Drain odor

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Vaninha

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Sep 23, 2019
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Iowa
My bathtub exhales a nasty odor after I shower. The odor last a few to several minutes then it goes away and it only comes back after the next shower. I do not have a clogged drain. The water drains very well. In fact, when I bought this house 6 months ago, the drain was a little clogged but there was no smell. Once my husband unclogged it, it was when we started to notice the smell after showering. I tried using products to kill mold, bacteria such as bleach, vinegar and boiling water. It seems to work for a few days then the smell comes back. My husband is convinced that there is no p trap. We can hear the water drain very far down the pipes, while that does not happen to our other bathroom. But if there were no p trap, wouldn't it smell all day long? Like I said it only happens after we shower. I appreciate any help.
 
Shine a flashlight in the drain, if you see standing water there’s a trap. Sounds like you have something stuck to the inside of the pipe that is causing the smell, snake it out and it should free up any nasty stuff.
 
As long as the drain is running fine I recommend Drain Care or Drain Defender made by Zep. I think that Drain Defender is the newer version of Drain Care, but liquid. These are enzyme products and clear/eat the "sludge" from the sides of the pipes. Probably where the smell comes from. Double dose (2 nights in a row), then once a month to keep it clean.
Available at any big box/hardware store.
 
Shine a flashlight in the drain, if you see standing water there’s a trap. Sounds like you have something stuck to the inside of the pipe that is causing the smell, snake it out and it should free up any nasty stuff.

Thank you for your reply. I forgot to mention that we had a plumber come over and he poured a bottle of thrift down the drain, and he did mentioned that if the smell did not go away he would have to come back to snake out. He never checked for a p-trap because he said my house being fairly new ( built in 2007) would never pass inspection without a p-trap. So, since the smell came back about 4 days later, I decided to buy a $35 snake camera before calling the plumber again. We opened the overflow plate and put the camera down the overflow pipe. We turned on the water, and we could see the water drain just fine into the overflow pipe, and the overflow pipe looks pretty clean. We could not however see any standing water. We went about a foot down with the camera and it seems that the overflow pipe just turns about 90 degrees. We could not go any further with the camera because of it (that is what convinced my husband there is no p-trap). We did notice however that just above there is another pipe that connects perpendicular to the overflow pipe. I have no idea what pipe is for and that one looks a little nasty. We flushed the toilet, turned on the sink faucet and even the drain water from the washing machine. Nothing goes through that pipe. Maybe is a vent pipe?? My husband did notice though that when we flushed the toilet he could feel a bit of air pulling the camera.

Thanks.
 
As long as the drain is running fine I recommend Drain Care or Drain Defender made by Zep. I think that Drain Defender is the newer version of Drain Care, but liquid. These are enzyme products and clear/eat the "sludge" from the sides of the pipes. Probably where the smell comes from. Double dose (2 nights in a row), then once a month to keep it clean.
Available at any big box/hardware store.

Thank you, I will try that!
 
You need a mechanical device to knock the buildup off of the pipes. A jetter or snake. A skilled plumber with a camera can answer all of your questions. We do not recommend any liquid treatment except vinegar to try and clear up problems like this because for the most part, they don’t work. My ridgid microdrain camera works perfect for this type of thing. Find a plumber with a camera that will work in a 1 1/2 pipe.
 
You need a mechanical device to knock the buildup off of the pipes. A jetter or snake. A skilled plumber with a camera can answer all of your questions. We do not recommend any liquid treatment except vinegar to try and clear up problems like this because for the most part, they don’t work. My ridgid microdrain camera works perfect for this type of thing. Find a plumber with a camera that will work in a 1 1/2 pipe.
OK thanks for your help!
 
Ok! Let's dump $200 into some plumber's pocket so he can look down your drain, instead of spending $8 to try and resolve the problem (the smell). What is he/she going to see? The drain flows well, so probably no obstruction. I've used and recommended Drain Care/Drain Defender for many years with nothing but good results.
Not every problem has to drain your bank account!
 
