Smelly kitchen sink...

[Hayls]

My kitchen sink really stinks- kind of musty. I don't use it very often because we use the dishwasher but it really smells. I have tried come kitchen fresh granules, bleach and bicarb of soda but nothing seems to help. When we come down in the morning when the door has been closed all night it nearly knocks me out . Any advice? It is a very short waste pipe (about 1/2 a metre before it goes outside) and I'm positive there's nothing blocking it. It doesn't get any worse when the washing machine or dishwasher are on so I think they're OK...

Any Anthea tips would be much appreciated!

Have you put bleach down the overflow hole as well as the plug hole ?

Nothing lurking in the U bend?

Nope, nothing lurking in U bend and overflow is OK!

can you check your outside drains for blockages

Outside drain is right at kitchen door, which is often open and we normally use that door to get into the garden. Definitely no smell there...
Might get dh to have a proper look there though anyway(far too yucky for me )
The smell definitely seems to be inside the sink itself- it is worse when I run the tap and if I sniff right in the plug hole it is horrific. The cupboard under the sink always whiffs a bit

I have this about twice a year - ours was an outside drain blocked and the smell was horrendous - obviously wafted back up the waste pipe - worse if room was shut.

Would take Southeastastra's advice and check your outside drains.

I've just added Mr Muscle to my Sainsburys order for tomorrow night so here's hopig it does the trick!

we got dp to undo the u bend and it was full of urghhh stuff, but it was a hair clip that had straddled the pipe and everything else stuck to it
Might be worth unscrewing it and cleaning it

Dh is away for a few days and I can't handle doing it myself but will definitely get him to try that when he gets back. I just worry that I've got used to the smell and that all visitors can smell it really strongly but don't want to offend me by commenting on it!

Unscrew the U-bend (with a bowl underneath to catch drips) take it outside to clean and use a hosepipe. Done in a couple of minutes. Easy.