How to Keep Drain Flies and Bad Smells Out of Your Kitchen Sink

Have you noticed flies buzzing around your kitchen sink and bad odors rising from the drain? This problem is a lot more common than you might think. Fortunately, with just a few simple tricks, you can deodorize your sink and avoid future odors.

Adopt these habits for a better-smelling kitchen sink today!

1. Keep cooking grease, oil, and fat out of your sink.

Even though grease might seem like it goes down the drain easily enough, as it cools, it hardens. Thick, solidified grease has the potential to cause clogs and odors all on its own. Even worse, other things passing through your drains (like hair) can also get stuck in it, forming a severe clog even faster.

Before doing dishes, pour out any grease into a foil-lined container that you can store in the freezer. Once the grease freezes, you can easily dispose of it on garbage day. Also, don’t forget to wipe down your dirty cookware with a paper towel to absorb any excess grease before you start washing it.

2. Flush hot water down your kitchen sink drain.

Even if you follow the steps above to minimize the grease that ends up down your drain, there will still be some grease remnants. Once you’ve finished washing your dishes, fill a large container with steaming-hot water, and pour it down your kitchen sink drain. The rush of hot water will help break up grease and food remnants and move them along through your plumbing system.

3. Use ice to clean your garbage disposal.

Sometimes bits of food can cling to your garbage disposal’s impellers (the blades that grind up food) and the components around them, causing foul odors as the food rots. Cleaning this area can be tricky and dangerous.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way around this: just run some ice cubes through your garbage disposal. The blades will get a thorough cleaning as they grind up the ice, you aren’t putting anything down the drain that’s bad for your plumbing, and you also aren’t risking bodily injury.

4. Use baking soda and vinegar as a deodorizer.

If your kitchen drain could use some freshening up, try using the combined powers of vinegar and baking soda. Just be sure that you use baking soda in moderation, as too much of this powder poured into a drain at once can create or worsen a clog.

Here’s how to use baking soda and vinegar to deodorize a drain:

  1. Heat up 2 cups of distilled white vinegar until it is hot (not boiling).
  2. Pour 1 cup of baking soda into the drain you want to deodorize.
  3. Pour the 2 cups of vinegar down the drain.
  4. Let the mixture fizz for approximately 10 minutes. During this time, it will help deodorize your drain and break up food and grease that might be causing bad smells.
  5. Rinse your drain with cold water.

If the odor remains or smells like sewer gases, this could indicate a blockage deep in your home’s drain system or sewer line or a block vent pipe. For this situation, you’ll need a professional plumber to diagnose the problem. Typically, the solution will be to clear the drain since blocked vent pipes are a less common issue.

At JSP Home Services, we proudly provide top-notch drain cleaning services in Kingston and throughout New Paltz, Catskill, and beyond. For help with your home’s plumbing, don’t hesitate to call us at (845) 209-1700 or contact us online!

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