Tom Tynan Home Show Video Featuring Bob Connelly from Abacus Plumbing: “What’s that smell?”

Posted on: May 12, 2021
By: Alan O'Neill
Posted in: Drain & Sewer, Helpful Tips, Plumbing, Video Tips

The original article and video appeared on Tom Tynan’s Homeshow Radio website and can be seen here »

Tom Tynan:
Mark from Deer Park has a question about a stinky smell. A stinky shower. Water sometimes just stinks. The most common question I’ve been asked for the last 30 years on the radio is, “Tom, what’s that smell?” Roger from Spring Branch has a stinky sink.

Bob Connelly:
P-trap’s job is to keep a constant level of water right here to keep the sewer gas from coming back up through the sink itself. But when there was water not being used in the sink, the p-trap’s going to dry out. The water’s going to evaporate and the sewer gas is going to come right back up through that fixture opening. What you do to fix that, just run some water in it.

Tom Tynan:
Sometimes that bad smell is coming from the toilet. As opposed to a good smell.

Bob Connelly:
Toilets have a wax seal that goes between the bottom of the toilet and the drain that it attaches to. Sometimes a toilet comes loose. You’re going to get sewer gas odors out of that.

Tom Tynan:
Plumbing problems and plumbing smells are often hidden behind the wall.

Bob Connelly:
Drywall screws get shot through the pipe. Somebody’s hanging a TV, or putting something up, and you can see where that actually where the sewer gas will come out of there, and it would come right out of the wall and into the area that you’re living in.

Tom Tynan:
The bottom line, if you smell something, do something. Don’t ignore what your nose is telling you.

Bob Connelly:
Something’s causing that and that something when it gets bad enough, is usually going to cause a lot of damage to your home.

Tom Tynan:
Got bad odors? Do what I do. Open a window and call the certified HomeShow pro, Abacus Plumbing. For HomeShowRadio.com, I’m Tom Tynan.