Shower drains may begin to smell for several common reasons. Mold or mildew may be growing under your drain cover. Your p-trap may be malfunctioning, allowing sewer gas to rise up through your plumbing. Or there might just be hair or grime stuck in your bathtub drain strainer.
Fortunately, most of the reasons your shower drain smells so bad right now are pretty easy to fix. Whether your drain smells like mildew or sulfur, then we have listed the most probable causes of your stinky issue below. By following these tips, you need to be able to find and eliminate it no problem. Let us begin with your strainer:
Almost all showers have a strainer or stopper constructed over or in their drains. These fixtures capture hair, soap scum, and other debris before it flows down your drain. Over time, all the gunk and dirt your strainer or stopper catches may start to accumulate. The most usual shower drain odor is likely some older, accumulated debris and bathtub runoff your strainer or stopper intercepted on its way down your drain.
You could probably remove your stopper by hand. Strainers have a single Phillips screw you'll have to eliminate with a small screwdriver. You will probably see the buildup of hair, scum, and grease immediately once you extract the strainer. Put on a pair of gloves and use hot, soapy water, a sponge, or a bristle brush or old toothbrush to clean off the strainer. You also need to wash out any scum left on the drainpipe in which you removed the strainer.
Mold and mildew want to grow in dark, wet places. If it's a chance to grow anywhere inside your shower, then it will. When you take off your strainer/stopper, check to be certain it's seated correctly. While you're at it, check to make sure that the drain cover itself is sealed properly as well. When there's any space between the drain cover along with the tub along with the strainer and the tub, the gaps are an perfect spot for mold or mould to grow.
Eliminate your drain cap and stopper and wash each with a mould and mildew removal solution. Be sure to spray down and clean out the ring and underside around the drain, as well. When you're finished, ensure that your cover sits over your drain completely snugly. If you can not get it to sit properly, then it has warped and you should replace it straight away.
A"p-trap" is your curving portion of drain tube that connects a fixture's drain into the rest of your drain system. It is known as a"p-trap" since it curves in a distinctive de or shape. The reason why p-traps curve this way is so they could catch and hold some of the water that drains them through. This water helps prevent any sewer gases that may otherwise float upward through your plumbing in which you could smell them.
Should you smell sewer gases or rotten eggs, then your p-trap may not be doing its own job. Eliminate your strainer and shine a flashlight down the drain. If you do not see water, something could be wrong with the trap. Pour two cups of water down your drain and wait an hour. If the water isn't there in an hour, then consider giving us a call. You may also try pouring four ounces of cooking oil down the drain along with the water. The oil might keep the water from evaporating.
If the water you're attempting to present into your p-trap begins disappearing, it may be because your shower's vents are blocked. Pipe venting provides the atmosphere pushed out by the addition of water somewhere to go. Without it, suction within your pipes could repeatedly siphon water from your snare. Typically, vents connect to your trap and connect to an outlet called a"vent stack." Each pipe includes a port that connects to the vent stack.
Most vent clogs occur in the vent stack. The stack could have a bird's nest near its entry, or debris could have fallen into the port itself. If you understand where your port stack's outlet is and can reach it securely, you can try to clear it yourself. To begin with, remove anything in the mouth of the vent. If you don't see anything, the problem could be further inside. Try running a hose down the heap's outlet and turning it on. The pressure of the water should help clean the port system.
If you tried all those solutions with no luck, do not worry! There's still probably a clear-cut and uncomplicated solution. One of your individual pipe vents could be blocked, or you might have a sewage issue.
Whatever the secret of the smell, you can depend on Jet Plumbers Arvada Colorado to find and repair it. Give us a call if you're smelling something that you shouldn't be. The Smell Great plumber has to meet a smell we could not beat.
