Foul smell in bathroom

taylor3

Hoping someone may be able to help. I have an En Suite bathroom that consists of shower, sink and toilet. We are In the house 13 years never had an issue but over the past 2 months or so we've been getting a sewage odour a couple of times when Husband places stopper in the sink to fill with water to shave, when he releases the stopper we get a nasty smell from either the sink or the shower drain/plug holes. Now from my limited knowledge the sink drain goes to the shower cause upon releasing water from the sink I get a gurgle sound from the shower. The water traps would always have water in them as this bathroom is used. They seem to drain well too, I took out the white plastic tube thing that sits within the plughole in the shower drain to clean it, I think I put it back correctly as far as I can tell. Anyone give me any tips on what may be the issue here. I called a plumber last week but he unfortunately let me down, he never called out. Any advice greatly appreciated from the ones in the know. Cheers.

Tiger20

Are you on mains sewer or septic tank? And does en suite water(shower/sink) drain to soak way?

taylor3

Tiger20 wrote: »

Are you on mains sewer or septic tank? And does en suite water(shower/sink) drain to soak way?

Mains. Not sure of your 2nd question 'does water drain to soak way' the water does drain ok as normal. Thanks for your reply.

Unknownability

Had a similar issue recently if you look through my past posts, replacing the shower trap completely solved the issue.

leinster93

Get yourself a bottle of caustic soda in the hardware store.
Mix it according to the instructions. Empty the caustic soda water mix down the shower outlet. Don't empty the mix down the sink where there is metal outlet. It will disintegrate metal...This should clear the gunk buildup along the output feed...

As mentioned on a previous post, the shower trap is not working. Some have a cup that the sits in the well of the trap. This setup acts as a blocker to foul odour.

Pinoy adventure

It sounds like traps are full of gunk.
Take them off and clean them.
Don't crosstread or over tighten when putting them back on

taylor3

Unknownability wrote: »

Had a similar issue recently if you look through my past posts, replacing the shower trap completely solved the issue.

Oh ok that's good to know. Maybe that could be something we could do. Thanks. It's just weird for me cause like i say we are in the house now 13 years and it's only recently we are having this issue.

Tiger20

taylor3 wrote: »

Mains. Not sure of your 2nd question 'does water drain to soak way' the water does drain ok as normal. Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, second question related to first, and only relevant if you had a septic tank. Try cleaning the trap( u bend under sink) it could be full of gunk that is disturbed by water draining

Unknownability

The gurgle sound could mean that you've a vacuum which means the water that's supposed to stay in the u bend and the shower trap gets sucked away and that let's the sewage smell up.

taylor3

Unknownability wrote: »

The gurgle sound could mean that you've a vacuum which means the water that's supposed to stay in the u bend and the shower trap gets sucked away and that let's the sewage smell up.

Possibly so, but why is it only an issue now.That gurgle sound was there ages and it's only now that we are experiencing the issue of the bad smell.

taylor3

Tiger20 wrote: »

Sorry, second question related to first, and only relevant if you had a septic tank. Try cleaning the trap( u bend under sink) it could be full of gunk that is disturbed by water draining

The sink is sitting on a pedestal, would that be hard do you know to get access to the U bend.

taylor3

What is this called. I took it out from the shower drain/plughole. Put it back of course but hope I put it back correctly..

WestWicklow1

Buy a plunger and use it regularly. Put a mask on and be ready for what will be pulled up into your shower tray first time......

septictank

taylor3 wrote: »

What is this called. I took it out from the shower drain/plughole. Put it back of course but hope I put it back correctly..

Catches hair down the plug hole, can have very long lady hair.

Can be hard to get it back in perfectly flat, but you got to.

Pinoy adventure

taylor3 wrote: »

What is this called. I took it out from the shower drain/plughole. Put it back of course but hope I put it back correctly..

That's the key which tightens the trap too the shower tray.