Comments on: Swamp Thing! You Make My Room Stink!

by: Ders

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:43:08 +0000

If all else fails, take a plastic bag (like the ones you’re supposed to pay 20 won for at the corner store), fill it half full with water, tie it up, and set it on top of the drain to seal the drain shut.

by: Anonymous Coward

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 13:42:34 +0000

Most drains, in the States, anyway, are designed with a P-trap in the line that, when kept full of water, serves as a barrier to sewer gas. A properly-installed drain, again, in the states, also has a vent which permits air to flow in to the system and sewer gas, etc., to flow out. The vent typically goes through the roof; one of the many pipes that sticks up from the roof of your average American-style house.

Instead of flushing your drain line(s) with chemicals, you might be better off occasionally pouring some water down the drain to fill the P-trap (assuming the Koreans actually install that sort of thing). Construction in Korea is typically so utterly half-assed when compared with American or Western European work, it could be that your drain goes straight to the main drain line for your floor, or whatever, without any kind of a trap.

Unless you can actually inspect your drain from inside or outside, your best approach would be to try putting a gallon or so of water down the drain and see if this keeps the smell away. If so, then repeat as needed. If not, and you can get by without the drain, seal it off with plastic tape. Otherwise, you either move or learn to love the smell.

by: Wyatt

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:11:07 +0000

Daniel,
I’ll have to seek such a thing out.

John Paul Jose,
In the late 80s or early 90s there was a Swamp Thing television show, that I vaguely recall using a modified version of “Wild Thing” in their commercials…or perhaps it was something that my elementary school friends made up on the playground.

by: John Paul Jose

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:06:28 +0000

I like the chemical assault suggested by Daniel above. Just don’t mix the bleach and ammonia! (Or maybe that’s what it would take to eject the demon.)
A group of my co-workers had a similar drain stench problem when staying in an apartment building in Giehung. One of them started shoving a damp towel into the offending drain as a sort of cottony cork. It may be low-tech and inelegant but she was the only one with a non-stinky apartment.

BTW, Wyatt when bending the lyrics of Wild Thing into today’s title were you thinking of the L.A. punk band X’s version or some other version?

by: daniel

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 20:36:01 +0000

try using bleach or ammonia once or twice a day. let it sit for a half hour before running it clear with water. in japan there’s this ammonia based cleaner that they sell in powdered form for drains that are probably similar to those in korea…it foams up and coats the inside of the drain when you pour a little water on it. works pretty well. i use it every couple months.