Sink stink

HuskerMom wrote: Ok I have a strange smell coming out of my kitchen drain. Does anyone have any tricks to get rid of something like that?

Kaitlin'smom replied: lemon juice

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Put a tablespoon of baking soda, follow it up with 1\4 cup vinegar... let it sit... about 5 - 10 minutes.... then pour boiling hot water down the drain....about 2 cups for sure....

lesliesmom replied: If you have a garbage disposal, grind a lemon or citrus fruit in it... If not, then the other suggestions should work.

BabyOwen427 replied: I do the baking soda and vinegar thing and follow up with lemon juice. I also dump my ice trays in the disposal and that sharpens the blades and cleans gunk out then I follow that with baking soda and vinegar.

lisar replied: I am with the Lemon idea.

HuskerMom replied: Thanks you guys, great ideas.

Our Lil' Family replied: I just use bleach....smells better and kills whatever is down there.

redchief replied:
Grinding ice does nothing for your garbage disposer. That old wives tale comes from a service nightmare that Insinkerator had about 15 years ago where their grinding lugs were seizing up. The company finally wound up replacing almost a million grinding plates on their dime. If you have a garbage disposer I always recommend to treat it like the useful appliance it is. Don't be afraid to grind bones and other hard things in the disposer. It may sound horrendous, but it's good for the machine. The only things you should be careful of are overly large bones like ham bones and very stringy waste like celery or banana peels (unless you have one of the new generation disposers that can handle stringy stuff too ).

Baking soda and vinegar will deodorize your drain and disposer nicely. Anything with citric acid (oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, etc.) will also do well. I'm not a big fan of boiling water - it will warp and shorten the life of the rubber and plastic parts of your drain.

Cece00 replied: I use all 3 -baking soda/peroxide, lemon (I use lemons for tea and then use the spent lemon in my disposal, smells great) and also bleach. I can not stand for my sinks to smell.

Calimama replied:
I agree! Works wonders.

redchief replied:
I also recommend against dropping straight bleach for the same reason I recommend against boiling water. Bleach kills everything. If nothing else works I guess the rare occasion would be OK so long as you follow it with plenty of water, but I wouldn't do it frequently.

Boo&BugsMom replied: I use bleach as well. But I also let the water run on very hot for about 2 minutes after I pour it down.

redchief replied:
Hot tap water should be OK to run down the drain. I just advise against frequently dropping boiling water down there. Rubber, neoprene and PVC plastics, all common in drain systems don't generally like boiling water and straight bleach over time.

One thing on hot tap water - you should frequently check the temperature of the water coming from your tap to ensure it isn't hot enough to scald. Hot water from a kitchen or bathroom faucet tap should generally not be hotter than 120' for kids and elderly safety. If your tap is over 140' anywhere, you should lower the temperature thermostat setting at the hot water source (or in the case of mixing systems, increase the cold water mix). Just an FYI... we had a young toddler come in with a first degree burn injury to his foot after stepping into a hot bathtub. He was lucky he didn't go all the way into the water.

ETA: You can check the output temperature of the hot water by letting it run hot for at least one minute, then filling a tall, insulated glass, then inserting a meat or candy thermometer. Water heater thermometers lose accuracy over time in some cases.

amymom replied:
Thank you Ed! I will be checking my water temp. today or tomorrow.