Most of the time, taking a shower is a relaxing part of a person’s day. You can’t think of anything better than getting in the shower and letting the water take care of all your stress after a long, stressful day at work. Showers, on the other hand, have the potential to be extremely embarrassing. A stench in the shower can be caused by a variety of things.
Identifying the Source of the Smell If you’re in the bathroom and notice a strange new smell coming from the shower drain, the first thing you should do is write down the kind of noxious smell it is so you can figure out where it’s coming from.
1. Dry or Dirty P-Trap If your shower drain smells like sewage, your P-trap isn’t preventing sewer gases from entering your bathroom effectively. If your P-trap is still clogged and you have a mustier or general odor, it probably needs to be cleaned.
How Does a Shower P-Trap Cause Odors and What Is It?
A P-trap, an additional drain fitting, is included in many bathrooms. This particular piece of plumbing, which is intended to stop sewer gases from backing up into your home through your drain system, is frequently to blame for smelly shower drains. The presence of water in the trap itself forms a seal that prevents the unpleasant odors from reentering the home.
Odors will easily waft into the bathroom through the shower drain and around your feet as you use the facility if there is no water in the P-trap or if it has dried out. Because of this, inspecting it is simple because you only need to shine a flashlight at it to determine whether it appears dry or devoid of water.
How to Clean Shower P-Traps
To clean this section of the pipe, look in its trap for any debris. Utilize an old rag or paper towel to scoop out anything that is obstructing its passage if it appears that something has become entangled there.
Fill your bathroom sink tub with cold water after all debris has been removed before pouring it into the P-trap until there are no air pockets. Any other blockage that might be causing the bad smell could be flushed out with the help of this.
2. Leaky Pipes: If your shower smells like sulfur or rotting eggs, it usually means that the drain lines under your house are leaking. Faulty valves, corroded pipes, and dripping faucet joints are all common causes of smelly shower drains like this one.
What can result in leaking pipes?
Because they release sulfurous gases that can make your shower smell like rotten eggs and send them up through your drain system, these leaks can cause the most unpleasant shower odors. Corroded sections of pipe and loose joints, like those on your sink taps or under your toilet seat, are common causes of smelly shower drains.
How to Repair Leaking Pipes
To eliminate shower odors emanating from your drain system as a result of leaking pipes, you will need to replace rusting pipe sections and tighten each corroded joint. Despite the fact that it is absolutely necessary to keep the bathroom a safe place to live, this can be a difficult task.
3. Biofilm Buildup If you can’t clear a drain clog with a plunger, biofilm has probably built up inside the bowl and is keeping water from draining out. This condition may be one of the common causes of smelly shower drains because everything in the bathroom begins to rot and decay at a faster rate when water does not flow through the pipe system.
Biofilm: What is it?
When hair and other debris begin to decay and decompose, biofilm forms on the inside of drain pipes. Dirt, dust, and other foreign objects can all form a sticky layer inside your home’s drain system, which can result in a smelly shower drain.
How to Get Rid of Biofilm Once you know where the smell is coming from in your house, you need to clean out all of the pipes under your bathroom sink and between them. Because it is difficult to access this section of the drain line, the majority of people typically have difficulty eliminating tough blockages or odors there.
You will need a special enzyme-based product that targets germs and bacteria in general as well as a few other tools to break down the biofilm. Unclean maintenance in these areas, which leads to buildup, may be one of the most common causes of stinky shower drains.
4. Drain Clogs If hair or other debris has gotten into your drain line, you need to fix it right away to stop the smell from getting any worse. Drain clogs and leaks are two common causes of smelly shower drains. This is because when water sits under a house for too long, it starts to rot and decay much faster.
What Causes the Shower to Clog?
Heavy use and bathtub overflow are the most common causes of clogged shower drains, but these issues can also be brought on by the accumulation of dirt and other foreign objects that clog your home’s plumbing system. Channel blockages are successive since various causes could without much of a stretch lead to obstructs, including:
How to Remove a Drain Clog
To remove a drain clog, you will need to remove the face shield from your plunger so that you can have a better grip on it before you plunge it into the obstruction. Other common causes of blockages include hair, sand, small objects, soap scum, dirt, and mineral deposits. Common reasons for a smelly shower drain can be difficult to diagnose because it requires you to use one hand to plunge into the filthy p-trap with the other, which is at best unsettling.
If you’re having trouble with a foul-smelling shower, J.O. Plumbing has you covered. Contact our staff right away at (03) 88997561. We’d be happy to help you and make your shower a place where you can relax once more.
