Discover Why Your Household Drains and Water are so Smelly

There are lots of things that can go wrong with your plumbing, but there are very few that cause foul smells to come from your drain or from the water itself.

Although having bad smells in your home is unpleasant and inconvenient, it’s easy to locate the cause. And once you know the cause, you can apply a speedy solution.

Here is a list of the most common causes for smelly drains and water:

Water Heater to Blame

Your water heater is warm and moist, which makes it the prime place for bacteria to grow. There are a number of healthy bacteria that grow in your water and work to keep the water cleaner.

However, when the water gets out of balance (depending on the mineral composition of your water), a chemical reaction occurs with the anode rod in your water heater. The anode rod is usually made of magnesium and is on your heater to prevent rust.

The chemical reaction creates an excess of sulfuric gas, which creates the rotten egg smell you might be getting from your water. To fix this, simply change the anode rod.

Smelly Pipes

While it makes sense that water rushes through your pipes when you use the plumbing, there is a lot of air that flows too.

There needs to be adequate ventilation for water, air, and gases to filter through.

When a pipe is blocked, not only is the flow interrupted, but a suction effect is created pulling gases in the opposite direction from which they are supposed to go.

They end up floating through your drains, which is where that smell is coming from.

Blockage can be caused by bird nests, food matter, plants or trees. To get rid of the source of the problem, schedule a professional drain cleaning.

Unused Bathroom?

Do you have a bathroom or shower that is rarely used? Is there a foul odor coming from the drains in there?

It’s probably because the P-trap is dried out, which is common when a drain hasn’t been used in some time.

The P-trap traps drain water to ban smelly sewer gases from floating up the drain into your home.

If the water dried out, there is no longer a barrier. Don’t worry, this is a super easy fix.

Simply run the water, and the P-trap should refill on its own, and the smell should disappear.

Suggestions for the Sewer Line

If you are plagued by a terrible smell coming primarily from drains in your basement that is moldy or musty, consider that there might be a blockage or other damage with your sewer line.

For whatever reason, if the sewer line isn’t functioning well to draw your wastewater away from your home towards the municipal sewer line, there could be trouble brewing under the ground- both underneath and next to your home.

If this seems like a possibility, call for repairs right now. Any further damage to the sewer line could result in flooding.