Sink waste
Where the smell actually comes from, and the place two drain products from opposite families can meet each other out of sight.
Precautions
- Never mix with other cleaning products
- Wear gloves
- Wear eye protection
- Keep away from children and pets
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
Made from
What tends to go wrong
Fats and oils, which water alone cannot lift. Removed by surfactants, by heat, by solvents, or by alkalis that convert the fat into soap.
Why it is difficult: Why oil resists water, Emulsification
A living growth, not a stain. Killing it and removing the staining are two separate jobs, and neither addresses the moisture that caused it.
Why it is difficult: Porous and non-porous surfaces, Moisture control and recurrence, Cleaning, sanitising and disinfecting, Organic load, Surface roughness
- Dustvia its material
Mostly textile fibres and skin, held by static as much as by gravity — which is why a dry cloth on a plastic surface makes it worse.
Why it is difficult: Static and dust, Mechanical action and abrasion, Why different surfaces get different dirt, Surface roughness
A concentrated water-soluble dye with nothing else in it. Nothing has to be emulsified or dissolved — the only question is whether the surface has taken the colour up.
Why it is difficult: Capillary absorption, Dye migration and colour bleeding
A sticky, yellow-brown tar film deposited everywhere at once. It is the reason a room smells after everything visible has been cleaned.
Why it is difficult: Adsorption of odour molecules, Solubility and polarity
Coloured by turmeric in most prepared mustards, and curcumin is a pH indicator — which is why an alkaline cleaner turns a yellow mark red.
Why it is difficult: pH indicators in stains, Fat-soluble pigments, Photodegradation, Pigment retention
The commonest cleaning problem that is not dirt. The tackiness is the plastic's own additive arriving at the surface, which is why wiping it off works for a week.
Why it is difficult: Plasticizer migration, Damage versus soiling
The science behind this: Biofilm, Solvent crazing, Static and dust, Solvents and polymers, Plasticizer migration, Polishing removes metal
Part of Kitchen sink.
In detail
A sink waste is the strainer, the tailpiece and the trap below it, and the trap holds standing water permanently to keep drain gases out of the room. That standing water, plus the fat and food that pass through, is a biofilm habitat, and the smell people attribute to the drain can come from a film on the inside of the tailpiece near the plughole. That is good news, because it can be reached with a brush. Fat is the structural problem — it enters as a liquid and solidifies on the pipe wall as it cools, narrowing the bore over months. The poisons service's account of drain products is what makes the hazard clear. They divide into enzymatic products containing bacteria and enzymes and non-enzymatic products that are strong acids or strong alkalis, some generate heat when mixed, and two products from opposite families poured into the same trap react where nobody can see it. The service names overpouring into a completely blocked drain as a specific splash route, because the product has nowhere to go.
Why
- Sink waste is explained by Biofilm
Related
- Sink waste is made from Household plastics
- Sink waste is made from Chrome plating
- Sink waste is commonly affected by Grease
- Sink waste is commonly affected by Mould
Sources for this page
Sources
What's in drain cleaner and what happens if you drink it?
National Capital Poison Center (Poison Control) · Poison or chemical-safety authority
Relied on for: That drain cleaners divide into enzymatic and non-enzymatic families that are chemically opposite, that some generate heat when mixed, and that overpouring into a completely blocked drain is a named splash route. (states this directly)
F.O.G. (Fats, Oils, and Grease) Pollution
Clemson University Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center, 2019 · Credible secondary source
Relied on for: That fats, oils and grease solidify in drainage systems and accumulate on pipe walls. (states this directly)