Where to go when the smell of sewage in the apartment

The smell of the collector that appeared in the apartment does not bring anything good to the residents. A mixture of ammonia, methane gas and hydrogen sulfide causes irreparable harm to human health. Therefore, you need to get rid of the smell of sewage in the apartment as soon as possible - on your own or with the help of specialists from the management company.

Causes of the smell of sewage in the apartment

If there is a smell of sewage, first of all you need to check the siphon and the presence of a water seal

Mostly stench is spread from sink / bath / shower drains or from the toilet. The reasons for this phenomenon may lie in the following:

• Incorrectly mounted siphon. Normally, it should be immersed in water a few centimeters. If this is not done, the amber from the public collector will ooz into the room. This reason should be paid special attention if the bathroom has recently been renovated.
• Leaky joints or rupture of the corrugation. If the pipeline has at least a small gap, this creates pressure drops in the system when draining the water. So the stink gets into the apartment. More often the reason for depressurization is a consequence of the old sewage system. Gaskets dry out and crack, the corrugation simply outlives its own.
• Clogged pipes. In the trunk there are traffic jams of hair, pieces of food, fat and narrow the lumen of the collector. The result of this siltation is pressure drops and pushing the sewer stink out. Blockages can be localized both in the pipeline section of the apartment and in the common riser.
• Recently added powerful washing equipment. If the originally installed fan valve was designed for one load, then with the advent of a washing machine or dishwasher, he will no longer be able to cope with a serious pressure drop in the system. From here come out amber.
• Incorrect work of the ventilation system in the riser. Most often occurs due to unauthorized changes in the diameter / arrangement of the fan pipe by residents of the upper floors. Not everyone has a full understanding of the function of such a riser. Therefore, they decide to move / remove / shorten / reduce the pipe section. As a result, one or more apartments of lower floors suffer.

The long simple apartment sewerage matters. If it is not used for a long time, all overflows dry up. Dry water trap no longer prevents the stench of urine and feces from entering the apartment.

Where to go

Blockages within the apartment must be eliminated by the owner

The situation directly depends on who is to blame for the appearance of the sewer stench and at what point in the house it was localized. If the amber comes from a bathtub, a sink, and this is an isolated case of a riser, the owner of the apartment, with minimal skills, can cope with the problem himself (depending on its cause). If there is no experience with plumbing equipment, you will have to invite a private plumber or contact the management company to call a communal employee.

If the amber is spread over the riser in several apartments or affects the staircase, only professionals should remove the stench from the sewer. In this case, any independent actions are prohibited. To resolve the issue, do the following:

• Call the management company and verbally report the problem. Normally, the operator accepts the application and sends the specialists to the address. According to the law of the Criminal Code, which has assumed all obligations for the maintenance / maintenance of the house, it must resolve the issue upon the first application of the residents.
• If the problem is not solved by the call, you need to write a written statement to the management company on the basis that the Criminal Code violates the fulfillment of its direct duties and does not send specialists.
• If there is no reaction to the application (which is extremely rare), you should complain to the housing inspectorate with a written statement from the inhabitants of the entrance or riser.
• Another authority to which you can appeal with a lack of response from utilities is Rospotrebnadzor.

Responsibility for the condition of the house and all communications is equally borne by both the employees of the Criminal Code and the residents of the high-rise building. Therefore, if residents of apartments regularly flush large debris, personal hygiene items, etc. into the toilets, the blame for what happened is no longer on the management company.

Effective ways to deal with pungent odors

With the location of the stench in the apartment and identifying the cause of the appearance of the amber, you can try to independently cope with the task:

• Leaky joints and gusts of corrugation in the kitchen or bathroom. You need to view the entire pipeline, after spilling it. If moisture has formed in some place, you need to change the pipe, gaskets or corrugation. Sealers put using sealant, previously removing the old. Full drying of the silicone takes 12-24 hours. The old corrugation is simply replaced under the sink by unscrewing the top fitting and taking out the bottom. In the reverse order, put a new element. With numerous leaks of cast-iron sewers, it is better to change it to plastic.
• Incorrect installation of the siphon. You will have to change its position by immersing the lower part in water to a depth of 2-3 cm.
• The presence of blockage. Act depending on the location of his location. If a cork has formed in the sink / bathtub drain, a plunger can be used first. To do this, the plumbing fixture is filled with water at 10-15 cm and work upward / downward with a vacuum fixture. The pressure drops created by the plunger push the cork further into the public riser. Here you can take advantage of aggressive household preparations such as “Mole”, “Domestos”, “Tiret Turbo”, etc. They quickly remove traffic jams in the mains. When a blockage is located in the zone behind the toilet, you can carefully use the cable. It is smoothly introduced to the entire depth of the sewer pipe up to the common riser. If the problem is not solved, it is worth inviting specialists.

In case of disruption of the ventilation (fan) system due to negligence of the neighbors, the issue must be resolved amicably with the involvement of the UK experts.

Preventative measures

You can protect your home from the penetration of unpleasant sewer stench in the following ways:

• Correctly perform the installation of all home wastewater systems in compliance with the slope and pipe diameters. Here you need to take care of installing good fan valves (if they are not provided earlier).
• Avoid draining fatty waste, large pieces of food into the sink. It is also forbidden to dump sandy cat filler, personal hygiene items, glue, cement, etc. into the toilet.
• Regularly “inspect” the sewage system for leaks.
• Rinse sink and bath drains with hot water at least once every two weeks. It is advisable to let out about 20-30 liters at a time and then there will be no smell of sewage.
• About once every 3-4 months, aggressive household products should be loaded into the sink of the bathtub and sink. They will corrode the congestion of hair and fat that accumulate inside the tubes. After using chemicals, flush the pipes well. Aggressive chemicals can be replaced with folk remedies - soda, vinegar.
• In no case can you arbitrarily change the configuration, diameter or location of the fan pipe on the top floor.

Subject to these recommendations, all tenants will never smell of sewers in the house even with temperature differences.