Monsoon smell in your home: why septic, drain and garbage odour get worse in rain
The first rain smells great outside. Inside the house, not so much. The bathroom starts smelling, the kitchen sink smells, and the dustbin is worse than ever. If this happens to you every year, it’s not in your head.
The monsoon smell in the house comes down to a few things. The air is damp, so smells stay in the room instead of drifting out. Warm, wet weather also wakes up the bacteria in your drains and bins. And outside, the ground is full of water, so your plumbing has nowhere to send its own. Here are the three places it usually starts.
Septic tank smell in rainy season
People notice this one last, but it’s the one that matters most. When the ground is soaked, the soak pit can’t take any more water. The tank drains slowly, waste sits in there longer, and the gas needs somewhere to go. It finds the toilet, the bathroom drain and sometimes the kitchen sink.
So a septic tank smell in rainy season often means the tank is under pressure, and not only that it’s dirty. Watch for slow flushing, gurgling pipes, or a smell near the tank cover outside. If waste is already coming back up, read what to do when a septic tank overflows.
Check the tank cover first. It should be shut and not cracked. Also make sure no rainwater pipe from the roof or terrace runs into the tank, because that fills it up fast. Then don’t wait for the smell to begin. A monthly dose of septic tank cleaning powder keeps the bacteria working so waste breaks down quicker. It’s far easier to do before the heavy rain than after.
And please don’t open the tank to look inside. The gas in there is dangerous. Our post on the rotten egg smell from septic tanks explains why.
Drain smell in monsoon
Your kitchen and bathroom drains already have oil, soap and hair stuck on the pipe walls. In the rainy season that layer never dries, so the bacteria on it keep going all day. Then leaves, mud and dust wash into the balcony and floor drains, and it gets worse.
You’ll notice the drain smell in monsoon most mornings, after the house has been shut all night. Start by clearing whatever you can see on the drain covers. Then pour a mug of water down the drains nobody uses, like the spare bathroom or the balcony. A dry trap lets gas straight in, and this fixes it more often than you’d think.
For the main drains, an enzyme based drain cleaner poured in at night does the job better than boiling water or phenyl. It works on the grease layer, so the smell doesn’t come back after an hour.
Garbage odour in the rainy season
Wet waste doesn’t dry in humid air, it just rots. The bin doesn’t get a chance to dry either. And when the rain delays pickup, the waste sits around even longer.
Try to get the wet waste out every day. Anything that drips should go in a second bag. After washing the bin, dry it near a fan, because sunlight is hard to find in July. If some garbage odour still hangs around, spray the inside of the bin and the bag with a garbage odour spray between cleanings.
Why it feels worse inside
Windows stay shut when it rains. Clothes dry indoors. The air doesn’t move, so the smells from the drain, the bin and the bathroom blend into one damp, sour smell, and you can’t tell which one it is. Even half an hour with the windows open in a dry spell makes a difference.
What to check this week
The tank cover, the drain covers, the wet waste going out daily, and the windows when the rain stops. Do those four and most of the smell is gone before it gets bad.
FAQs
Why does my house smell worse in the monsoon?
Damp air holds on to smell, and the warm, wet weather makes the bacteria in your drains, bins and tank more active. Closed windows don’t help either, since the smell has no way to leave.
Why does my toilet smell more in the rainy season?
Wet ground means the soak pit takes in less water. The tank then drains slower, and gas pushes back up through the pipes. A dried up floor drain in the bathroom can let gas in as well, so check that too.
Can rain cause septic tank problems?
It can. A soaked soak pit can stop the tank from draining, and rainwater sometimes gets in through a cracked cover or a pipe that shouldn’t be connected. You’ll see slow drains first, then the smell, and sometimes an overflow.
How do I get rid of the smell in the monsoon?
Clear what’s on the drain covers, pour water down the drains you rarely use, and leave an enzyme based drain cleaner in overnight. If the smell has been building for weeks, repeat it for about a week.
Is the monsoon smell in the house harmful?
Most of the time it’s just unpleasant. A strong rotten egg smell near the drains or the toilet is different, though. That can mean a septic problem, so get it checked and don’t wait it out.
