We're getting a musty smell from the toilet and no amount of cleaning (bleach and toilet cleaner, and bleach blocks) will shift it. No signs of leaks, and I've replaced the seat and lid. It's been like this since we moved in - about a year.
Any ideas please?
Check where the soil pipe vents. Sometimes there is an air admittance valve in the bathroom - possibly boxed in? - rather than being vented to the outside air. These can sometimes go wrong and need sorting out or replacing.
Bob Minchin wrote in news:ku28uh $eil$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I had this - The toilet had a plastic pipe that went into the earthenware pipe in the floor. Some of the sealing fins in the plastic were distorted and were letting sewer smells up. There was never a visible leak as the water could always flow down.
Have you lifted the manhole cover of the drains outside?
Have you looked inside the cistern?
DerbyBorn laid this down on his screen :
+1. We had exactly the same problem, but disgiused by the wash basin drain smelling. The wash basin, where the plug fits, had a ledge under the plug. Matter would collect on the level ledge and start to smell. It was identical to the kitchen sink drain, which I had to replace a couple of years ago because of the constant smell. She would put cleaner down it, the smell would disappear for a day or two, then reappear.A very poor design, having a ledge in the drain where matter can collect. That might be your problem. I replaced the entire wash basin drain with a modern button operated plug.
The plastic pipe of the toilet, where it goes into the earthenware pipe in the floor, which I had fitted 15 years before, had developed a slight air leak, allowing sewer smells to escape. A bit of sealer fixed it.
We had just this problem. Possibly caused by hot bat water *gumming* up the vent seal. AAV from a different manufacturer seems to have cured that one.
A much more obscure problem with a vague sewery pong in a ground floor area served by two toilets (we have 5 in total:-) turned out to be a small leak where the builders had not fully sealed a new soil pipe to the benching in the inspection pit. A partial blockage elsewhere caused foul water to leak into the drain trench and trickle back under the house through the pea shingle surrounding the pipe.
The *drains test* by building control should perhaps have spotted this?
By 'musty' do you mean drains-related? Could there be something amiss with the arrangements for the cistern overflow such that it goes directly into the soil pipe bypassing any form of trap, thereby letting drains smells into the room?
Is the smell definitely the toilet (not sink/shower/bathtub)?
how about the floor boards around the toilet? They might have got wet in the past.
The vent and soil pipe were replaced about 6 months ago, and the toilet relocated slightly. It's the same smell before and after. Not really drains, more musty, like wet paper. The bare boards around and the ceiling below all look fine.
The bath/sink drain to a separate pipe, which goes in to the gutter downpipe. The toilet is separate. I remember the plumber did lift the drain cover, and asked me to flush some toilet paper down so he could see which 'branch' was ours. He didn't mention any problem at that end.
The plumber did about 6 months ago - no problem noted. The neighbour told me there was a blockage a few years back - the drains came up in to the gardens, But apparently that was fixed then. The smell definitely comes from the toilet.
Yes, to put the bleach blocks in, and I did replace the valve a few months back. Nothing obviously untoward. The cistern and pan have also been separated and cleaned when the toilet was moved 6 months back. The smell was there before and has remained.
As I say, it's not unpleasant sewage type smell, more this musty, dank sort of pong.
Oh, you mean a dry rot sort of smell? (Hope not!)
Not sewage, no. The overflow is a vertical pipe in cistern, going out through the wall if the ball valve fails.
Yes, toilet only.
Maybe a long shot, but have you tried *really* cleaning under the rim. I mean physically with a scourer, not just squirting a bit of bleach there.
You need to be careful, don't go too fast, as you could pinch your fingers if the profile narrows.
After being plagued with a smell on and off for ages, I finally did this out of desperation. The water came out *black* with some sort of mould. This is despite repeated cleaning with toilet duck.
Clingfilm over the bowl can be useful to help eliminate/isolate smells.
Odd coincidence. I've sometimes noticed a very slight whiff coming from the kitchen sink. The wife has tried soda crystals etc to no effect. The sink is less than 5 years old. Today I wondered if the overflow worked. It did but not very well as it was full of stinking black gunge. The overflow is 4 little vent like things. A plunger cleared the gunge out. I have no idea how the gunge got there. It may be an idea for you to plunge out the drain in the bath etc?
Dead bird/mouse somewhere? (Under floor/cupboard etc) The washbasin trap may getting "sucked out" by a toilet flush. Coming from outside building?
That'll be where my money is.
But possibly not go down to well with any females who don't appear to look before they leak. B-)
You have bats that piss like elephants?
Owain
No wonder it smells.
Bod scribbled...
Run a (large) bit of bog paper under the rim. You'll be surprised.
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