I'm hoping someone here can suggest what's causing this: we had a house extension built about a year ago. Over the last few months the shower has started to smell every time it's used. Obviously we've cleaned everything we can see, I've stuck my nose in the water drainage bit and it seems fine, I've gone under the floor and can't see any leakage and I've tried using one of those ensyme drain cleaners...still smells.
Any ideas?
Ronnie
Have you cleaned out the trap? Is the trap properly assembled?
Christian.
Possibly the trap is bing sucked dry, allowing drain smells to waft out.
Was anything added to the drains?
I'm assuming that it's properly assembled since there is water in it forming the trap - doesn't smell as far as I can tell.
Ronnie
It's certainly got water in it when I checked. I wouldn't think that it would be different when the shower is in use but I could check that too.
Not sure what you're referring to...?
Ronnie
I know the trap in my shower has a section in it you can turn, then pull out, allowing you access to the trap without going under the shower. If it's the same, is the rubber seal still there?, or the removeable part pushed in far enough and locked into place?
Something called syphoning. When you had the building work done what plumbing work was added? It's simple physics used in laboratories to produce "vacuum" effects. Water passing stright through a line will draw air into the current flow from an open tee piece.
The trap will fill when the shower is used but if there is an airlock in the system further down the line, the water will be pulled out by the flow further along, when that part of the system is flushed or whatever.
All you need to do is make the water travel higher up the outlet so that the air can vent past it. The water falls back into the trap when the event ceases. You can get anti-syphon traps:
The trouble is of course they are bigger than ordinary traps and the installer may not have had enough room to be sensible.
Of coure there may be a leak somewhere else tracking back to the bathroom.
The water will be there even when not properly assembed. The plastic insert "pipe" has to be fully locked into place and sealed. Otherwise, it won't operate as a trap.
Christian.
If you are satisfied that it's not the trap allowing drain fumes into the shower cubicle, then the solution/cause may be:
1) A non slip rubber mat which in my experience can pong a bit.If you have one chuck it out to see if that makes a difference. 2) Spray the inside of the shower cubicle with a dettol surface cleanser or similar product, if it is smell produced by a build up of bacteria on the inside surfaces of the shower it may be reduced or if your lucky, eliminated altogether. Good Luck Donwill
Maybe water is seeping behind the tiles or through gaps in the grout or seal with the tray etc. This then ends up stagnating beneath the tray. This can lead to terrible smells.
The fix is to find the gaps and seal them.
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