All You Need to Know About How to Clean a Stinky Drain!

We all know that nothing is worse than having a pretty bad odor in our home. Drains are the principal zone to get stinky easier, and when this happens, you’ll know you are in front of a nasty situation.

With these fantastic tips on how to clean a stinky drain, you will get rid of bad odor quickly in the smelliest places! We address from commercial to natural cleaners that you can find in your home.

If, still, you are not up for the challenge of cleaning your drains by yourself, remember that you can always consult a professional plumber.

Reasons Why Your Drain Is Stinky

Before heading to the tips, first, we need to understand what’s causing a bad odor in your drain. This way, you’ll know how to address the problem better.

Typically, drains smell bad when there’s a buildup of grease or residues. This residual comes from different elements depending on the location of the drain.

For instance, shower drains typically accumulate hair and soap residues. While food particles are continually flowing down the kitchen drain. Make sure to keep them from getting inside it.

A smelly drain could also signify that something is not right in your pipes or your sewer line, for example. Likewise, you must know how to keep your sewer line clean to avoid significant clogs.

For this reason, it is always better to get professional assistance, even if it is to clean a smelly drain. Otherwise, you could worsen the problem.

6 Basic Tips for Cleaning a Stinky Drain

Are you tired of constantly buying unnecessary and expensive cleaning liquids and seeing zero results? Here, you will learn how to clean a stinky drain with the best tips, from homemade to commercial solutions!

The 6 ways of cleaning you will learn on this blog are:

• Use a Plastic Drain Snake
• Pour boiling water down the drain
• Pour baking soda and vinegar
• Use a chemical drain cleaner
• Clean the P-Trap
• Clean the Drain vent

Remove Hair or Debris with a Plastic Drain Snake

Consider buying a plastic drain cleaner if the issue is as simple as hair accumulation in the bathroom sink or shower drain. You would simply have to introduce it to the drain, and you’ll be able to remove hair or other superficial debris.

Likewise, you can not prevent the soap from going into the drain, but you could install a hair catcher and then get rid of the hair accumulated in the garbage disposal.

Pour Boiling Water or Vinegar

Boil approximately 2 cups of water. When the water is boiling, pour by little through the drain and let it act for about 10 minutes. Then rinse the drain with a bit of ice water or regular tap water. Repeat the process until you finish the two cups.

You could also use hot vinegar or a mixture of hot water and vinegar to clean the grease from your pipes. In case of cleaning the bathtub drain, you must remove the drain plug to be able to pour the hot water.

A good piece of advice would be to add hot water regularly to keep the drains clean and avoid further problems.

Pour Baking Soda and Vinegar

To start with this option, use the previous technique. Boil water or run it down your sink. Let the water run for a few seconds.

Once you let it run, add about a cup of baking soda to the drain, followed by vinegar. Let the concoction fizz. After an hour, proceed to pour more water to clean and clear the area.

Use a Chemical or Commercial Drain Cleaner

You could also use chemical drain cleaners such as caustic soda or sulfuric acid. However, it shouldn’t be either so frequent or in high quantities.

Chemical drain cleaners work fast since they were designed specifically for drain cleaning. They work by heating the area and melting all the grease formed in your pipes.

Even though this method tends to be effective, it can potentially damage your pipes or even cause you health issues. The major disadvantage of chemical cleaners is that they are toxic and can affect your eyes, skin, and clothes.

Clean the P-trap

This tip works for the kitchen and bathroom sink drain.

First, you need to know what a P-trap is to identify the correct spot. A P-trap is a plumbing fissure that serves many purposes. It traps waste drained from the sink and prevents a clog from forming in a deep plumbing system. Its primary function is to prevent sewer gasses from passing into the home.

Remember to always wear gloves for this type of cleaning. Now that you have identified where the P-trap is located proceed with the cleaning.

You start by removing the curved part of the pipe under the sink with the help of a wrench. Empty all the water and dirt from the siphon into a bucket. It is advisable to take the piece and wash it in the garden or far away to prevent any contagiousness. Reassemble the pipes before using the sink again.

Clean the Drain Vent

Sometimes the bad smell can come from poor ventilation. Make sure all your vents are free of obstruction!

In most houses, all the storm drain outlets end in a single opening in the roof. Get on a ladder and remove any leaves or other debris that are blocking the proper venting of the drain. As a result, you will never have odors again!

Effective Ways To Clean a Stinky Drain

When trying to find the answer to how to clean a stinky drain, you’ll find innumerable ways to eliminate foul odors from a drain.

Many people combined different methods for a better result. Our best advice is always to start with the most straightforward way and then go with the complicated ones for significant effects!

Get Professional Assistance!

Now that you know how to clean a stinky drain, you’ll be able to perform regular cleaning and maintenance in your drain system. By doing this, you’ll notice if everything is working correctly or not.

Because we know how heavy and unpleasant these tasks can sometimes be, do not hesitate to contact us, and we will gladly fix your problem. We offer the best drain cleaning in San Francisco, CA. We assure you of professional and quality results.

Call us  for an estimate!