Knowing how to clean stinky drains will help you keep kitchen odors under control. It’s certainly helped me! Living with two males and two (male) cats, I wind up playing “What’s That Smell?” far more often than I like.
Most of the time, I can trace the source of the stench back to one of the guys. Sometimes it’s their smelly shoes — and, sometimes, it’s them.
Other times, the source is a nasty sink drain and I can’t blame the guys about that at all.
Smelly drains are usually the result of built-up food residue. Fortunately, smelly drains are easy to clean and, if you make a habit of it, you can keep them odor-free.
How To Clean Stinky Drains
There are a variety of ways to eliminate drain odors. Many people find that a combination of methods works best, so choose the one that’s most convenient for you to start, then try another approach if the smell persists.
Pour: Often, stray hair and other debris get stuck in soap scum that’s lining the pipe and create smells. Treat that quickly by pouring a couple of quarts of very hot water down the drain. Don’t use boiling water, though — it can damage pipe fittings and joints over time. Wait for five minutes, then follow with cold water to solidify any remaining grease. Finally, repeat the hot water flush to remove that last bit of congealed stuff.
Deodorize: Heat four cups of white vinegar to until it’s just simmering. Let it cool one minute (again, because we don’t want to pour boiling stuff down the drain), then flush the drain with half of it. Rinse with cold water, then follow with the rest of the hot vinegar. This method usually powers through any small clogs, which are often the source of the smell.
Scour: Run hot tap water down the drain. Turn the water off. Dump a cup of baking soda down the drain and then chase it with two cups of hot vinegar down the drain. (Watch out, it’ll fizz.) Wait a half hour, during which the fizzing will subside and eventually stop. After the time’s up, flush the drain with hot tap water again.
How To Keep Your Garbage Disposal From Smelling
Using any of the above methods every couple of weeks will keep your drain from developing a nasty residue that can lead to small clogs.
Sometimes, though, kitchen garbage disposals need a bit of extra help. Here are two things you can do that will keep your kitchen sink smelling fresh all the time.
Run ice cubes in the disposal: Ice cubes are hard, so they scour the disposal blades while it runs. The cold temperature also helps collect any excess grease in your garbage disposal and carry it away.
Grind citrus peels: My mother shoves half a lemon down her disposal and lets it whir around until it’s gone. That clogs my sink, though, so I slice up lemon or orange peels before grinding them. It does give a pleasant smell to the sink and, thanks to the citric acid it helps remove greasy buildup. You don’t need to waste a piece of fruit on this, either — just stash lemon or orange halves in the freezer after using them in recipes. Pop one straight from the freezer down the disposal and it’ll clean and deodorize at the same time.
To keep odors away, make cleaning stinky drains part of your weekly kitchen cleaning routine.
More How-Tos here:
How to Clean a Keurig (even if you think it’s broken)
Nightly Kitchen Cleaning Routine
Pin How to Clean Stinky Drains
Jan Juaniza says
October 23, 2017 at 3:47 PMI’m happy that I’ve found this blog. Full of helpful tips to homeowners who wanted to maintain and keep their plumbing system working for a long run. Also, a good reminder of what to avoid putting in your toilet, garbage disposals, and other plumbing appliances and also how to maintain them. For other plumbing references and services in Oregon, Washington, and Las Vegas, make sure to drop by at Einstein Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling
We love reading blogs like this, and we appreciate the work you put into your website and detailed information you provide. A great read and useful information!
Lisa Wood says
October 19, 2017 at 10:01 PMI ventured into drain cleaning as a result of fruit flies hanging around, even after I used a baking soda and vinegar wash on incoming fruit. After the volcanic baking soda and vinegar portion of drain cleaning my kitchen sinks, DEAD FRUIT FLIES presented their bodies laying in the now super clean sink. Only two, but my imagination immediately kicked into the possibility of an entire fruit fly city beneath the surface, that had just suffered a nuclear bomb.
