New sink causing awful smell

[niccim]

I got a new glass bowl style sink from Next and got it plumbed in by a professional. Thing is, an awful smell comes from the plughole, which was definately never there before with the old sink. Someone suggested that the 'trap' might be too small, causing not enough air-flow, but I wasnt sure what that meant....
Please help!

 

[seco services]

is their any water in the trap ?

 

[niccim]

Silly question, how do I check that??

 

[Mushybees]

How is it a silly question? It's a very pertinent question.

You can either put a stick down the plughole and check if it's wet or take the trap off and see if there's water in it.

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

You will need at least one good eye and perhaps a torch if its dark!

 

[niccim]

Think there is water in it, but looks like what is described as a 'bottle' trap. Do you think I should replace it with an S bend??

 

[seco services]

no not if it has water in it to the right level.

 

[niccim]

How can I affect the level the water sits at, as the trap must fill up to the top every time I run the tap....??
Im not really sure how the bottle trap actually works, as I thought that the water contained in a normal 'u' bend stops any smells from the sewers coming into your house. The bottle trap hangs below the horizontal pipe that come from the wall to my sink, so how does that prevent any smells coming through??

Sorry for all the questions (

 

[shantondiy]

I would have though it's almost certainly caused by no water in the trap and the smell is coming from the drains.
If no water is the case there has to be a reason it is being siphoned out of the trap.
Possibilities are a washing machine pumping out or the waste pipe beyond the trap is not sufficiently low enough; i.e the waste pipe should drop vertically just after the trap. A short horizontal length followed by a drop is ok but it shouldn't have a long horizontal run at the trap.

 

[seco services]

a bottle trap has a inner tube that the water go's down before it can come up the outside of the tube and out the waste pipe.

if the waste pipe is connected to the same waste as say your bath, when the bath is drained the pressure may be pulling on the basin trap pulling the water from the trap and leaving the trap open to smells.

check the water level next time it smells.

 

[niccim]

Ahh ok, that makes sense. Ill check if it has water in it next time the smell comes.
The sink is downstairs in the cloakroom by the front door. Do you think it's maybe the washing machine or dishwasher that is causing the water to be syphoned from the trap??
Is there nothing I can really do then, apart from running the tap every so often to ensure the trap always has water in it??

 

[duffin]

you can buy a bottle trap with an anti syphon action- not much dearer than a standard. should cure the problem.

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

What else is connected to the basin waste pipe?
If the basin doesn't get used much the water can evaporate.
No water = No seal

 

[niccim]

It's used maybe once every 2-4 days. Would that cause the evaporation?? Do you think If I ran the tap for a few seconds every day the smell wouldnt come any more??

 

[seco services]

should do in that time.