Hi, a brilliant poster in another forum of Home & Garden suggested I post here. :)

We have had a random stench that comes and goes but was worse when we weren't running the a/c or heat. It seems to really linger around our bathroom and the master bedroom but can be in other places as well, sort of lingering.

Labman suggested it could be explosive sewer gas and that somehow water is getting swapped?

We live in an apartment so I'm not sure what to do. Plus it's hard to call maintenance when they come whenever and not necessarily when the smell is present.

My questions:

1) Does pouring bleach down the drain and leaving it overnight have any chance of damaging the pipes?

2) Can I do this with both bathroom sinks and showers?

3) Would just pouring bleach down for a few hours work instead?

4) Are there other remedies?

Hello. Well if it is explosive sewer gas then I don't know that you want to be pouring anything down in to it or your house will explode into poo. You have to talk to someone who can fix it. Someone who is an actual professional wich your maitenence guys are probably not. If it wasn't a sewage bomb then I would say do the bleach thing but don't blow yourself up please. Find out from a professional for certain. Make them look in the sink drain where the smell comes from just in case they try to hand you that we can't help you if we can't smell it line. They may see something there, like a giant stink bomb.

Disreguard the above post. Tom will be giving the straight advice soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by labman

Disreguard the above post. Tom will be giving the straight advice soon.

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Okay because I just got completely freaked out thinking we could be blown up at any second...

Tom Tom wherever you are... please come advise me!

I'm worried too because I just read about explosive sewer gas and it seems like it's very toxic and dangerous... I've had some of the symptoms of it... respiratory, headache daily, nauseated, etc...

Giant stink bomb, huh? Got to watch those things! The Stink Bomb Fairy sneaks into houses at night and time bombs your drains. While sewer gas has methane which is explosive you won't get enough in you house to blow it up.
If you detect a "gurgle" in any of your fixtures when you flush or drain then you maybhave a blocked vent.

My questions:

1) Does pouring bleach down the drain and leaving it overnight have any chance of damaging the pipes?
No

2) Can I do this with both bathroom sinks and showers?
Yes

3) Would just pouring bleach down for a few hours work instead?
Works better if left over night and followed by 2 large pans of boiling water but even a few hours is better then none.

4) Are there other remedies?
Yes, snaking out the drain lines followed by the overnight bleach thing.
Most bad bathroon smells are caused by rotting hair matted with grease. The bleach starts to loosen the hair and makes it slippery and the boiling water melts and loosens the grease and flushes the mess out.
Let me know how you make out. Tom

Tom! My hero!

(You too, Labman.)

Okay so would you recommend I just do this myself or should I call maintenance and alert them?

Right now there is no smell, but there were morning showers obviously and it never smells in the morning. So I could see maintenance coming over and being like, there isn't a problem.

If it's explosive sewer gas, we definitely can't blow up if I pour bleach down there, right?

--and not just the house, but the drains or pipes themselves

"If it's explosive sewer gas, we definitely can't blow up if I pour bleach down there, right?
--and not just the house, but the drains or pipes themselves"

Not to worry! I haven't blowed up a house for almost a week now by advising the bleach treatment. (Just kidding! )

You can do this yourself tonight without fear. There will be no chemical reaction in pouring bleach down your drains. If that don't get it then click on back and I'll give you directions on opening up a lavatory or shower drain and ,(UGH! ) fishing out and hair that may be caught down in the drain. Let me know, tom

Part of it coming and going may be your forced air furnace. It stirs up the air and it isn't strong enough to smell. Then when the furnace has been off for a while, it builds up to where you can smell it again.

Tom will fix you up if it is the drains.

Thank you, gentleman! I will let you know how it goes!

Noooooooooooo! I wasn't trying to freak anyone out. Note I said don't go pouring anything bleach into it now until you know for sure. I don't know sewage gas. All I saw was gas and bleach and I don't know if that's safe. Im sorry if scared you. I was only suggesting that you wait until a professional came along.