Where's the smell coming from?

[Jo]

There is a disgusting 'bad egg' smell coming from our bathroom sink (plughole). My husband has checked the drains and there is certainly no blockage. The smell seems to be worse when the toilet hasn't been flushed for a while. (I tend to notice it in the middle of the night if I have to get up for a quick nip to the loo). There is also a similar smell coming from our kitchen sink - and again there is no blockage. Any ideas? If so, what can we use to eliminate the smell? We have put bleach and soda crystals down but these have just tarnished the brass plughole which has now become brown and pitted! Any advice or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Jo

[dom]

Could the sink/wash basin traps be blowing through?

[Cicero]

================================ It's possibly a build-up of soap in the trap(s). This will be on the surfaces of the trap(s) so no apparent blockage. Have a look in your local supermarket for a special liquid drain cleaner.

We use one called 'Liquid Power sink and drain cleaner'. Look for a bright orange container.

Cic.

[Andrew Mawson]

certainly no

brass

Could very well be horrid stuff in the pipe from the overflow to the main trap. Just had exactly this issue with our kitchen sink. Foul smell whenever water put down sink. Copious bleach etc put down trap to no avail. Removed overflow fitting and pipe and removed disgusting gunge manually. Washed out with bleach and problem solved totally.

AWEM

[The Natural Philosopher]

You have a suction problem sucking the traps dry ..think of fitting a air admittance valve. You MIGHT have a blocked BREATHER stack.

Putting stuff down will not fix the problem.