Smelly Toilet - any ideas

[Timpcole]

Hi there - I'm new here and hoping you can help.

For a while now our ensuite has had a real bad smell - we've tries everything including not using it for a month. Sometimes it smells damp and musty other times like sewage. Sometimes the water level in the toilet is low.

I seem to have located the smell to where the ubend/drainage drops into the floor.

Any suggestions/remedies? is it something simple or should I call a plumber.

Thanks

Tim

 

[CharteredEngineer]

You are losing your water seal in your toilet so the drain smells are coming back through. The problem may not actually lie in your bathroom and could be the way the toilet is vented - perhaps have a look for your soil vent pipe and see if it is blocked

 

[seco services]

give us a pic ?

 

[Timpcole]

Thanks for the replies - I'll post a pic tommorow as on the phone!

Where would I find a soil vent pipe?

 

[seco services]

top of the soil pipe ie out of the room.

 

[Timpcole]

Here's a link to a pic of where the smell is coming from

//www.diynot.com/network/Timpcole/albums/8760

I'll locate the soil pipe vent tonight and see if it's blocked.

 

[Burnerman]

Normally pan connector problems show up with water leakage.....to keep things wholesome these things have flexible rubber vanes to grip tightly onto the loo outlet and into the drain at the other end. If they have been in place for a while its not usually a good idea to re use them, rather replace with new.
If the water level in the pan drops significantly when another loo is flushed then air isn't entering the soil vent pipe in the correct place - in fact some soil pipes aren't vented at all!
John

 

[Charnwood]

It's possible that the seals in the pan connector have deteriorated with age.

 

[Nige F]

Blocked drain somewhere along the run


C+G Plumber with not a clue

 

[RigidRaider]

If the U bend level is sometimes low you have a hydraulic problem somewhere and materials rushing down the pipe are causing a vacuum, which is sucking water through. As others have written, you need to check the vent pipe. Does it stick out above the roof? Have birds taken up residence and blocked it?

 

[Timpcole]

Hi,

Thanks for all the tips.

I can't see the pipe on the roof - the house is about 10 years old and I suspect it my be in the loft - is this likely?

Tim

 

[Burnerman]

If it is in the loft it will be capped with an air admittance valve - that should flap open when the loo is flushed, then close again.
John

 

[Timpcole]

Hi again

The soil vent pipe is on the roof and looks clear - it has a mesh infront of it to stop birds etc blocking it. I've also flushed another toilet in the house and the water level in the ensuite remains the same!

Thanks

Tim

 

[Psyclist]

There is a chance the soil vent could be blocked just beyond where the problem toilet connects in to it.

Sometimes if waste is being obstructed or slowed just after the u-bend, it can gather at junctions and slowly over time form a blockage in the surrounding pipework.

I would have done a smoke test first to make sure the smoke is getting from the first manhole to the soil pipe while also checking to make sure the smoke isn't coming out of a perished or displaced seal in your internal pipework. You can get smoke pellets from any decent plumbing merchants. Follow the instructions on the packaging and make sure you don't get stuck inhaling too much of the smoke coz it really gets into your airways and burns.

If that was inconclusive I would have checked the pipework using cctv which obviously you won't have, so might be worth calling the pros in and getting them to stick their pushrod camera up yer poop-chute! If they can't get to it from a manhole depending on the height of the problem toilet and/or pipe configuration, they could try taking the pan connector off the back of the toilet and checking with the camera from there to see if they can see anything obvious. Make sure they fit a new pan connector though because again as previously stated, rubber seals which have been in place for a while don't like being removed and re-fitted. They rarely seal up properly again once removed unless still reasonably new.

Internal pipework can be a bit of a bugger. That's the beauty of having everything concealed. It's not easy to get at so not easy to service. If it runs up the outside of the house though and is accesible by ladder that might make things a little easier.

Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Psyclist]

Internal pipework can be a bit of a b*****r.

Read more: //www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1983424#1983424#ixzz1LxVNKTQP[/QUOTE]

Really? Is that considered offensive?