Very very satisfying house cleaning!
Katie Berry says
November 5, 2017 at 10:57 AMIt really is, isn’t it?
Jack says
November 15, 2016 at 9:05 AMI highly recommend Drain-FX. Heard about it on the Gary Sullivan show and bought it online on their website. It cleared my drains easily, effective and without the use of chemicals. Odour was gone soon after.
Katie Berry says
November 15, 2016 at 12:33 PMI haven’t heard of that one before. Thanks, Jack!
BuffaloRun says
January 27, 2016 at 8:41 AMall great ways to mask the smell for a short while! really wanna fix? have one of “the guys” replace the tailpiece and the trap for around $12
Katie Berry says
January 27, 2016 at 1:30 PMYou do realize many of us “girls” can do such things, right?
l m b says
March 29, 2016 at 1:51 PMI used vinegar ,baking soda several times and it still stinks. I have a constant headache from the smell. I live in an apartment housing.no one else complains about it so they do nothing with mine. How can I solve this problem. Other then move out?
Katie Berry says
March 31, 2016 at 8:19 AMBaking soda alone doesn’t work; you need to follow it with hot vinegar. If you’ve done that and it hasn’t helped, chances are you have something stuck in the U-joint of your sink. You can find videos on YouTube about how to open that pipe and clean it.
Kay Randal says
June 1, 2015 at 10:40 AMUse the same method as above with the addition of Ajax when you clean a disposal with ice. I’ve had very good luck with that method. A very old method used to clean a sink or disposal is to dump in half a cup or a little more of baking soda followed by about a cup of white vinegar. Once the fizzing stops run water and turn on the disposal. Run cold water for 20 seconds or so after you turn off the disposal. If you’re using this method to clean a drain leave it set in the drain until after the fizzing stops and then run in some water to clean any leftover baking soda residue. Another method that works extremely well for a disposal is to put some Dawn dish washing soap into the disposal then run hot water as you run the disposal. Run for a minute or so. Then put Dawn down the drain again and runin a little hot water. This time just leave the Dawn and hot water in the disposal. This method is extremely effective for hard to remove odors.
Plainer says
July 11, 2014 at 8:50 PMI’ve read all the suggestions when I had this problematic odor from the kitchen sink but none of them worked. On a separate note, I prevent bathroom sinks from clogging by draining them every day by filling the sink with water up to the brim and then draining it. I have not bought Liquid Plumr for a couple years since I started this ritual. I figured why not do the same with the kitchen sink? After I wash the dishes, I turn on the faucet and I run the garbage disposal unit before draining the sink of the water. When I do that, I then drain the sink of the water while the disposer is running. After the water has drained I let the water faucet run for another 15 seconds for good measure. Do this for a couple days after you wash your dishes and presto, the odor has disappeared. What the other suggestions don’t factor into the solution to this problem is gravity. You need to have gravity of the water to do the work for you when eliminating kitchen sink odors and also unclog your bathroom sinks to boot. If you don’t , you will waste money buying drainage products you really don’t need.
FLreader says
April 11, 2014 at 10:39 AMHi! Thanks for the great tips on eliminating that awful odor which recently invaded my kitchen sink drain. Hot water + vinegar did the trick!
Katie B of HousewifeHowTos.com says
April 17, 2014 at 7:29 AMGlad to hear it!
Alyssa says
November 27, 2012 at 4:04 PMMy dad always tells me to use the ice cube down the garbage disposal method and I always laugh. Glad to see that you recommend it too!
Mariette's Back to Basics says
November 14, 2012 at 12:29 PMDearest Katie,
You always offer the most practical remedies. Prove of great observation and storing wise words of wisdom to resort to in case of a problem. Have a great day.
Hugs to you,
Mariette
Small Town Mommy says
November 14, 2012 at 8:40 AMI love the ideas for cleaning bathroom sinks. We usually use drain cleaner but your methods sound so much less corrosive.