Hi there
We live in a ground floor flat
Whever the upstairs flat have a shower - we get a bad drains smell coming from the drain (that is shared) outside our backdoor
What is the first thing to do?
Sahall I ask upstairs to try a drains cleaner product that they pour down their shower waste pipe ?
UK.d-i-y is over there ->
Sounds like a trap is being sucked dry somehow..
Maybe the stack vent is blocked, or they have a faulty air admittance valve upstiirs
..oh..hang on. From the drain outside?
Describe the drain please..
I love drains. You know where you are with drains, Everyone should have one...
Thanks for the reply
Well their shower waste comes down a pipe and into a typical small drain with a grill on
The smell only happens when they have shower upstairs - and the smell seems to come from that drain
Odd. It should be a gully trap. I.e. have a u-bend in it.
Shower water is not smelly, and it would be the absence of it in the trap that would normally cause the smell.
Do you get a smell when YOU use water that runs into the same drain?
If the drain is cracked and blocked, running water into it might push foul gases up through a crack somewhere.
Anyway, no harm in taking the grid off, removing anything solid, and flushing it through with a hose, or perhaps a pile of caustic soda and a kettle of boiling water (stand well back: wear protective clothing, especially eye protection.)
If the water is not clearing from it properly, you will soon spot it.
OK will try those tips thanks
When we use the drain there is no smell
NEVER use boiling water woith solid caustic soda. Caustic soda gives out a large amount of heat when it dissolves in cold water - in some proportions enough to make the water boil! I would dissolve the caustic soda in cold water, a little at a time and stir continuously, then add enough hot water to mke the solution hot before pouring it down the drain. (I am a chemistry graduate with ;ong time experience of dissolving caustic soda in water)
Malcolm
Alas what works on paper and in controlled environments is not what tends to happen in eal life because the users of the said real lives have better things to do.
You may have qualification in dolthood but when you throw an amount of caustic into a drain, it is not at waste height so to speak.And it contains water. Which is more than most Thames Water resevoirs -despite all their chemistry expertise.
This tends to dissolve the chemical in question and the point about adding boiling water -though lost on you, you tit, is that it continues the experience as it flushes the detritus away.
Never mind the effing chemistry you ...ah never mind, just do some simple physics next time, before you post.
Are you IMM or that other plonker by any chance?
I am also a scientist and I can tell you that a nice exothermic reaction with boiling water is just the ticket for clearing blocked drains. Lots of superheated steam and pressure.
Done it loads of times.
Wuss.
Just watch out for sploashes. They eat jeans very well, and aren't that nice on yer skin either. Esp. when hot.
Sill it degreases your hands well enough when you put them under a cold tap.
Id far rather put a kettle of boiling water on a pot of caustic soda, than work on a ladder without a tie down on a sloping roof, or a motor strimmer without eye protection, or light a bonfire soaked in petrol - even 10 feet away throwing lit newspaper at it. Or sit in a rocket propelled drag racer....
If you want dangerous, I can tell you things I have done and seen that are FAR more dangerous.
The message from The Natural Philosopher contains these words:
Makes your skin go all slippery where it's turned the oils in your skin into soap.
That's because you aren't in the back garden sniffing around the drains when you have a shower. :-p
Pour a few ounces of solid caustic soda granules down there and leave it for a few hours....probably better to do this as late as possible at night to allow it to dissolve body fat in the drain which often stinks to high heavens when it decays, this is the smell you are getting when warm water is going through it
define 'body fat' !!
Eeew, Yuck!
//J
Because you're worth it
in the drain which often stinks to high
It's a kind of 'lard' which is removed with soap, it tends to coagulate in drains and also it's noticable on ceramic tiles in shower areas which don't get cleaned properly, this is most noticable at public baths etc...in these areas it's not really a problem and isn't very noticable, when it's in the drains however, there are bacteria which live on it and it's these that stink, bleaches and disinfectants don't work very well because of sheer numbers....these *do* work if the gulley is jetwashed or blasted through with a hosepipe prior to using them.
Sounds similar to lanolin, which used to block sewers before they realised they could sell it to ladies.
BMI > 25
ITYM "...dissolve the caustic soda by adding a little at a time to cold water, stirring continuously..."
A rider about wearing gloves and eye protection might not have gone amiss.
from Aero Spike
For the benefit of those not edentulous and therefore unaccustomed to using Denture Cleansing Tablets, I used these (as recommended by Kim and Aggie, IIRC) for decoking the inside of a rather mal-used vacuum flask.
By golly, they're strong stuff.
The black stuff came off the inside of the flask like paint under assault from nitromors.
Unfortunately the splashes caused a similar effect on the laminated kitchen worktop, which now looks like Michael Jackson painted by Jackson Pollock.
Owain
Very good advice - treat caustic soda with the utmost respect & be very careful with the solid particles & splashes - it causes very nasty burns which tend not to heal well.
As an added note, _washing_ soda is often advocated for clearing blockages and smells, often by pouring the crystals into the drain & flushing with boiling water. Washing soda and caustic soda are NOT the same thing! You try that with caustic soda, and, as has been intimated by previous posters, it will boil violently, throwing a spout of highly caustic solution into the air, surrounding area, and over the hapless/skinlesss cleaner!
1/. I have had many minor caustic burns and all have healed well. Just wash the burn (you will feel it) with old water in quantity and frankly its a lot less than e.g. a cooking burn from a hot fat splash. 2/. The only totally vulnerable area is the eyes. Hot caustic is fearfully bad news for eyes, but, even here total flushing with cold water in huge quantities IMMEDIATELY and immediate A&E trip will probably not result in permanent damage, just intense and prolonged pain. 3/. I DO have permament scars from
- hot fat scalding
- welding splatter
- using a breadknife
- modelling scalpel cuts
- splinters of blackthorn.
- a rampant infection from a bit of dirty rockwool that lodged in my neck, and resulted in blood poisoning, a massive boil that needed lancing and a two week course of antibiotics. That was in Africa, where such infections take off more than here though.
- a car accident.
- falling off a bike onto gravel
My point being that gardening, driving, cooking and model making have so far proved far more dangerous that pouring hot water on caustic crystals in a sink or drain.
My sister managed to get a carpet hook neatly hooked in here eyelid whilst making a carpet in the 50'...I cut myself on sheets of PAPER once..and grass..yes Ive cut myself on grass blades..
Make sure your eyes are protected, and have a bucket of cold water or a hose nearby, and you will not come to any permanent harm. Caustic STINGS like HELL. You won't burn yourself and not know it.
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