Drains....<weeps>

[Badvoc]

Every time I let the water out of my kitchen sink there is a really horrid smell (like rotten eggs).
Have checked the sink pipe and u bend thingy and that's clean (sink only plumbed in 16 months ago).
I think it's the drains. We have no outside uncovered drain here like we have at our old house but there is a drain cover on the patio. How horrendous is it to open them and check them yourself? :(
Is it hugely expensive to get someone out to do it?

We paid £120 for our outside drain to be cleared professionally earlier this year. It blocked again last month (sloping garden means all the run-off goes down it when it rains) and our neighbour came over with his pressure washer and cleared it in 5 minutes. For free :o

:)
Hmmm...who do I know with a pressure washer?

washing soda crystals down the yard gulley, if you have one, as well as the sink trap. Pack them into the overflow too.

Put the hot water in first otherwise it will wash the soda away. You can add a few spoolfuls of boiling water to moisten any crystals that are still dry.

leave ovenight before washing away with hot water. a watering can is useful.

Never put grease or fat down the sink or drain.

If you have a washing machine or dishwasher plumbed into the sink trap, verify that the hose loops up, above the water level in the full sink, and is tied to the underside of the worktop. otherwise, when you pull the plug, dirty water, bacon fat, tealeaves, cods heads etc will be washed into the appliance hoses and unless looped up, will run down into the appliances.

p.s. you can lift the drain cover yourself. the pit should be clean empty and not smelly. Look carefuly at the cover. it may have an oval hole for a lifting handle at each end. You can buy black steel handles to fit if so, from a place that sells plumbers things. You don't lift it much, you lift it out of its water-seal grooves (both ends) and slide it along. Clean out the grooves before refitting.

If it is cast iron, and you try to lever it up with a spade or something, it might crack. Cast iron is very brittle.

Hi PG.
I will double check the DW hose.
Thanks