User login

Enter your username and password here in order to log in on the website:
Login

Forgot your password?

Please note: While some information will still be current in a year, other information may already be out of date in three months time. If you are in any doubt, please feel free to ask.

Smell after drain = danger for health?

Question
Hello,
I have come accross on contradictory information during my own research in the internet.
I have the problem for a long time, that it smells uncomfortably in my kitchen. The source can not be localized, only one thing is clear: the smell does not come from the drains themselves (there is a sink and a complete shower with boiler and pump in the appartment).
In spite of several atempts of the landlord (drain of the shower into the wall has been sealed anew, the pipes that are outside the wall have been completely changed) it continues smelling. One has to say that those works have not been carried out from a company, however only sparesly professionally from the owners of the house themselves.
Is that a possible risk for me (CF patient) concerning the germs in the air? Resectively, is the overall showersSituation dangerous for me (boiler, that has to be switched on before showering, in order to have warm water 10 minutes later, drain, from which sometimes water "bubbles up" again)?
I am thinking of lowering the rent respectively to look right away for a new appartment. What do you recommend?
Many thanks in advance.
Answer
Dear questioner,
Drains, siphons, stagnant water are without doubt possible sources for humid germs like e.g. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which play a special role as infectious pathogens in CF. A "uncomfortably smelling" water drain, can hint at a marked bacterial contamination, that would be without danger for a healthy person, however can represent a relevant source of infection for a CF patient. Also the fact, that the used water does not flow off immediately, however needs obviously at first to be pumped off, hints at a highly contaminious stagnation of water with a probable high germ load and a risk of an increased aerosol formation ("it bubbles up"). As a CF patient I would for health reasons without question look for an appartment with modern sanitary devices as soon as possible.
Best regards,
Michael Hogardt
26.05.2014