Just moved into a new rental apartment which I thought was great at first. Until I took a hot shower. Soon some sort of strange sewage smell started coming out of the floor drain. Is this a common experience?
I have resorted to (after using various kinds of pipe cleaners which did not help):
1. Covering the floor drain
2. Covering the bathtub drain
3. Standing in the bathtub to take a hot shower
4. Leaving the hot water to cool before I drain the bathtub
Now after draining the cool water, I would plug back the bathtub drain. I am wondering is this alright or will it cause any issues in future? In the normal cool water state, this does not trigger the hot sewage gases to come up so I am wondering it I should keep it this way.
8 comments
Had a similar problem with the sink but went away after using a Drain-O type solution. The type where it’s pour an amount, wait 30 minutes to an hour, and then flush with hot water?
I would check to make sure the water trap is properly installed. If it’s not, it would allow sewage air coming back up.
It’s hard to give advice beyond that without photos as there’s quite a few different bathroom plumbing setups.
Edit: look at the photos in [this comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/3capme/so_is_my_shower_room_floor_drain_always_supposed/cstseqe/).
If you just moved in and it’s a recurring problem report it to the building manager. It could be a plumbing issue.
Is it the type of drain where you could get a drain snake down it? Might be able to pull up some stuff.
Bldg mgmt needs to sort this out.
The more typical problem is that you get the stench when not using the shower/sink/etc. That’s due to water trap having dried out or water getting sucked out from the trap, kinda common if the unit is empty for a month or two between tenants.
In your case, all was well and went bad while the water running through the trap into the sewage system. This indicates that the plumbing vent is clogged or something along those lines. Google “plumbing vent” for a diagram.
Since the vent is part of the building (typically on the roof or the exterior wall) and nor your unit, the building manager/owner needs to call the plumbers to check it.
Same problem in my apt in Kyoto. Just sewer smell.
Is there by chance a place to hook up a washing machine, without a washing machine installed? I had that problem at my old place and the solution was to periodically dump water down the washing machine drain until I got one.
A friend of mine vas a similar issue in their bathroom. Smells like festering hair and shampoo all the time bi matter how often it’s cleaned. Paid a pro cleaner to suck out all the gunk trapped and the smell went. Could try that?