Drain smells from toilet in new house !!

[fredge45]

The "plumbers" here seem to yet to learn the use of a wax sealing ring between the toilet and sewer pipe.  Prefer to slap grout around the edge of the toilet and hope the toilet flush makes the jump.  For sure that this is the problem for the OP if the bolt holes for fixing the toilet to the floor are empty of bolts.  Get a real plumber in to do it right. 

 

https://www.google.com.sg/search?q=toilet+sealing+ring&tbm=isch&imgil=-FL09khkVckQCM%3A%3B2LZtavxPJbdtJM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fhome.howstuffworks.com%252Fhome-improvement%252Fplumbing%252Fquestion504.htm&source=iu&pf=m&fir=-FL09khkVckQCM%3A%2C2LZtavxPJbdtJM%2C_&usg=__NxTvK5f7i1shXzuwNKl-y796tz8%3D&biw=1280&bih=867&ved=0ahUKEwjxxcqCuKbVAhVFJ5QKHUfPCocQyjcIMw&ei=aEZ4WfHxCMXO0ATHnqu4CA#imgrc=-FL09khkVckQCM:

 

Edited July 26, 2017 by fredge45

[Artisi]

56 minutes ago, keithcresswell said:

Took me years to realise that at the very back of the toilet (out of sight) there was a gap where it had been concreted to the floor. I filled it in and since have had no problem. Also it explained why we kept getting cockroaches in the house.

ditto my post 2# -  but luckily no cockies.

[phantomfiddler]

If the floor drains are dry they will NOT work as an odour trap ! Must keep water in them, easily done in the bathroom.

[alien365]

When we moved in to our new home there was a smell from the toilets. We were told that it was due to the septic tank not having the required nastiness/enzymes in it. We bought a few six litre bottles of the stuff (I cant remember what it was called), flushed a litre down each toilet per day and the smell finally disappeared after a few weeks.

[Stevemercer]

One of our new toilets was smelly. It ended up being the vent pipe. Wasps had built a nest in it. I poked it out and ran some water down the vent and the smell disappeared.

[albro]

28 minutes ago, alien365 said:

When we moved in to our new home there was a smell from the toilets. We were told that it was due to the septic tank not having the required nastiness/enzymes in it. We bought a few six litre bottles of the stuff (I cant remember what it was called), flushed a litre down each toilet per day and the smell finally disappeared after a few weeks.

 

I was also told to do this once, after it was suspected that cleaning chemicals had killed off the bugs, and it did seem to help. Perhaps in a new system, especially one that may have been dry, the bugs died out and no one is digesting the waste. That doesn't take away at all from the value of having proper traps, but it might reduce the amount of sewer gas you have to manage.

 

To be fair, I have no idea if that whole system about bugs digesting the waste is real, or crap (pun clearly intended), so take that for what it's worth.

[poosmate]

Tip...for unused drains. Pour a little cooking oil into the p trap/bell.....shouldn't dry out and fairly harmless if flushed.

[arrytheippo]

Just one alternative suggestion. I had a similar problem about a year ago. I noticed that the water in the toilet bowl ocassionally bubbled back, I found that the stench pipe (the tube that runs from the pipe between the toilet bowl and the septic tank and allows gas to escape to atmosphere) was blocked thus as gas was generated in the septic tank it bubbled straight back through the toilet bowl. Not sure if it applies to you as it sounds like your house in new and the tank should be empty.

Edited July 26, 2017 by arrytheippo

[Peterw42]

25 minutes ago, albro said:

 

I was also told to do this once, after it was suspected that cleaning chemicals had killed off the bugs, and it did seem to help. Perhaps in a new system, especially one that may have been dry, the bugs died out and no one is digesting the waste. That doesn't take away at all from the value of having proper traps, but it might reduce the amount of sewer gas you have to manage.

 

To be fair, I have no idea if that whole system about bugs digesting the waste is real, or crap (pun clearly intended), so take that for what it's worth.

An old plumber once told me a dead cat does the same, gets all the bacteria happening. A properly bacteria balanced septic will of course smell but not over the top. The worst thing you can do for a septic tank is put bleach, disinfectant etc down the drain. 

[xylophone]

I have encountered both the main instances spoken about here in friends places and did manage to fix them.....

 

As has been said by others, the placing of the toilet over the hole made in the floor for it was a poor fit to say the least, with no rubber seal of any description, and there was a gap round the back of it where you could actually put your fingers, hence the smell coming up, so was able to fix that.

