Plumbing 101

I was sitting at Jacob's computer the other night and began to smell a disgusting sewer stench permeating the air. I walked into the adjacent bathroom, but could not pinpoint exactly where the odor was coming from. Retreating back to the computer, I hoped that the smell would just go away. Unfortunately, it only became worse. I sniffed around the bathroom again and discovered that the offensive odor was coming from the bathtub drain. This seemed odd to me because we never even use that particular tub - everyone at the condo always uses the shower in the master bathroom. I assumed that I would have to call a plumber in the morning to assess the issue. Puzzled and annoyed, I went to the internet and looked up "sewer smells coming from bathtubs." It surprised me to find numerous articles all recommending the same quick fix to my stinky dilemma. The solution? Simply run a quart of water into the drain. Apparently, the curvy pipe underneath sinks and tubs actually has a purpose. After you use water, some of it stays in the curvy part, thus forming a seal that keeps sewer gases and crawling vermin from coming up through the pipe. When a fixture goes unused for a month or more, the water seal evaporates, allowing a gross stench to enter your room. They say that this phenomenon is most common in guest bathrooms and other seldom-used areas.

I couldn't really believe that the solution to this mess would be as easy as a quart of water, but I decided to give it a try. I overcompensated and ran a few gallons of H2O down the drain. Thirty minutes later, the odor was indeed dissipating. After an hour had gone by, any remaining sewer-y smells had pretty much disappeared. When two hours had passed, the bathroom was fresh and clean with no remaining hint of the putrid problem. (Okay, it wasn't really fresh and clean because it is, after all, the bathroom that a 15-year-old boy uses.) I went to sleep that night patting myself on the back for a job well done. Now I just have to remember to run water in the tub - and every other unused drain - every month or so to avoid a repeat of the matter.