Hey sure. I look out for my clients health. I’m a plumber, it’s what we do. When someone tells me they have smells that won’t go away, I as a plumber think of health hazards of breathing potentially harmful vapors. But yeah, the handy guy just wants the quick cheap buck. Just different ways of following your career path.
 
The "handy guy" has been doing this for 45 years and has learned quite a bit over that time. Like, not everyone is wrong just because they disagree with you, and jumping into the expensive fix (because an "expert" told me that's what I have to do), when a simple, proven, "fix" is available to try first.
As far as you using the "loaded" phrase "potentially harmful" to scare people into spending more, that's bull. It's "potentially harmful" to get in a car these days, or even take a walk in the city.
Enough said!
 
I truly thank you both for your input. I will try the cheaper route first and if it doesn't work, I will contact a professional again.
 
Not really enough said. Plumbers have throughout history been tasked with the health of the public. You may want to minimize that but we plumbers take it seriously. Sure, most the time it’s not serious. But like I tell my clients “if it happens to you it’s 100%”.
I don’t scare people, I inform people. Do you believe protection devices like double check valves, vacuum breakers and rp devices aren’t necessary because you’ve never met anyone who got sick because of these didn’t work? If you’ve ever seen anyone get sick from contaminated water or get infections from raw sewage, you might think twice. Most of the time it’s nothing, but if it happens to you, it’s 100%.
 
Ya know what’s sad? A 35 year plumber arguing health risks of a compromised plumbing system with a 45 year-handy man.
 
Vainha (in her original post) said that it smelled only for a few minutes after each shower, and then asked, "If there was no p trap, wouldn't it smell all day long?" That's a big clue.

I think that the vent system is clogged sufficiently so that as the last of the shower water goes down the 1-1/2 or 2" drain piping, it pulls enuf of a vacuum to empty the p trap. Then sewer gases drift into the room for a few minutes until enuf water trickles off the walls of the shower to re-fill the p trap.

I will leave it to the others here to explain to Vainha how to confirm a vent obstruction and how to fix it.

If the above doesn't seem to be the fix, then I would want more info, such as: Does the toilet flush sound different than the other toilets in the house, is the home on a septic system, does the smell occur in all seasons of the year, does hubby use some unusual shower products.
 
Fairly certain that it’s trapped. A camera would show if the vent is blocked at the fitting. A shower drain generally will have enough cross sectional area that even if the vent is obstructed it will still flow correctly.
 
Vainha (in her original post) said that it smelled only for a few minutes after each shower, and then asked, "If there was no p trap, wouldn't it smell all day long?" That's a big clue.

I think that the vent system is clogged sufficiently so that as the last of the shower water goes down the 1-1/2 or 2" drain piping, it pulls enuf of a vacuum to empty the p trap. Then sewer gases drift into the room for a few minutes until enuf water trickles off the walls of the shower to re-fill the p trap.

I will leave it to the others here to explain to Vainha how to confirm a vent obstruction and how to fix it.

If the above doesn't seem to be the fix, then I would want more info, such as: Does the toilet flush sound different than the other toilets in the house, is the home on a septic system, does the smell occur in all seasons of the year, does hubby use some unusual shower products.

Thank you for your reply, so to answer your question about the toilet flush sound: The sound of the flush is normal, but what I think is odd as that I can hear the sound of the water running through the pipe FROM the bathtub drain. The water from the sink can be heard from the bathtub drain as well. That does not happen in our other bathroom. My husband seems to think that if there was a trap, the water in the trap would block the sound. Do you think that to be the case as well? I am actually going to the store tomorrow to try the Drain Care suggested above. If it does not work, I guess the next step is calling a professional.
 
Take the cover off the drain and look in the drain with a flash light and see if water is standing in the drain. If so then
you have a p-trap.
 

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