oder in house water in one sink, what's cause?

[coffeeman]

rotten egg smell. to me here in united states = liquid propane gas leakage. they add a chemical to the gas for heaters. and if you get a gas leak, you could possibly smell rotten egg smell.

if not a gas leak, i would suspect, sewage leak. ya have normal drain in bottom of sink, and if bathroom sink normally an overflow in the sink. i have seen some rare sinks were overflow and bottom drain on sink required you to TEE the 2 areas together before going into the P trap. and then having enough water in the P trap to fill the P trap to keep gasses from exiting out of the bottom drain or overflow...

i have seen it were just running enough water has caused the "vents" on the sewage line, cause a back draft per say. which allowed gases from the sewage line to push back through the P trap and back into the home.he water heater and sink down to the bottom before next use. over time, this crud begins building up in the bottom of the hot water tank.

a simple flushing of the hot water tank with some sort of chemical say bleach or like. can disinfect and help remove the crud in the bottom of the tak and flushing it out with some chemicals, does not really clean it.

this goes with old pipes in the house as well. more so with wells with heavy metals in thups.

so my question is how bad is your water heater, and how bad are your pipes with crud build up?


===================u

WOW!!! Thanks boggen for the complete reply. I believe you must be a good and helpful neighbor, and not afraid to take time to help others.. You covered problem. bobmisi was first poster and on the money. deer fan was on top of it too. And you covered every problem in water universe. And so do all the posters help each other. It's great.

The problem, 99% sure. I eliminated drain because cold water could run and run, no smell. I turn hot on and wait for cold to change to hot. Hot comes out for about 15 seconds and the smell starts. Coincidently I changed the spigot set just before then. The sink wasn't used much for a time while waiting for time to change, the hot side was off. I have another sink close by so I very seldom used the now smelly sink. What I now think is the trap has a colony of mold or some other growth causing oder. Reason I rejected the drain theory is because cold didn't make smell emit from drain. The hot loosened or aggravated mold to klick loose the smell and cause it to go up into sink, causing me to be sure it must be just hot water.

Why I think I'm right.. I'll post answer later. Have to log now.

 

[coffeeman]

WOW!!! Thanks boggen for the complete reply. I believe you must be a good and helpful neighbor, and not afraid to take time to help others.. You covered problem. bobmisi was first poster and on the money. deer fan was on top of it too. And you covered every problem in water universe. And so do all the posters help each other. It's great.

The problem, 99% sure. I eliminated drain because cold water could run and run, no smell. I turn hot on and wait for cold to change to hot. Hot comes out for about 15 seconds and the smell starts. Coincidently I changed the spigot set just before then. The sink wasn't used much for a time while waiting for time to change, the hot side was off. I have another sink close by so I very seldom used the now smelly sink. What I now think is the trap has a colony of mold or some other growth causing oder. Reason I rejected the drain theory is because cold didn't make smell emit from drain. The hot loosened or aggravated mold to klick loose the smell and cause it to go up into sink, causing me to be sure it must be just hot water.

Why I think I'm right.. I'll post answer later. Have to log now.

Last night I ran water and got same old smell. I decided to heed advice from bobmisi, deer fan and bogged. I made slurry of Comet and water. Just enough to fill trap with
slurry. Sealed it up till 6pm tonight, about 20 hrs . Run hot water tonight for long time. No oder.

Now I'm 100% sure it's drain.

Thanks all.....Coffeeman

 

[deerefan]

Last night I ran water and got same old smell. I decided to heed advice from bobmisi, deer fan and bogged. I made slurry of Comet and water. Just enough to fill trap with
slurry. Sealed it up till 6pm tonight, about 20 hrs . Run hot water tonight for long time. No oder.

Now I'm 100% sure it's drain.
Thanks all.....Coffeeman

Glad to be of some assistance. Hope it is resolved permanently.

 

[kenmac]

Glad to be of some assistance. Hope it is resolved permanently.

If he has PVC drains it won't be. One would think, with PVC drains that stuff would just slide down the drain. Not so, Soap scum will build up in PVC and stop it up and or cause the odor he described. Usually a good dose of drain cleaner will do the trick.Until , the next time

 

[coffeeman]

If he has PVC drains it won't be. One would think, with PVC drains that stuff would just slide down the drain. Not so, Soap scum will build up in PVC and stop it up and or cause the odor he described. Usually a good dose of drain cleaner will do the trick.Until , the next time

Here's an update. I was certain of oder from drain when I put Comet cleanser in trap. Smell went away, but only for couple days. So one nite I put clorox bleach full strength. Let it set overnight. The oder gone for good now. A thought for those who have septic tanks. Don't want to use too much bleach. As all of us folks with septic tanks know, we have to take caution. Don't want kill tank.

Cheers all and thanks for good ideas......Coffeeman

 

[kenmac]

If you have PVC drain lines , keep some bleach or some sort of drain cleaner around ,it will happen again

 

[ametcalf]

I know this is an old post but I just saw it. When we built in 2008 I told my wife I only wanted bathroom sinks with overflows in them. Bad idea. For the sink we use most she bought one that has a soap dish with three overflow holes in it. I was thrilled as I installed it. A couple of years later I wasn't so happy. When ever I ran the hot water the foul smell you describe arose. Because it was only at that sink I figured it had to be something about that sink that was different. Eventually I figured out that because hot air rises when I was running the hot water down the sink it was causing warm moist air to come up through the overflow bringing the smell of the gunk that was hanging out in the overflow piping with it. Now every couple of months when it starts to smell I pour some baking soda down the overflow followed by white vinegar and let it do its thing. I do this two or three times and follow it with hot water and then we are good to go for another couple of months. The way the sink is cut into the counter top it wouldn't be easy to change so we just live with it but I won't put anymore sinks in with an overflow.