When you dump food waste down the sink drain, not every piece of the waste flows down the drainpipe. Mold in a sink drain grows inside the tailpiece. That piece of pipe is called a tailpiece. If you look underneath you kitchen/bathroom sink, you will notice that that there is a vertical pipe connecting the P-trap (U-bend) to the sink’s drain opening/strainer. Don’t forget to clean the garbage disposal as well, especially underneath the splash guard. To prevent mold from growing in the sink drain, clean the drain with baking soda and vinegar then rinse it with about a gallon of hot water at least once every two weeks. That being said, it causes a musty smell in the kitchen/bathroom which is why you need to get rid of it.Īpart from getting rid of mold in your sink drain, you need to take measures to ensure that it does not return. A baking soda and vinegar/hydrogen peroxide combination is a safe and effective method to deal with the mold.ĭrain mold is non-toxic. Alternatively remove the P-trap and scrub the drain tailpiece using a bottle brush.īleach will successfully remove mold from a drain but it can damage the plumbing and kill the microbes in the septic tank if you are on a septic system. After 15 minutes, blast hot water down the drain. To get rid of mold in a sink drain, pour ½ cup of baking soda followed by 1 cup of vinegar/hydrogen peroxide. Apart from the musty smell caused by mold, a sewage smell can also be detected especially when the P-trap is empty or when the plumbing vent is blocked. Since you cannot eliminate water in a sink drain, keeping the drain clean is the best way to prevent mold from growing.Ī smelly sink drain can be caused by several factors.
Sink drains are always wet meaning constant supply of moisture for the mold spores and hence their continued grown.įood waste that stick inside the sink drain also provide nourishment to the mold. The reason your sink drain gets moldy is because it provides favorable conditions for mold to grow. For mold to grow, the surface has to be wet (contain moisture) especially at temperature of between 77 0 F and 86 0 F. Mold spores are everywhere in our homes but you cannot really see them and most will never grown unless the conditions are favorable.