How to Get Rid of Drain Smell in a Kitchen Sink
A stinky kitchen drain is a terrible smell to fill your kitchen with. A hint of rotting food in your plumbing or somewhere down your kitchen sink pipe when there isn’t any you can see is as confusing as it is frustrating. There has got to be a way to get rid of it.
A smelly kitchen sink drain takes more than a sink cleaning. You’ve got to get down to the nitty-gritty and in the plumbing past the start of the drain. Fortunately, you can do that fairly easily utilizing the right tools and products.
If you want to permanently get rid of drain smells in a kitchen sink, this is how you do it.
1. Flush the sink with boiling water.
A starting point for smells in the kitchen drain is to flush it with boiling water. So boil a kettle and slowly pour the scalding hot water down the plughole. Empty the kettle into the sink drain. Next, wait five minutes. This will give the boiling water and heat time to dislodge anything stuck to the side of the pipe.
Lastly, run the cold tap after five minutes to flush away any grease or debris remaining. This may be enough to temporarily eliminate a bad smell from the kitchen drain.
2. Call a plumber for immediate assistance.
If you have tried all of this and your kitchen sink drain is still smelling and you don’t know why, calling a plumber Hamilton is your last resort. They can complete a more thorough inspection on your drainage and confirm if there’s a more serious issue at play. If there is, getting it addressed efficiently and safely is a smart move.
3. Flush the sink with a small amount of vinegar.
If boiling water hasn’t quite done it, try it again and this time with vinegar. Start by pouring a little white vinegar down the drain. Let it stand for 25-30 minutes. Then, rinse it with boiling hot water straight from the kettle. This is a two-step way to flush away drain smells and is totally chemical-free.
The downside to this method is that it might eliminate a smell but it won’t necessarily successfully handle a clog.
4. Flush the sink with baking soda and vinegar.
This is the last all-natural method you can use to get rid of a drain smell in the kitchen sink. Pour a half cup of baking soda down the drain. Do it slowly. Try to get as much of it in the pipe as you can. Then, pour 1 cup of vinegar down the plughole. It will start to foam. This is a good thing. Provide it a few hours of time to sit and do its job.
After two or three hours minimum, pour some boiling water down the drain. This will totally clear the line and should get rid of kitchen sink smells.
5. Flush the sink with a drain cleaner.
This is what most people do with a drain smell. They buy a chemical-based drain cleaner. A prepared commercially-available drain cleaner works in a lot of cases. You can buy it from a hardware store, supermarket, or in a lot of general retail stores.
The downside is these drain cleaning chemicals aren’t always the safest. They need to be handled wearing rubber gloves and protective wear.
6. Flush the sink with a bio-enzyme drain cleaner.
An alternative to a chemical-based drain cleaner is to go with a bio-enzyme product. This is considered similar in design to most drain cleaners but is eco-friendly and non-toxic. It works by employing enzymes that eat the food debris in the pipes without causing any damage to your pipes.
More and more cleaning brands are putting out bio-enzyme drain cleaners, a fair alternative to using chemicals.
7. Stop putting food down the sink drain.
Smells most often come from a build-up of food and debris in the drainpipe. Though you can successfully flush your pipes, if you continue adding food, the smells will only return again and again. Try to limit what you put down the drain.
Any food you do can get stuck to the sides of the pipes or sit in the U-bend. There, bacteria will grow, decay will set in, and there you will have a nasty smell waiting for you.
8. Remove and clean the U-Bend.
Your U-bend is there to fill with water. This water creates an all-natural sealed barrier that stops sewer gases from rising up through the pipes and getting into your kitchen. When your U-bend leaks and there isn’t that barrier, the sewer smells come up and there you have it. A shockingly awful smell. Fortunately, the fix for this is replacing the U-bend. It’s easy to do and all you need is a wrench.
As you might be able to imagine, the U-bend can cause all sorts of issues if you’re putting things down the kitchen sink drain that shouldn’t be there. If water isn’t getting through the U-bend, removing it and cleaning it with a wire brush can be helpful. This will eliminate any possible obstructions. While the U-bend is removed, also inspect it for leaks. If it needs replacing, as mentioned, this is something you can take care of here as well.
9. Start using a drain screen.
A drain screen is the ultimate preventative. It will stop food from entering your drain. Just put it across the plughole. Any cuts of vegetables, fruit, meats, or anything will get caught. Before it travels down the drain, you can empty the drain screen and save yourself the hassle of experiencing those unfortunate smells.
As another preventative, do not pour any fat or grease down the drain. It will also cause clogs and is likely to lead to more terrible smells from the kitchen sink.
