Have you walked into your bathroom and noticed a foul smell coming from the sink or drains? Does it smell like rotten eggs, but you don’t remember having any for breakfast or lunch? If an odor is coming from your drain or bathroom water, it might be because of sulfur. To be specific, hydrogen sulfide gas creates the unpleasant smell. It is produced because of bacteria and can be in places such as the ground, the sewage, and/or contaminated water and pipes.
How to Detect Where the Smell is Coming From
It can be difficult to pinpoint where exactly the sulfur smell is coming from. In order to figure it out, you can conduct a small test. To check if the problem is in the drains or in the water, grab a glass of water from the drain or area you believe the smell to be. Take the glass of water outside and smell. Then check water from another faucet and take it outside to smell. If both glasses of water have the unpleasant smell, it means that the bacteria is in the water. However, if only one glass smells, it most likely means one of the drains is contaminated.
Contaminated Water as Source of Smell
If you have learned that your water is contaminated, there are certain steps you can take to fix it. If your water heater is contaminated, it might be because the magnesium in the anode rod is reacting to the bacteria. In order to fix this, you can simply replace the rod with an aluminum one and disinfect the water with hydrogen peroxide, which is gentler than bleach.
Contaminated Sink Drain
If the odor is coming from a drain, you will need to disinfect the pipes to eliminate the smell. You can kill bacteria by pouring ½ a cup of bleach down your drains. However, if you are wary of using bleach on your drains, there is an alternative. Rather than bleach, you can pour ½ a cup of baking soda, followed by a cup of vinegar to clean your drains.
If you try both methods and the smell of sulfur persists, you may need professional help. Our plumbers at bluefrog Plumbing + Drain are trained to address all your plumbing needs. Call us today and take the first step to a fresher bathroom.