bathroom sewer smell after kitchen work

[longhornpt]

Plumber removed a disposal from the kitchen sink yesterday. Pipes in kitchen were not connected for a few hours. As soon as he left, we had a sewer smell in our bathroom. Yesterday it went away after flushing sink, shower, and toilet with bleach and then water. Today it's back and is much worse. Any ideas?

 

[breezer]

get the plumber back

 

[TexMex]

The visit from your plumber may just be co-incidence. I would suggest the first thing to check is the vent at the top of the soil stack. If this becomes blocked, any possitive pressure in the drains will force nasty smelly air out through the point of least resistance. This could be through any of the water traps in your bathroom (or kitchen).

It's possible that you have had this problem for some time but, it was not apparent due to a leak lower down, (where your disposal was fitted perhaps). By repairing this leak (wether by design or inadvertantly), the excess gas is now having to find an alternative route out.