My WC in the downstairs cloakroom (which is on the opposite side of the house to the vent stack) always seems smelly when first used. It is as though the water has gone bad during the night and the first use disturbs it and makes a smell. (I recall someone commenting on this before - but no solution or cause comes to mind). The WC is clean and often dosed with Domestos. The smell is (I think) a bit like sewer gas.
Is the water seal in the hand basin OK? leave the plug in and tape over the overflow one night and see it is any different.
Bob
Sounds like it will be 'sewer gas' /sewer smell - I preume it is a long feed from the main sewer drian, so a long vent for the main sewer to filter into. An air inlet/escape from the pipe at the back of the toilet, exiting outside will probably cure it. It may be a little difficult to get one fitted if the soil pipe is all concreted in. Alan .
Its probably sucked a bit in wind..you probably need a durgo.
If it smells like sewer gas then that is what it is.
Forget about the water trap as smells can't get through that. You must have a direct (IE untrapped) route from this room to a drain. Either the toilet has come away from it's connector fractionally and sewer odours are getting in that way, but saying that, you'd probably notice that it was leaking water.{1}
Maybe, if the soil pipe runs through some boxing in, and the soil pipe has a small leak further down, the smells are travelling along the box and out into the bathroom?{2}
Does the overflow, either from the toilet or basin go directly into the soilpipe? - if so, these are your prime suspect.
If the box is the culprit, you can eliminate the odours by sealing around the pipe with expanding foam, but this will not cure the 'leak'.
{1} This may be the case even if there is no signs of water leakage - the toilets that gostraight downwards into a soilpipe, sometimes have quite a long ceramic outlet, and if this goes enough into the drain and the rubber seal has perished, smells would get in without any water leaking.
{2} by 'leak' I mean a small hole, maybe at the upper of the horizontal soilpipe which allows (sewer) air out but water and solids(!) will travel past without escaping.
HTH
....But I only notice it when I take a pee into it in the morning (I usually use the one upstairs so I am discounting any health problem) I really does seem to occur as the water is agitated.
The WC has a 90 degree connector into a plastic soil pipe which is embedded in the concrete / mastic floor. I guess I could change the connector - but as I say, I feel the problem emanates from the water. I will have a good sniff before using it over the next few days - and pour in water to ensure it is not my pee! There are no signs of any leaks.
The basin drain goes out through the wall into a gulley trap which then goes into the same interception manhole thing.
Or maybe you only notice it when the sewer gas has built up overnight.
Smells *CANNOT* get through water, this is why we have traps, and indeed, why there is water in the bottom of the toilet all the time. It can't be the actual water that smells because it's the same stuff that you shower in and make tea from, so I think you'd have noticed by now.
So it's definately the toilet then....there *must* be a direct route from the room to the sewer - try sealing around the joint between toilet and groundpipe with silicone sealant and I'll wager you never smell it again.
Will try that - but I can't understand why the room doesn't smell. Incidentally, as there was a gap between the plastic 90 degree bend and the plastic drain pipe - and the 'fins' were a long way down, I did (many years ago) inject some expanding foam stuff to fill the gap (cosmetic). I will dig some out and try silicone.
I suspect I have the same problem. What silicone sealant would you recommend for this?
A decent quality one! - the cheapos don't seem to last very long, try cornings or something made by Evo, that said, 'gripfil' will do the same job - it's keeping air out, not water in most cases
I saw a good way to let smells into a room yesterday. They had a tundish in the overflow.. it ran into a U bend made from solvent fit and then into the basin drain. Works fine you say.. no it doesn't.. the water in the ubend evaporates and leaves a direct path to the sewer.. there is no way the trap will get refilled unless the cistern overflows.
A cup of water down the tundish fixes the problem for a while.
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