Plumbing

Hi everyone,

We are experiencing quite a strong smell coming from our en-suite bathroom for the first time. We are in phase 2 block 37 and wondered if anyone else has experienced the same problem and if so do you know the cause. Is this normal in Spain or is there a fault in our plumbing? Thanks for any advice.

June  

Hi Locins

Has your apartment been unoccupied for some time?

The problem with most Spanish plumbing is that the "U" bends are nowhere near as good as the ones in the UK - in fact in a lot of places they are sadly lacking.

It could be that the water in the "U" bends has dried out if the apartment hasn't been used for a while and you are getting a "back draft" effect from the main sewer. It may disappear after a few days use and flushing of the loo and running water through the sink and bath

 

This message was last edited by pommers on 13/06/2012.

Hi Pommers

Thanks for your reply.....we first noticed the smell in April. The apartment hadn't been used for about 5 months during the winter. We stayed for a week obviously using the loo and running water and it didn't seem to disappear any. We have just had guests stay in the apartment last week complaining of the smell. We are not back over until July when Stewart will check out the pipe work and u-bend but wondered if there was a quick fix until then.

June

I have a plunger which we keep under the sink in the kitchen.  If we notice this (and as Pommers says it's usually debris in the U-bend) and few swishes with it with the water running almost always gets rid of the problem. 

 

Sandra

We're have a penthouse on phase 2 block 45 we have had a similar problem and it has been on and off for 5 years. It was so bad at first roda came and took the plumbing apart. They had to access the apartment below to do something with the drain in the shower, and for a long time iT was fine.Recently it returns now and again but we are almost sure the smell is coming from the shower drain.A small plastic cup over the drain when not in use solved the smell problem, not great I know but it works.!!!!!!

Thanks guys for your replies, will just have to wait until we are over in a few weeks to see if the smell is still there or if there is anything we can do about the problem.

June