 

Another friend had smells coming up from the vent pipes and overflow vents in the bathrooms and these were of an older type (seemingly made of cast iron or something like it) where the rim of the "inverted cup" had grooves in it so that the smell came up no matter what one did, so I changed those out for the type depicted on the drawings here and that seems to have fixed that.

 

Quite amazing what passes for "plumbing" here and some of the worst I have seen was in an expensive penthouse-type apartment owned by friends in Patong. Go figure!

[fxe1200]

10 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

The word P-trap implies something like a u bend to me.
But what I have is a bell on the underside of drain cover which sits in a small amount of water in drain itself ( see sketch on post from Peterw42 ) , whether this is classified as a p-trap I don't know.

I believe they are classified as "stink-traps", or "air-traps". Thai plugholes normally do not have this device them.

[iang]

Had the same problem on a new house a few years ago & it had nothing to do with the throne seating, P or S traps.  The sceptic tanks just needed to be 'started' - I.e. Develop the bacteria & enzymes that devour the content! Our builder just went to the local ma & pa store down the road & came back worthy a few large water bottles that had been filled with what her described as 'starter' . Needless Top say it was dark brown colour, but suprisingly did not really pong. More an earthy smell. This was mostly poured down the loo & flushed & we were instructed to dump A bottle down every day for the next few days, which we did & the nasty smell disappeared! So maybe that's what you need too - some bottles of biological 'starter'. Hot to be worth a try before you start tearing things apart!!!

[thailand49]

Sorry,  no matter where, shit smells the same it stinks. Here as noted, no flang, wax, etc.. even if you had one I don't think it would be any better?

I've replaced a number of toilets in my own small apartment building, the biggest thing is the venting, plus you think because your house is new, the tank underground has nothing in it, the workers been dumping into it for months and when finished the shit is just sitting and stewing. Go outside, locate the clean out bring a flash light unscrew it and take a good look as to why it smells? Watch out for the Peters? 

 

[dotpoom]

In my condo had this problem. Simply removed the bowl and laid down new cement, replaced the bowl, all's well now.

  In my house had the problem from the shower drain, tried various fittings but in the end settled for a sort of stopper thing, hard plastic, black,  with a handle round nob, about 10 baht in the plastic shop, don' t know what it's really for but did the trick perfectly.

[Andrew Dwyer]

Well, thanks for all the suggestions !!

Haven't had much time to investigate today as I've spent all day loading and unloading a pickup with wardrobes and a fridge and the usual amount of tat that one accumulates over a short period of time !!
Plus it's rained steadily since 5 to 7 this morning ( pickup arrived at 7 ) and it's still raining now [emoji20]

Anyway, I'm worn out !

The offending bathroom doesn't seem to smell today !, but maybe cos it's raining and cooled off ?, see what it's like when the sun comes out .

I've certainly got a lot of things to try before I get the builder in .
Pouring some stuff down the loo to create the required enzymes and investigation of the vent to the tank seem like first on my list but I will go through them all one by one until it's sorted ( not sure where I'm gonna get a dead cat from though Peterw42 !! )

Thanks again for all the great ideas and if over the next few days you sense a really bad smell in the air , don't worry, it's only me making matters worse [emoji3]

[cliffhornsby]

I agree with artisi 100% your trap is in the toilet bowl so the smell is from the base, cliff Hornsby ( plumber )

[kannot]

So glad I did all my own work in the end, heres  my drains inc breather pipes and u bends, even the toilet was 2x45 "just in case"

[inThailand]

I have seen on more than one occasion toilets installed where the toilet was misaligned with the drain pipe. The sh.. was literally accumulating on the floor and undetected. Hence, why I refuse to let contractors use cement to set the toilet or even caulk around it. They love to cover up their sh.. work!

[Andrew Dwyer]

Done well Andrew.

 

This is about your power not P traps.

 

As you've sorted the sewer and water, may as well check your power, to be safer.

 

Sorry for rambling on, and stressing you more, but check your power to see if you have a Safety Cut circuit breaker where the main power comes in. Look on TV for RCBO.

 

Think the cyclone predicted is nearly right overhead as biggest rains I've seen and reasonable winds.

 

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what is installed.

The air cons have their own breaker.

 

[richy2201]

Had exactly same problem in new build for 2 separate toilets. Told the landlord who kept getting incompetent idiots round to "fix" it. Even after telling them the problem (there was a gap between the main pipe from where the toilet connects allowing the sewer smell to escape) I caught them re-cementing up the actual base of the toilet which of course was pointless. Eventually enough was enough and both toilets were replaced and fitted properly.

