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 ?

wrote:
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

wrote:
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

wrote:
OK will try those tips thanks

When we use the drain there is no smell

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

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

wrote:

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.





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

Malcolm Race wrote:

(I am a chemistry graduate with ;ong time experience of
dissolving caustic soda in water)

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?

Malcolm Race wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:

wrote:

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.





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

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.

Malcolm Race wrote:

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)


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