a kind of drainy, binny kind of whiff.

I’ve put a plastic bag around the washing machine outlet, secured with an elastic band at each end, to stop any drain smells coming out of that. Dishwasher is plumbed straight in to to the sink waste, so can’t get any drain whiffs from that. We regularly put boiling water down the sink. We’re diligent about leaving the washing machine door open after use so it dries out. As above, washing machine and dishwasher get regularly cleaned with specific cleaner. We’ve pulled the fridge out and there’s nothing festering under there. Anything else I can try/check?

Dead mouse somewhere? My folks found one under the cooker once!

I doubt it, but maybe. I think the dog would have let us know if there was something like that, cos he’d be going mad trying to get to it and eat it… Pulling the kickboards off to check there’s nothing under there can’t hurt I suppose.

Condensate drain from the fridge? They can get pretty minging. Not sure it would be bad or big enough to create much of a smell, but you’ve tried all the obvious stuff.

Condensate drain from the fridge?

Where’s that then? Worth checking, as on a previous trip away there was a power cut and the fridge/freezer was off for two weeks. The whiff we have is similar to that in smell, if not intensity…

What floor? If it’s something impermeable like a vinyl you might have a leak at the back of a unit or even under the floor, a pinhole for example, and floorboards rotting under the vinyl. Don’t ask me how I know this.

Floor is tile on concrete

Long shot but you’re not getting air burping up past the kitchen sink u-bend when something else is drained are you?
Dogs are stupid – we had a dead mouse under the kitchen units that smelt and our two thought nothing of it.
Worth pouring some soda crystals down the sink (diluted as per instructions). Or strong bleach.

floorboards rotting under the vinyl.

I had that in my first house…. stank.

And clean/bleach the bins.

Long shot but you’re not getting air burping up past the kitchen sink u-bend when something else is drained are you?

Don’t think so, and that wouldn’t explain the really strong whiff when we got back from being away; everything had been ‘static’ for a week.

I was going to do the soda crystals thing. Worth taking the U-bends off and cleaning them out?

I don’t think it would be a dead mouse (or rat) – the smell from that would be gone within a month or so (depending on conditions).

Are you able to remove the kickboards of the kitchen units and have a look to see if there is anything suspicious there such as evidence of damp?

Are you able to remove the kickboards of the kitchen units and have a look to see if there is anything suspicious there such as evidence of damp?

Yeah, that was the next idea.

I was going to do the soda crystals thing. Worth taking the U-bends off and cleaning them out?

yeah why not…. there’s guaranteed to be a load of crap in there anyway.

Previous owner a Mr Fred West?

We had this last year & pretty sure it was coming from the sink/drain area.

When I replaced the kitchen sink, I ended up having to take all the drain pipework out & give it a clean (retch-tastic).
Since then, the smell has virtually disappeared. My Wife reckons she notices it, if we do a few washing machine cycles in a go, but I can’t really smell it.

So I’d say it’s worth taking the pipework out & giving it a clean through. I used some dowel & kitchen roll to wipe off as much as possible before cleaning the rest in hot soapy water.

I used some dowel & kitchen roll to wipe off as much as possible before cleaning the rest in hot soapy water.

Not sure you need to do that when this will do that plus more.

As a father to three, long haired, teenage girls, this stuff is a life saver when the shower starts clogging up with gallons of bloody conditioner and hair!

Check outside the external walls for evidence of blockages and pooling water or damp.

Are you able to remove the kickboards of the kitchen units and have a look to see if there is anything suspicious there such as evidence of damp?

Good call. Weeping pipe could be rotting a kitchen unit.

We had some blood from a raw turkey run down the condensate pipe at the back of the fridge. Gathered in a small box above the warm compressor and started to really whiff!

Don’t think so, and that wouldn’t explain the really strong whiff when we got back from being away; everything had been ‘static’ for a week.

I’m going drain related too, if it’s okay when you’re home, drains are seeing a flow, not getting stagnant, then you go away and nothing moves, sounds like some kind of fluid barrier may have failed.

My Mrs insists on everything getting washed at 20 degrees, I’m not convinced it helps the drains either though, but agree with the eco angle.

Condensate drain from the fridge? – Where’s that then?

Design probably changes between manufacturers, but generally there’s some kind of funnel arrangement in the internal moulding of the fridge compartment that channels any water into a small drain tube at the back. This drips onto a trough that sits on top of the compressor, heat from the compressor evaporates any collected water.

How does the kitchen sink drain? If it’s a common drain with an upstairs sink or WC, water rushing down the soil pipe might be sucking the water out of the kitchen trap and allowing foul air to enter the kitchen from the sewer. There’s no use in putting the plug in because foul air will still come out of the overflow. This would be happening because the air vent at the top of the soil pipe is blocked with a bird’s nest or something and the water dropping down the soil pipe is creating a vacuum.

There might also be a mushroom vent at the top of the soil pipe inside a cupboard or under the bath.

sharkbait

Not sure you need to do that when this will do that plus more.

