Stale smell in bathroom

[Maybole]

The floor drain in one of our bathrooms is emitting a stale smell. It is the room attached to our guest bedroom and is used infrequently so I suspect that it is caused by old water lying in it. I have put some caustic soda solution and later a lot of very hot water down it. This has improved things a lot but not completely eliminated the smell.

Suggestions and/or recommendations please to eradicated the smell.

[dcalaska]

Install a ''P'' trap.  

[worgeordie]

Just keep doing what you were doing till the smell goes away,I use bleach

 

regards Worgeordie

[scubascuba3]

I get that smell sometimes, anyone know what causes it? i smelt the same smell in the car park so maybe it works it's way up the floors.

 

sometimes i put drain cleaner down other times just water, both seem to work for a while 

[Lacessit]

Eucalyptus or pine oil will mask the smell, and also act as a bactericide for the bacteria causing it.

[soi3eddie]

Occasionally, I get same from a floor drain in a rarely used shower room. It's because the water in the drain trap evaporates over time leaving no block to rising foul vapour. Ensure that there is a good water trap and that when filled it creates a vapour barrier. If not using all the time then maybe some sort of cover on it is a good idea.

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by soi3eddie

[connda]

Rinse the drain liberally after peeing in the shower. 

[Mickeymaus]

19 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Occasionally, I get same from a floor drain in a rarely used shower room. It's because the water in the drain trap evaporates over time leaving no block to rising foul vapour. Ensure that there is a good water trap and that when filled it creates a vapour barrier. If not using all the time then maybe some sort of cover on it is a good idea.

 

If you use a cover then something that floats on water. I put there a plastic bag filled with water. Was pretty airtight. But then a water hose broke in this bathroom and the water could not run down the drain. I have learnt my lesson ????

[Maybole]

2 hours ago, dcalaska said:

Install a ''P'' trap.  

What is a "P" trap?

[huangnon]

If not too involving or damaging, I'd check under the floor for broken or leaking drain pipes. Might be seepage under the tiles causing the problem.

[Sheryl]

Moved to general forum for more responses

[RayWright]

P-Trap, i.e. the U bend.

[Jingthing]

Mask it.

 

Get a container like an empty tea can.

 

Put in some baking soda. No need to fill.

 

Place some whole cloves on top of the soda.

 

Optionally add some drops of essential oil

 

This will suck up the stink and lasts a long time.

 

Optionally cover the container with foil and put holes in it. Good if you have pets.

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Jingthing

[Puccini]

1 hour ago, RayWright said:

P-Trap, i.e. the U bend.

I can't see a way to install this in a floor drain in a condominium unit.

 

If you unscrew and take off the cover of the floor drain you will find a trap with just a few millilitres of water in it. Unless water is run through this drain frequently, this water will evaporate within a few days.

 

My solution was to wrap the cover with clingfoil before placing it back, taking the calculated risk of flooding if a water pipe should break somewhere in the bathroom. Every few months, the trap should be refilled with water.

 

[chickenslegs]

12 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Occasionally, I get same from a floor drain in a rarely used shower room. It's because the water in the drain trap evaporates over time leaving no block to rising foul vapour. Ensure that there is a good water trap and that when filled it creates a vapour barrier. If not using all the time then maybe some sort of cover on it is a good idea.

 

^ This. Assuming that the floor drain has a working "shallow trap" and is rarely used, a bit of vegetable oil in the trap will coat the surface of the water and prevent the water from evaporating too quickly.

This also works with P traps, U-bends, bottle traps, etc. if leaving the house unattended for a while.

 

[rwill]

Fast fix.  Get something flat like a thick piece of plastic to cover the drains when not in use.  Can put something heavier, like a bottle of water, on top to help hold it down.

 

Better fix.  Change the floor drains to ones that have a flap on the bottom that close when no water is draining.  Keeps odors and critters out.  There are 2 types.  Those that use a spring to keep it closed and those that have a weight flap.  I like the spring ones better, they seal tighter.  Just saw a third type on Lazada that uses magnets.  No experience with those.

 

Global house sells some or on Lazada.

 

[Gsxrnz]

13 minutes ago, rwill said:

Fast fix.  Get something flat like a thick piece of plastic to cover the drains when not in use.  Can put something heavier, like a bottle of water, on top to help hold it down.

 

Better fix.  Change the floor drains to ones that have a flap on the bottom that close when no water is draining.  Keeps odors and critters out.  There are 2 types.  Those that use a spring to keep it closed and those that have a weight flap.  I like the spring ones better, they seal tighter.  Just saw a third type on Lazada that uses magnets.  No experience with those.