[Crossy]

6 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Here is what is installed.

The air cons have their own breaker.

 

I see no earth leakage protection (RCD, RCBO, Safe-T-Cut).

 

Time to start a thread in the Electrical forum methinks.

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/191-the-electrical-forum/

 

 

[bandito]

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 10:12 AM, Artisi said:

Look around the base of the toilet where it is fixed to the floor, typical Thai method is to place the bowl onto cement (a bit rough but it works),  see if any gaps. In my home I had 1 toilet with your problem - after much investigation I discovered that at the very rear of the toilet "foot" there were two hold-down fixture (bolt) holes (no bolts) - one of these was open which meant the fumes could enter the area,  - filled it with tile grout - problem cured.

 

Exactly!

[Andrew Dwyer]

  I see no earth leakage protection (RCD, RCBO, Safe-T-Cut).

 

Time to start a thread in the Electrical forum methinks.

 

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/forum/191-the-electrical-forum/

 

 

 

Thanks Crossy, have just read your topic IMPORTANT INFORMATION in electrical forum and seems like I'm missing some protection.

 

Who's responsible for checking these new rules are enforced ?

 

The meter was fit, and power connected, outside last week, I wasn't present and not sure if they even entered the house.

 

Should PEA check that earth leakage protection is fitted?

 

Just for info: There are no outlets in bathrooms, no water heater, bath etc, and the double socket in the kitchen couldn't be further from the sink if it tried.

Air cons have their own breakers and the water pump breaker is outside.

 

 

EDIT: just found your The Thailand Wiring Page site , very interesting, most of its completely over my head but useful nonetheless.

[Artisi]

12 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Thanks Crossy, have just read your topic IMPORTANT INFORMATION in electrical forum and seems like I'm missing some protection.

 

Who's responsible for checking these new rules are enforced ?

 

The meter was fit, and power connected, outside last week, I wasn't present and not sure if they even entered the house.

 

Should PEA check that earth leakage protection is fitted?

 

Just for info: There are no outlets in bathrooms, no water heater, bath etc, and the double socket in the kitchen couldn't be further from the sink if it tried.

Air cons have their own breakers and the water pump breaker is outside.

Unfortunately sounds like the typical Thai build, no thinking , no idea, no care. You farang want too much - you want power points , what for, use too much electricity.

I would have a small wager that the power outlets that you do have are not earthed - is the outlet for the pump earthed ?

[mikiea]

On 7/25/2017 at 1:38 PM, bankruatsteve said:

If the toilet was dry that would explain.  If nothing from above shows up, maybe just give it a couple days of flushing.

methane gas bubbling up ..... something rotten  down there , oh.... no smoking while pooping , could be a explosion .....

Edited July 27, 2017 by mikiea

[kannot]

3 hours ago, mikiea said:

methane gas bubbling up ..... something rotten  down there , oh.... no smoking while pooping , could be a explosion .....

rarely see a vent pipe on toilets here for the gases, vented at tank sometimes

[carlyai]

Electrical

Well done mate, on your job so far.
In your consumer unit (CU, that white thinggy in the wall), the first breaker in the right, I think you could get your electrician to replace that with a RCBO, but Crossy's the guru, (may be a sinking guru If his river gets a lot of the rain we're still having). So do what he recommends.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

[Andrew Dwyer]

Electrical

Well done mate, on your job so far.
In your consumer unit (CU, that white thinggy in the wall), the first breaker in the right, I think you could get your electrician to replace that with a RCBO, but Crossy's the guru, (may be a sinking guru If his river gets a lot of the rain we're still having). So do what he recommends.

Sent from my SM-J700F using Tapatalk

Okay thanks, yes I was hoping Crossy would give me some advice, but as you say it's raining like a MF and he's probably mopping out !!

[Andrew Dwyer]

Located the vent on the tank, a blue pipe sticking up at the back of the house ( pretty much where Thais would make their outside kitchen [emoji51] ). Close to it is a white cap sunk into the concrete, about 4 inches o/d with a couple of holes in the top , presumably to unscrew it ? was gonna investigate further but I'm whacked and the mozzies are biting !!

 

[Artisi]

1 minute ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Okay thanks, yes I was hoping Crossy would give me some advice, but as you say it's raining like a MF and he's probably mopping out !!

I think your post about smell has just about cleared itself and think you should start a new thread on electrics -  rather than a mixed thread.