You don’t want your house to have the smell of a sewer drifting through it, but this can sometimes happen to even the cleanest house because of troubles with the plumbing. If your house has terrible odors making daily life unpleasant, you’ll want to know the source and have it corrected.
We’re going to look at common causes of foul smells from plumbing in Peoria, AZ. This can help you know what to do about them. Our plumbers are ready to help make your house smell fresh again, and we have 24-hour emergency service to correct any plumbing disaster you run into.
ONE: Problems with the sewer line
We’ll start with a worst-case scenario, but unfortunately a common trouble for residential plumbing systems. The sewer odors in your house may actually be emanating from the sewer line itself. When the sewer line is in regular working shape, it moves wastewater from the drains in your house out to the municipal sewer line without you noticing. But if the line develops breaches, clogs, or root infiltration, it will begin to push sewer gas the wrong direction through the plumbing. The odors are a warning: unless the sewer line issue is addressed, actual sewage backup will eventually occur. You need professional plumbers on the job ASAP!
TWO: Blocked drain vents
Drain vents are the pipes that allow sewer gas to escape up through outlets in the top of the house. This prevents a buildup of pressure between the sewer line and the drains. If these escape-route pipes become clogged, they will push gas up through the drains.
THREE: The dried p-trap
Here’s an easy one you can fix yourself. Can you track the bad odors to a single drain? If so, is this a drain that hasn’t been used in a few weeks? Then the trouble is that the p-trap—the curved section of pipe that holds a barrier of water—has dried out and sewer gas is rising through it. Simply run water down the drain for a minute or so to restore the p-trap’s water barrier.
FOUR: The dirty garbage disposal
When you consider how much food waste goes down your kitchen’s garbage disposal on a regular basis, it’s surprising that it doesn’t develop odors more often. But disposals are designed to rapidly move ground-up waste into drain lines and leave little residue. The residue can build up over time, and if the disposal is malfunctioning it can cause a large accumulation of rotten food. The disposal may need to be cleaned, although for older units (more than 10 years) it may be better to replace it.
FIVE: Bacteria
This an issue you may encounter from the shower drain. Bacteria can develop within a substance called “biofilm” that grows inside shower drains because of soap, shampoo, and other body-cleaning products accumulating. It can affect other drains as well, and the best approach to solving this problem is with drain cleaning. No, don’t use chemical drain cleaners! They won’t solve the issue. It takes professionals drain cleaning to wipe out a biofilm buildup in drains.
Trust The Trusted Plumber! Call us for emergency plumbing repair in Glendale, AZ and the surrounding areas.
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