 

Global house sells some or on Lazada.

 

The flap style drains you recommend are a good way of avoiding smells.  The only problem being that you have to ensure it is cleaned regularly.  My wife's hair eventually builds up over time, and stops the flap from closing properly.

[bondjames007]

I had a bad smell in my bathroom,  I used this that I brought from Tesco.

 

Smell has gone away.

 

 

[PeterA]

I get the same thing when no water is flushed down the drain. If I put a small bucket of water down it every night, no smell. 

[Sydebolle]

Flush the floor drains regularly (once a week?). It should ensure that the smell trap works; a brass/stainless steel bell mounted to the floor drain grill covering the drain pipe, whereas the floor pipe is a few millimetres higher than the bell rim. 
When "flooded" you have a water film outside the bell cover which keeps the smell ........ in the pipe. If the floor drain is connected to any other drain (wash basin, urinal etc.) and the bell overlapping the floor pipe is minimal, then it takes very little to eliminate that water film = it smells.

Eventually you will have to change the floor drain, which usually comes in a set; keep floor drain diametre in mind when getting a new drain. The bigger the water film is between the bell rim and the drainage pipe, the better it works; good luck

[scubascuba3]

6 hours ago, Puccini said:

 

 

My solution was to wrap the cover with clingfoil before placing it back, taking the calculated risk of flooding if a water pipe should break somewhere in the bathroom. Every few months, the trap should be refilled with water.

 

good idea but no risk of build up of gas?

[MeHere]

17 hours ago, Maybole said:

What is a "P" trap?

Took all of two seconds to find out everything about a P Trap with a simple Google search

[Tropposurfer]

Often sadly the oh-so-often issue with this problem is Thai builders being absolutely cr@p at setting and transitioning from one RL to another i.e. they set levels for floor slabs which don't allow enough depth & fall to the exit points off the properties for the sewer drainage (such as your shower pan) which often results in next to zero play to install pans, and 'u-bends/s-bends' with sufficient depth of pipe 'fall' to the drainage exit points.

Bad building practice! This is on page one of any decent builders plans!

I was very specific about all my shower pans, bathroom floor, toilet, and laundry floor pans with the setting of the house floor slab heights so we had perfect angle of exit and Aussie standard specs on all pans, s-bends, and pipe dimensions to the mains sewer.

With sufficient fall, correct sealing, correct pipe dimensions, and correct s-bends nasty vapours are impossible.

[lopburi3]

As said it is the loss by evaporation of water from the normal bell trap used for floor drains.  Just spray a bit of water on floor from bidet every week or so.  Suspect a small piece of foam over the trap would reduce evaporation and perhaps keep smell out even if dry - and would be removed by water if any flooding.

[Mickeymaus]

7 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

^ This. Assuming that the floor drain has a working "shallow trap" and is rarely used, a bit of vegetable oil in the trap will coat the surface of the water and prevent the water from evaporating too quickly.

This also works with P traps, U-bends, bottle traps, etc. if leaving the house unattended for a while.

 

Don't take vegetable oil that can be eaten by bugs. Take mineral oil that is produced from petroleum. Insects will not like it. Baby oil for instance is one. But also oils used for lubrication. 

[metisdead]

A troll post has been reported and removed.

[tomazbodner]

Both P-trap and S-trap won't work well if you are rarely/never using that drain, as with no water in it to block the pipe, it does nothing. There's a silicone plug against insects and smell that works whether you use that drain or not, though.

 

[dddave]

21 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I get that smell sometimes, anyone know what causes it? i smelt the same smell in the car park so maybe it works it's way up the floors.

 

sometimes i put drain cleaner down other times just water, both seem to work for a while 

The OP said that it was a drain

 

21 hours ago, dcalaska said:

Install a ''P'' trap.  

The problem may well be that because as the OP said, it's a little used guest bathroom, that the water in the "P" trap evaporates over time, thus eliminating the barrier for stinky pipe gases. All the OP may need to do is run the water into the drain, maybe every week or two.

 

[scubascuba3]

24 minutes ago, dddave said:

The OP said that it was a drain

 

Of course it's a drain, but is it your drain, or drain of condo below, or car park etc etc, but subsequent posts confirm it's your own drain and lack of water

[hotchilli]

22 hours ago, dcalaska said:

Install a ''P'' trap.  

Agreed, masking it with concoctions is of no use, it will return.

Install a proper P-trap or "U" bend water trap.

Solution is final...