Stink From Kitchen

Moved into a new house Xmas '07. In the last few months we've noticed on several occasions that there's a terrible smell coming from the kitchen. It's coming from the press under the sink. We have a dishwasher on one side of the sink and a washer/dryer on the other. It seems to occur when we use the washer/dryer but not always and sometimes it's there when no appliance is in use.
We've had the plumber back a few times and he's fixed it only for it to return after a week or two. I read the bottle trap might not be full so when I get the smell I run the tap for a minute or so. However it seems to come from under the sink as opposed to the plug hole.
Any advice, hints or tips appreciated and thanks in advance.
Nicky

is the washing machine and dish washer outlet (grey hose) connected to the trap under the kitchen sink or does it feed into a white pipe, thats seperate?

There's a grey hose connected to the bottle trap, this is on the dishwasher side and there's also a separate grey hose connected to a white pipe on the washer/dryer side if that's any help!!

lets forget the dishwasher. Is there a trap fitted to that white pipe, it should look like the one connected to the sink. if there isn't, can you see where that white pipe exits the property from outside? is it terminated over a gully outside?

There's no trap fitted to the white pipe. I can't see where it exits but the pipes for sewarage etc run underground on the other side of that wall.

if it is connected directly to the waste water system without a trap, thats your problem. Am very surprised that plumber didn't pick it up. What you need is a washing machine trap stand pipe.

Would I need a plumber to put on the trap or could I chance it myself? Any idea of cost or what the plumber was doing that made it disappear for a few weeks? I will try to get a link to a pic asap, I'm not the best with computers if you'll take a look!! Thanks very much.

I will be very interested to see what the outcome of your problem is. I am having a similar problem. Never had a problem until the plumber organised a sink and dishwasher to share an outlet. Now both outlets seem to be protected by 'U' bends but I'm still certain that the system is causing a problem. The symptoms are exactly as you describe.

NickyK said:

Would I need a plumber to put on the trap or could I chance it myself? Any idea of cost or what the plumber was doing that made it disappear for a few weeks? I will try to get a link to a pic asap, I'm not the best with computers if you'll take a look!! Thanks very much.

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Depends. you will need, an 1 1/2 abs 90 degree elbow some pvc glue and a hacksaw. elbow about 70c, glue €3 or €4.

when you get your washing machine trap you will see that the pipe enters it horizontally.
Cut the white pipe that is there, stick the elbow on the pipe and push a short piece of pipe into the other end of elbow, in effect you have changed the upstand pipe from being vertical to horizontal.
Once the pipe is horizontal fit the plastic nut and rubber washer of trap on it. Finally clip trap pipe to wall.

One problem may be cutting tha pipe if you don't have much space or it's tight to the wall, expect swearing. take your time and it will come.

Feel free to post photo.

ophelia said:

I will be very interested to see what the outcome of your problem is. I am having a similar problem. Never had a problem until the plumber organised a sink and dishwasher to share an outlet. Now both outlets seem to be protected by 'U' bends but I'm still certain that the system is causing a problem. The symptoms are exactly as you describe.

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Same here. Part of our problem we reckoned was that one waste was sucking the water out of the trap of the other by vaccum. So we created a new seperate waste out for the dishwasher. One person told us the end of the waste should be under the water in the drain outside and others that it shouldn't be.

aircobra19 said:

Same here. Part of our problem we reckoned was that one waste was sucking the water out of the trap of the other by vaccum. So we created a new seperate waste out for the dishwasher. One person told us the end of the waste should be under the water in the drain outside and others that it shouldn't be.

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Do you mean the gully? It is ok for the pipe to sit just over the grill of the gully, you would not need a trap then because the gully is trapped. I.E the pipe isn't directly connected to foul water system. I've never heard of putting the pipe under water before.

I didn't think it should be in the water either, so I didn't do that.

I can't imagine the waste pipe should be under water. All sorts of smells would make their way up then.
aircobra, I think you may be right about the water being sucked from one trap to the other. They should make these traps transparent so we can see the inner workings!

You could always try running the tap for a minute before you go to bed. That would fill the trap.

Temporally put a plug in the sink a night

Tried running the tap and also putting the plug in at night but as I originally said the smell seems to come from the press under the sink and not the plug hole. Also the piping for the washer/dryer, which is where we believe the smell originates from is separate from the bottle trap under the sink.

Have you thought about looking at the electric's. It just might not be the plumbing. Plugs and sockets are made from bakelite which gives off a stinking fish smell when it starts to burn. Washing Machines and diswashers use a heavy load and can over heat a socket or you could have a loose ternimal within the socket or plugtop.

Smell must have been coming from the bottle trap. Every time we now use either the washing machine or dishwasher we put in the plug and put an inch of water in the sink. Not a single smell since.

we had this smell also and couldnt discover where it was coming from for ages. i noticed one morning that the smell only seemed to appear when someone was using the sink in the bathroom upstairs. our shore outside for the kitchen sink also has a pipe running into it for the sink in the bathroom upstairs. also has the washing machine and dishwasher. seems that when the sink upstairs was turned on the water running down the pipe was causing somekind of reasction to happen with the pipes behind the kitchen presses. my husband covered the top of the pipe that has the dishwasher and washing machine pipes running into it with insulation tape and the smell has stopped. suppose he needs to change the pipes really but dont think he knows what to do!