Maybe you have a smelly shower and wonder what can cause these smells. These smells can be so annoying. So if you want to discover the origin of them, let’s check this list together.
There are mainly 4 reasons why your shower smells:
1. Clogs
2. Dry or Dirty P-traps
3. Biofilm
4. Leaky pipes
Clogs
This can be named as the most common issue that everyone has experienced at least once in their lives. So the first thing that can bump your head is drain clogs. You can easily check these by opening the faucet and see if your shower is draining slowly or isn’t draining at all. If so, you are dealing with a clogging drain. The clog can cause by soap scum, hair, mineral deposit, dirt, or a combination of all these items. You can check the other posts if you want to know more about them.
Dry or Dirty P-traps
If your shower drain smells like a sewer, then this is a sign that your P-trap may not be doing its job of blocking sewer gases from escaping into your bathroom and it likely needs to be cleaned. The P-trap is a U-shaped section of pipe that dips down below the rest of your shower drain line before it connects to your main stack. If you look under your bathroom or kitchen sink, you should be able to see P-traps here, as well. The P-trap’s function is to hold enough water to keep gases from your sewer line from escaping through your shower and sink drains. If you rarely use the shower, there is a chance the water in the P-trap has dried. You can fix this issue simply by running the water for a bit. But if you use it regularly it can be some other problem and it’s better to call a specialist to check it. Sometimes people do remodelling and they don’t do the best job with pipes and the shape of p-trap. This can be the other reason to and for fixing it you should install it again.
Biofilm
Another popular cause of shower odours is biofilm. Biofilm can build up on your shower and inside your shower drain, leading to musty, unpleasant odours.
What is biofilm? Biofilm is a substance that forms from a dynamic colony of bacteria and bacterial waste. This substance is muddy and clings to surfaces. They can be dangerous to your health but fortunately, fixing this issue is simple and inexpensive.
You must first use a brush or other tool to break up the film and wipe it away as much as possible before then spraying the surface with an antimicrobial chemical to disinfect. Be sure to repeat this process once in a while to keep the biofilm from coming back. sometimes it may be coming from the drain. In this case, just keeping the walls and floor of your shower clean is not enough.
To remove biofilm from your drain, first, remove the drain cover and clean it. Next, dip a fuzzy paint roller cover in a cleaning product solution of your choice and push the roller cover vertically down the drain. Turn the roller cover around to help break the biofilm loose, keep pulling it out, and then push it back down the drain until you can no longer see any biofilm.
Leaky Pipes
In the end, we have leaky pipes. Sometimes the issue is bigger than we expect. If you can smell rotten eggs or sewage it’s not good news and it can be unfortunately leaky pipes. It is not a thing that you can handle by yourself unless you yourself are a professional. this problem is mostly because of pipes, how they fit together, and their types. So if you notice this problem don’t ignore them easily and call a professionalist as fast as you can.
Contact us for any emergency piping and leaking services. Concord HVAC & Plumbing team offers high quality at a reasonable price. Call at 905.669.4743
