Do You Have Drains and Water that Smell Bad? Discover the Reasons

Plumbing problems are not something that you want to neglect for too long, even with something that seems innocuous. A leaky tap may lead to needing to replace an entire faucet or sink if it’s not addressed in the early stage, and the same is true when it comes to smells.

If you are detecting a smell from somewhere in your plumbing, this is always a symptom of a different problem. But the fact that you’re reacting to a bad smell should be enough to tip you off that whatever is going on can’t be good. It may, in fact, present a health risk to people in a home.

Luckily, there are some things you can do to quickly address some of these problems.

When the water isn’t the problem, but a single drain is, you’re smelling sewer gas that is entering your home. The sewer gas itself is normal; it drifts throughout the entire sewage network, even into the pipes that lead to your home. What is not normal is that it makes it all the way up your sink and into your home where you can smell it.

Normally, the p-trap—which is the bends in the pipes under a sink—contains water that acts as a barrier to gases.

The fact that you can smell something coming from your drain means that the p-trap is empty. You can fix this problem simply by pouring more water down the drain in question.

The good news is, just because it’s the water that smells, it doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily the city pumping bad water into your home. The bad news is, the problem may still be right in your home, and it could still pose a health threat, especially if people are drinking and bathing with this smelly water.

If you can track the smelly water down to whenever you turn on the hot water, the issue is your water heater tank. A lower temperature setting for your water heater tank creates an environment that is safe and nurturing for bacteria.

Fortunately, bacteria aren’t especially hardy, so adjusting your tank temperature to something around 135-140°F is sufficient to eliminate the problem.

Odors that come from the sewage line itself enter a spectrum of many possible different problems in many different locations. Some of these may still be easy to solve, like a blockage in a vent that just needs some effort to clear debris like leaves and allow the gas to escape again.

Other problems may be deeper in the line itself, such as a partial blockage or other issues that extends further into the pipes, which may in the future lead to a repiping service.

With problems like this, a DIY solution is no longer feasible. You need an expert, with the right tools and knowledge to fix a problem this serious.