Have you ever come home or walked through your house and come across a bad smell? The sort of smell that is lingering and smells of your typical drain smell?

There are a few reasons why this could be and couple of checks you can do before you get one of our Trojan plumbing professionals to help sort out the problem.

There are two aspects of drainage you must understand before you begin with your checks to identify the bad smell and where is it coming from.

The first – is that every drain that is located within your house, coming from a fixture, has what us plumbers call a trap, otherwise commonly known as a “U-bend”. The trap / u-bend severs the purpose of trapping or catching a small amount of water that goes down the drain. This small amount of water creates a airtight seal so that bad smells don’t come back up. This “u-bend” should be accessible and easy to inspect for maintenance.

The second – every drain should have a vent pipe with a vent valve on top. The vent by standard is always located on the outside of the house. The vents purpose is to relive the drain of smell and vacuum. This can be installed on a 110mm, 50mm or 40mm pipe.

Potential causes to a bad smell.

No vent means the drain is not being aired and bad smells will start to rise out of the fixtures. If a drain is not vented and a large amount of water is released from a fixture like a bath, then the vacuum created, could suck water out of the nearest fixtures trap. This can cause bad odours in the home.

This can lead to a slight drain odours in your bathroom or house as the water sitting in the trap of the fixture has gone stagnant. The water must be replaced in the trap, by just simply running some water in each fixture for 20 seconds – 40 seconds.

Can cause not only cause a leak when water is running through the drain but bad odours when not identified. A break in the top of a fitting can still pass water without leaking but will still release a bad smell.

these drains are located on the outside of a bathroom or kitchen. The gully has a grid on the top of it to prevent solids and hair from going further down the drain. This grind can get congested and dirty, it will require a clean every four to six months depending. The grid sits quite loose in its housing and can be removed with a long nose pliers. Simply toss the waste into a waste bag and throw away. Place the grid back and rinse the gully drain down with a garden hose. If the gully drain continues to block please call Trojan Plumbing – 087 357 3461.

bad odours will be strong and imminent if you drain is blocked. The smell will be even stronger around the main holes and open gully drains. This would be a good time to contact a Trojan Plumbing maintenance professional on – 087 357 3461