"Pipe" smells can be very unpleasant and greatly reduce our quality of life, especially in summer, when it hasn't rained for a long time, there are low pressures and especially when we haven't used the taps for a long time. The cause is that, especially in the siphons of the drains, food residues, toothbrushing, soap, etc. accumulate, which are usually fermented by saprophytic bacteria and fungi, which generate volatile aldehydes with a very strong odor. disgusting.

When there is a very dry environment and we also use the taps little, these remains dry allowing their gases, product of fermentation, to rise easily. Especially when there are changes in atmospheric pressure, which can decrease slightly or moderately, bad odors can become very noticeable and annoying.

Is there a way to eliminate bad odors?

First of all, it is necessary to distinguish between the bad smell derived from a blockage in a pipe, or motivated by the poor condition of the sewers in a building, of the "pipe smells" we refer to and that do not necessarily have nuances of putrefaction or fecal matter. If there is no blockage, we will verify that by opening the tap the water goes down the drain without problems and eliminates odors momentarily.

But after a few hours they return, as soon as the pipes are dry again, both in the kitchen and in the bathroom sink. Is there any definitive solution? The most definitive would be to change the drains, since part of the blame for the blockages is due to a certain poor condition in the pipes. But without going to such an extreme, there are intermediate solutions that can work, such as the fruit salt trick that we explain below.

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The fruit vinegar and salt trick

To do it we need a bottle of fruit salt, half a liter of vinegar and a liter of water. First of all, we'll make sure the sump hasn't been used in an hour. Next we will heat the half liter of vinegar to about 70ºC and we will bring the water to a boil separately. Next we will have a cloth that covers the hole or grid of the odor outlet that is located on the wall of many batteries.

We will then proceed to pour the entire bottle of fruit salt down the drain, then we will pour the hot vinegar and immediately cover the drain for half an hour. In this way we achieve two objectives at the same time. On the one hand, the gas that will form in the reaction of the fruit salt with the liquid will put pressure on possible plugs and bags of bad odors down the pipe, since it is the only direction in which it will be able to exert pressure.

On the other hand, hot vinegar has both oxidizing and surfactant properties, which on the one hand will eliminate fungus and bacteria and on the other hand it will undo possible traces of soap and grease that may exist. In this way we will have eliminated the bad odors and their cause, but if we want them not to recur for a long time, we will remove the stopper after half an hour and carefully apply the boiling water.

Thus, the water will finish cleaning the siphon and will take away the remains previously disintegrated by the vinegar. This trick can also be carried out with baking soda instead of fruit, but to ensure its expansive power we must add a higher portion of vinegar, since its acid radicals will react with the vinegar to form salt, water and carbon dioxide.

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