Smelly Drains and Water in Your House are Caused by These Things

When your plumbing works the way it’s supposed to, it’s easy to forget that it’s even there. It is, after all, a well designed “hole” that water and other waste flow into that carries that waste away from your home and into the sewer system.

However, as “unsexy” as that function may be, it’s critical for both health and convenience at home. So when something does draw attention to your plumbing, like a smell, don’t ever ignore this.

You should always try to remedy this problem as quickly as possible, especially since there may be health risks associated with these smells. Fortunately, some of the solutions are easy to implement by yourself.

Your Sewage Line Smells

Your sewage line is a very large piece of equipment, meaning that things potentially go wrong in different areas, and have different scales of seriousness.

If a problem is something like leaves blocking a vent, you can fix this yourself in seconds.

If the problem is deep in the sewage line itself, such as a partial blockage, you have no way to fix this yourself.

That’s when you get in a professional that has both the knowledge and the equipment to solve the problem in a complete and comprehensive way.

Your Water Smells

One problem you may have is that turning on the taps or showers anywhere in the house creates a smell. This means that it’s the water itself that is the problem, not the plumbing.

However, that doesn’t mean that the problem must lie with the water supply. The culprit could actually be in your water heater tank instead, depending on the temperature settings you use.

If your water heater is set to a lower temperature, this can create a very nurturing environment for some types of bacteria, including those responsible for Legionnaire’s Disease.

Water heater tanks are already dark, safe and moist, and if you drop the temperature enough, they’re quite comfortable as well. You can solve this issue by raising the temperature to around 135-140°F which most bacteria can’t survive in.

Your Drain Smells

When the smell is coming from a specific location, particularly a drain, you probably have an empty p-trap.

Your p-trap is the pipe under your sink, and it is supposed to be filled with a minimum quantity of water. That water blocks out gases from the sewer that flow up and down a sewage line.

This is an easy fix. Just pour more water back down the drain and you will restore your vapor barrier.

This fix is the exact same solution a professional plumber would use if they tracked down an empty p-trap as a problem source.

Be sure to try this solution yourself first rather than pay someone else to pour water down your drain.