Susie Homemaker Part 3

[Sheryl]

There is an unpleasant smell coming from the drain in the kitchen sink. I live in a rural house where the sink drains out into an undreground wastewater receptecle not fasr from house. it is not overfull/in need of pumping out or blocked as it drains just fine with no reflux. I have alr4eady checked and cleaned grease trap.

I assume just some smelly bacteria growing down there.

Does anyone know of some household remedy or commercial substance I can put down there to improve this?

[Boo]

Isn't bicarb of soda supposed to get rid of smells?

[eek]

Dont know what its name would be in Thailand,but have a look for a foam based drain/sink cleaner Sheryl. Im sure must be available. When you spray it down the sink drainage it will expand then let it sit there for some time (i think its supposed to be for a couple of hours..but instructions should tell you)and it should break down anything causing problems.

[eek]

Isn't bicarb of soda supposed to get rid of smells?

I was gonna mention bicarb soda Boo, but wouldnt it have a hard time getting to the sides of the drain pipe? I think bicarb is great, but i think the foam cleaner would be better able to break down anything along the sides of the pipe ...?

[bkkjames]

Does the drain go through the wall and then into a holding container before entering the sewer system? If so, open it up and clean it out - although very unpleasant - should help with your smells.

[cathyy]

Does the sink have a U-trap, Sheryl? That's the place in the drain line where it goes down, and then back up about 4 inches, forming a U. Water remains in the U at all times, blocking the smelly gases from the septic tank from coming out the drain entry. My "Western" kitchen in Thailand lacked this small bit of plumbing genius, and my sink was eternally stinky. It shouldn't be too hard to create one out of that flexible plastic hose used so often in plumbing here.

[zzdocxx]

I've used an enzyme product for this type of thing. These are readily available in the US, don't know about Thailand though. My understanding is that they contain various bacteria that eat grease/biofilm, etc.

It usually involves dissolving some enzyme powder in warm water, then pouring it into the drain and letting it sit -- I did mine when I went to bed and just left it.

It seemed to work pretty well.

Good luck!

[Sheryl]

I've got a U shape already. It gioes directly into an udnerground seepage area and AFAIK there is no internmediate holding container (and if there were it is buried in cement).

The foam thing sounds great but no idea where it is to be found or what it is called?? Haven't seen anything remotely like it here. Just regualr kitchen cleansers and that stuff for clogges drians, which is not what I have,

he enzyme thing also sounds good, any idea where to get it??

Thanks!

[Harcourt]

You have to be carefull what you use. If you have a septic tank type system, putting any enzyme or antibacterial agent down the drain will kill the usefull organisms that are working on the septic tank contents.

If you are on a mains sewage system, although it is out of sight, out of mind, antiseptic or disinfectant agents ruin the sewage system for the same reason.

Whatewver system you are on, there should be a gully trap outside the house....this is where a pipe or two come from the sink etc and the water literally falls into the gully trap.

Block the pipe by stuffing rags into it, cover the gully trap so that when you release the rags later, the chemical-laden water doesn't go into the gully trap.

Fill your sink with water heavily dosed with bleach, then pull the plug. If still no reflux, repeat untill you can see that the pipe is full of bleachy water.

Let it stand for ten minutes or so....then pull out your rags and release the water from the pipe.

[Sheryl]

It's a septic tank system.

And thanks to the moron contractors who built it, the gully trap (if that's what it is, anyhow the place the pipe from sink empties) is under solid concrete and very hard to access.

Anyhow after my last post I put about a kg of baking soda down the drain and then also went out of town for 2 weeks, when I came back all odor gone.

How much due to the baking soda vs the passage of time (and maybe with non-use, decrease in levels of fluid down there) I can't say. It may be that whatever had died down there (which is what it smelled like) finally rotted away.

Today a huge and clearly healthy millipede (poisonous kind) crawled up out of the sink, which I suppose is a good sign ecologically speaking. Can't say I was glad to see it, tho