Kitchen Drain Odor Eliminator
You have cleaned your kitchen until it is squeaky clean and examined every surface. Yet still, you smell something. After careful examination and ruling out all of the usual kitchen culprits…dogs, kids, trashcans and missed spills, you determine that the smell is kitchen drain odor.
Okay, so now what can you do without calling a plumber…drain cleaners? You can not tell what is causing the smell by just looking in the top of the drain. We have some methods to get rid of the smell and prevent it in the future. Continue reading to learn how to keep your kitchen sink smelling fresh.
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How to Get Rid of Smelly Drains in the Kitchen
In order to rid your kitchen of smelly sink odor, try the simplest solutions first.
Home Remedy for Smelly Drains
You can try many different home remedies first to rid your kitchen sink of odor. Start with the easiest and if your order still remains, move onto the next option.
1 – Scour the Sink Itself
Before you try anything, give the sink itself a good cleaning. First, fill the sink with hot soapy water and scrub it to eliminate the first layer of grime. Then, sprinkle baking soda all over the inside of the sink.
Use a rag and some elbow grease and give the sink a good scrub. Focus on scrubbing around the drain.
2 – Try Pouring Boiling Water Down the Drain
Next, try pouring some boiling water down the drain. Boil some water and simply dump it down the drain. This may be enough to melt away some of the grime and bacteria that are causing the odor.
3 – Vinegar and Baking Soda
If your drain is still smelly when you walk by it, try using vinegar and baking soda. Put about a quarter cup of baking soda down the drain and then put about a quarter cup of vinegar down the drain.
This will bubble up and help clean out your drain. Let it work for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then, rinse your drain.
4 – Ice – If You Have a Garbage Disposal
If you have a garbage disposal, food and debris can get stuck to the blades and all the moving parts. This can also cause odor. In order to try to free everything stuck on the blades from the garbage disposal, try using ice and lemon rinds. Toss a couple ice cubes down the sink and run the garbage disposal.
The grinding action will help eliminate the built up bacteria on the blades of the garbage disposal. Repeat a couple of times. Then, throw a couple lemon rinds down the drain and run the garbage disposal again. This works in two different ways. The acid in the lemons helps to dissolve dirt and bacteria. Furthermore, the lemons are fragrant and smell clean and fresh.
Sink Drain Cleaners
Your sink odor may need a sink drain cleaner product. Sink drain cleaners can be divided into three categories: a physical tool to remove a clog, a chemical cleaner to dissolve clogs and garbage disposal cleaners.
Chemical Drain Cleaners
Chemical cleaners to dissolve gunk and grime are probably what you are most familiar with when it comes to drain cleaning. They can be in liquid or granule form. Who doesn’t know about Drano? Drano is still top rated and recommended, but there are other highly recommended cleaners as well.
All of the chemical cleaners are powerful and specially designed to clean greasy kitchen clogs. You should always follow the directions carefully on the product. For that really stubborn clog, you may need a removal tool. This can be anything from a snake to a plunger to a specialized tool designed just for clogs. This method may require a little more elbow grease, but is environmentally friendly.
This package has a combination of chemical and physical cleaner in one package.
Sink Drain Deodorizers
There are many kitchen sink drain deodorizer products on the market to keep your sink smelling fresh and clean. Some of these products also help keep the sink clean by dissolving some of the gunk that builds up when you use the product. There are several kinds of tablets that when dropped down the sink will release fresh fragrance, perform a fizzing action and help keep your drain clean.
Cleaning a Smelly Garbage Disposal
If the DIY method above with ice and fruit rinds does not work for your garbage disposal, there are products that you can purchase to help clean your garbage disposal. These products are tremendously helpful and super convenient.
Preventing Sink Odor Buildup
After you have cleared your sink of the offending odor, you can do some things on a regular basis to keep your sink smelling good. You should always avoid pouring grease down your drain. Make it a point to pour hot or boiling water down your drain on a regular basis and use a sink strainer. You can also regularly use one of the drain deodorizers above and it will help a great deal.
Also, if you have a garbage disposal, grinding ice or a garbage disposal cleaner once a week will keep it clean.
The kitchen sink drain is often overlooked until it starts to smell. It is tricky to clean and out of sight. So, we just push it aside until we can’t avoid the odor. The foul smell coming from your kitchen sink is often coming from bits of food, grease and grime. These gross items get stuck on the components of your drain. They decompose, form bacteria and smell horrible until they are removed.
You don’t have to have a clog for your drain to smell bad. Simple build up of the normal things that pass through your sink drain can cause an odor. If you have a smelly kitchen drain, you have alot of options. You can try the DIY route first if you don’t mind a little more mess. Otherwise, we have summed up many wonderful products that will leave your drain smelling fresh.
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