Can you explain what you do with it, particularly the clearing long hair from a clogging bath drain?
I bought some soda crystals & it didn’t really do much. I must have used it incorrectly…?
If the drain is clear enough to permit some flow, then any ‘fluid’ based cleaner that I put down the drain doesn’t seem to do anything as it just drains away.

Add 100gm crystals/1L of cold tap water (try not to breath the fumes) – pour down the drain and leave for at least half an hour, longer if possible.
Then pour a kettle of boiling water down the drain…. should be good.

Obvs you can do multiple 1L jugs if you want.

If the drain is clear enough to permit some flow, then any ‘fluid’ based cleaner that I put down the drain doesn’t seem to do anything as it just drains away.

I agree – it seems odd. But I think that as the fluid is seeping past the ‘gunk’ it attaches to it and breaks it down.

Right, just whipped the base board off under the sink/dishwasher – underneath is full of crap, but dry as a bone. Ditto under the washing machine.

However, the drain from the dishwasher is a bit of a dogs dinner and isn’t attached using one of the inverted ‘U’ hose guide things, as per the diagram on page 9 here:

https://bekoplc.blob.core.windows.net/bekoupload/manuals/DW603_IB_TC.pdf

Reckon tidying that up might help?

Oh, and the condensate drain from the fridge – there isn’t one (well, not an obvious one). I have a feeling the air is cooled elsewhere and vented in as there’s no ‘cold plate’ at the back, but there are vent holes at the top and bottom

@sharkbait – thanks, I’ll give it a whirl….

Had a smell once in a rented flat. Turned out mice were nesting in the insulation around the oven of a freestanding cooker.

A few weeks after we had a leaky bottle of milk in the fridge the kitchen started to smell. The amorphous blob of cheesy fungus we found in the overflow tray of the fridge was not pleasant to get rid of…

I’d start with the drains. I had a kitchen whiff which turned out to be a semi-open sink drain under the floorboards. Only started noticing it when the upstairs flat (old 70s house->flat conversion) put an ensuite in which used the same drain…it all made sense once I’d spent weeks diagnosing it.

As well as cleaning the sink and putting boiling water and soda crystals etc down there make sure you clean the sink overflow too.
I periodically fill my sink with hot water and disinfectant and let it ‘overflow’ via the overflow for a minute.

We get a stinky en-suite because the bathroom sink, which although in another part of the house is connected to the shower drain, burps back. A horrible sulphurous pong it is too!

A couple of bottles of drain cleaner down each sorts it for a few months then it starts all over again. I think it is hair (not mine, for I have none) and soap residue down the shower drain. Flushing it through with clean hot water for a few minutes keeps it fresh too.

Dish cloth/sponge gone off?

Sink overflow, as per modchop.

I cleaned the ensuite sink trap out a few months ago. It was blocked near solid by strings of weird long green stuff that looked remarkably like seaweed. It smelled really bad. Sink was still draining (slowly). The bath – same ensuite – regularly gets blocked up too.

Preusmably, it’s hair, for both of them, and fatty soap deposits.

Main bathroom user, my wife.

The other bathroom is fine.

Used almost exclusively by all the males in the household.

As well as cleaning the sink and putting boiling water and soda crystals etc down there make sure you clean the sink overflow too.

The overflow for the main sink is the little central sink. Both sinks get boiling water down them. There’s no separate overflow

Dish cloth/sponge gone off?

Nope, dishcloths washed regularly

I think I’ll be getting some soda crystals at the weekend.

If it’s a common drain with an upstairs sink or WC, water rushing down the soil pipe might be sucking the water out of the kitchen trap and allowing foul air to enter the kitchen from the sewer. There’s no use in putting the plug in because foul air will still come out of the overflow. This would be happening because the air vent at the top of the soil pipe is blocked with a bird’s nest or something and the water dropping down the soil pipe is creating a vacuum.

It does share the same soil pipe as the two bathrooms upstairs. I’ll flush both loos before I take the u-bends off, see if there’s water left in there.

Re: the soil pipe – how is it capped? Is it just an open end or does it have one of those valves that are designed to let air escape when needed? If it is, it might be stuck and foul air is being pushed back rather than released?

our dishwasher was plumbed in after the U-bend and had an open vent. Drain stink cam through that and was much worst after a period of time away. Now plumbed in before the u-bend and all stink is gone.

No the mushroom is an air ADMITTANCE valve. It’s designed to relieve the vacuum caused high in the pipe when a rush of water goes down, otherwise the vacuum can suck water out of traps on the lower floors.

No the mushroom is an air ADMITTANCE valve. It’s designed to relieve the vacuum caused high in the pipe when a rush of water goes down, otherwise the vacuum can suck water out of traps on the lower floors.

Ahh I stand corrected

Have you been melting Putoline to wax your chain?

I’ll go with the fridge – pull it out and check the drain tray if it has one. They can get minging if anything has been spilt. Then the drains.

2 minute job to check the fridge.