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I have a problem I've never heard of. This problem involves a stench coming from the drain in my bathroom sink (it smells like sewage), however, the stench is not persistent: I only smell it after I turn the water on and let it fall into the drain. No idea why this happening. I know that the smell isn't coming from the tap water itself because I brush my teeth and shower and I never smell it in the water. I only smell it from the drain of the bathroom sink and only after I run the water. I can bend down and smell the drain at any other time and smell nothing. I live in a split level house and this sink is on the "top level".
I pulled up the stopper to see if there was anything vile forming on it, but to my surprise the stopper was relatively clean.
My bathroom sink has a P trap, which I've always understood was supposed to stop sewer gases from coming up. I've heard that sometimes the water in the P trap can evaporate, but I use that sink every day.
There is also a bathroom at the bottom floor of the house, but I run the water and flush the toilet every so often to make sure there is water in p traps.
Has anyone ever experienced this before?
Hey @DanjustDan you are correct the P-trap should have water in the bottom to block any gases coming back up through your drain. If it were me I would remove the P-trap and take a look / clean it out. Not uncommon for some pretty rough stuff to get clogged in the trap.
Is the water from the faucet actually striking the stopper before going down the drain? I had a past experience where there was a misalignment so some of the water would bypass the stopper and hit the water in the bottom of the trap with some force, causing enough disturbance that some of the gases would escape past the "plug" of water. Reducing the force of the water going down the drain (by fixing the alignment) solved it.
@Scott Thanks. Guess this will be my first time opening up a P-trap.
@Thesis3522 I just checked and the water stream is hitting the stopper. That's good to know, though. I didn't know something like that could happen.
@scott-a-dixon Surprisingly, I ran into an obstacle.
The part of my P-trap that connects to the sewer pipe seems to be stuck on tight, even after loosening the nut. I tried hammering the crook with a wrench and it won't budge. I tried blowing a heat gun at it and nothing. I've watched several videos where people are able to remove it easily after loosening the nuts. Are there different types of P-trap pipes?
@danjustdan Do you have a PVC p-trap or a Chrome p-trap? If you have a PVC I would think pulling with also twisting the p-trap should break loose most traps. The Chrome style might have an opportunity to be bonded with corrosion that could hold the p-trap in the drain line. Any pictures?
@scott-a-dixon Yes, here's a picture. I assume that it's pvc. I am able to loosen the nuts on the pipe completely and expose the threads. After that, the part in the red circle doesn't move. I think the plumber used some type of thread paste on the threads. No idea what he did inside the pipe though.
Alright, I'll see if I can get enough clearance to twist the pipe. I think I'll have to remove the metal drain pipe there to do that. I'm actually getting ready to ask a question about some outlets, so I might pause on this for a moment and get back to this. Thanks for input.
You're not going to believe this. It's been almost four days since I attempted to remove the P trap and I haven't smelled sewage out of my sink since.
All I did was unscrew the nuts, try to hammer the P-trap off the pipe and heat it up with a heat gun. I wonder if my problem had something to do with air bubbles or pressure. I don't know, all I know is that I'm not smelling sewage anymore. I'm going to wait a few days to fully consider it fixed, but I'm inclined to consider it fixed already. Thanks for suggesting removing the P-trap, that led me to do this.
Thought I would follow up on this in case anyone has the same problem. About a week after I made my last reply, the smell started to come back. So I removed the P trap entirely. Though I didn't find any grime or rotting objects in my P trap, I did find that the water in there smelled similar to the stench I previously smelled. I emptied out the water, reattached my P trap and ran some new water to fill the P trap. But a few days later, I experienced the same phenomenon of running water for a moment and then smelling the sewage smell. Then I got the idea to pour some all purpose cleaner with a bit of bleach down the drain and it seemed to have worked. I'll follow up later if I begin to smell the stench again. I don't know if this is a bacteria problem or what, but so far so good.
