Possible drain block issue

[JamiePattison]

We had a leaky toilet. A plumber came over and removed the toilet from the wall, refitted the seal and resolved the issue but introduced a new issue.

A few weeks later we can smell something foul from the toilet (sewage smell). I poured bleach and the issue seemed to be resolved.

A few weeks later same issue, did the same again to resolve.

It's been going on for months now so I called the plumber and he says if there's no leak he can't do anything.

Eventually they called someone else (another plumber) who has applied some silicone around one of the toilet pipes (behind the toilet) but was surprised the previous plumber removed the toilet.

In addition I've been asked to look into One Stop drain cleaner.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in the tour of scenario as I'm thinking about purchasing One Stop Drain cleaner and pouring out down the manhole outside (as advised).

Does this sound correct? How long should I leave the product in the manhole?

 

[Jacob]

We had a leaky toilet. A plumber came over and removed the toilet from the wall, refitted the seal and resolved the issue but introduced a new issue.

A few weeks later we can smell something foul from the toilet (sewage smell). I poured bleach and the issue seemed to be resolved.

A few weeks later same issue, did the same again to resolve.

It's been going on for months now so I called the plumber and he says if there's no leak he can't do anything.

Eventually they called someone else (another plumber) who has applied some silicone around one of the toilet pipes (behind the toilet) but was surprised the previous plumber removed the toilet.

In addition I've been asked to look into One Stop drain cleaner.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in the tour of scenario as I'm thinking about purchasing One Stop Drain cleaner and pouring out down the manhole outside (as advised).

Does this sound correct? How long should I leave the product in the manhole?

Sounds like it's backing up and blocked somewhere down the line.
Drains needs rodding? Up from the manhole and down whilst you are at it. It doesn't take much and might be just a one-off rather than needing more attention.
Or pour several buckets full of water in the bog, one after the other?
They can block but by the time you get around to looking it's drained away and there's nothing to see.

 

[JamiePattison]

Sounds like it's backing up and blocked somewhere down the line. Drain needs rodding? It doesn't take much and might be just a one-off rather than needing more attention.

So does this One Shot drain cleaner be applied to the toilet/sink/shower or just the manhole? Not sure if it needs rodding as the water is shown coming from the toilet into the manhole

 

[MARK.B.]

Have used One Shot before and it worked well but that was on a blocked shower drain,i don't think it is for large bore pipework like you get in a manhole.

 

[Spectric]

It could be a damaged seal on the pipe the toilet pushes into and using silicon is just a bodge. The issue is not in your manhole unless it is blocked and overflowing as there is a water seal in the toilet. The one stop cleaner is just going to be a waste of money, if you want to clean the drains use disinfectant or jeyes fluid.

 

[JamiePattison]

It could be a damaged seal on the pipe the toilet pushes into and using silicon is just a bodge. The issue is not in your manhole unless it is blocked and overflowing as there is a water seal in the toilet. The one stop cleaner is just going to be a waste of money, if you want to clean the drains use disinfectant or jeyes fluid.

Ok so this was my original thought but it was hard to convince the plumbers.

So would I be right in saying the manhole has nothing to do with the issue? According to the plumber when he opened the manhole there was water. We flushed the toilet and saw the water running through.... He implied there could be something stuck further down the pipe which could be allowing solids to be stuck on one side and water running on the other (so he's thinking one side of the pipe maybe blocked).

Finally I've attached a couple of images of the back of the toilet where the pipe you mentioned is where I too believe the issue is at.

For now they've siliconed around the centre of this pipe and there odour has reduced but not completely gone.

 

[Dave Moore]

Hi,
As you are past the water Seal where you have now applied silicone sealant you will get smell back from the pipe. Have you got another toilet further down the line in the same pipe? Sounds like there’s a problem with a seal somewhere. There must be a tee somewhere after the toilet to lead to the vent so could be a seal.

 

[KeenToLearn]

A toilet pipe does not normally smell much at all when removed as clean water should swill all waste away, so good chance is partially blocked and backing up. Silicon around the seal stops the smell sure but does not cure the problem.

It could be that he has not seated the pan connector correctly either at its top or bottom allowing some seepage- only way to tell that is close inspection.

 

[Tris]

Did they reuse the old pan connector? If so the rubber seal may not be sealing properly (guess how I know that ).
For what they cost I'd be off to the local Toolstation or Screwfix for a connector and some silicone spray.

Is there a bath or basin on the same pipe? We have a little-used bathroom where the bath trap can dry out, causing a horrible smell if we forget to run water in

 

[Spectric]

Did they reuse the old pan connector?

Buy a Mc Alpine connector as they are as good as they get.

 

[hunter27]

If you are getting a sewer smell filling the room, chances are there is a leak in the pipe and draughts are blowing back from the sewer into your building (even if water isn't leaking out) The toilet the trap stops this draught. I was fitting a new wash basin in my garage toilet this week and the smell blowing back through the open waste pipe (connected directly to the soil pipe) was awful.
Check the toilet trap water is staying full of water and is not being sucked out caused by a different fault?

 

[JamiePattison]

If you are getting a sewer smell filling the room, chances are there is a leak in the pipe and draughts are blowing back from the sewer into your building (even if water isn't leaking out) The toilet the trap stops this draught. I was fitting a new wash basin in my garage toilet this week and the smell blowing back through the open waste pipe (connected directly to the soil pipe) was awful.
Check the toilet trap water is staying full of water and is not being sucked out caused by a different fault?

Thanks guys I think you ask have very valid points and I've escalated this with the plumbing company. They too suggested it's this pan connector that's been incorrectly placed or the seal hasn't been connected correctly since the toilet adjustment.

This is a single toilet connected to the pipe outside.

I'm not sure what you mean by this

"Check the toilet trap water is staying full of water and is not being sucked out caused by a different fault?"

 

[Agent_zed]

"Check the toilet trap water is staying full of water and is not being sucked out caused by a different fault?"

when another toilet or sink is flushed/emptied on the same pipeline it can fill the pipe as it empties which then creates a vacuum as it moves down the pipe. The vacuum can pull the water out of the trap on the other things on the pipe as it has to equalise the pressure.

I was getting this problem when emptying the bath as it was creating a suction that pulled the water out of the shower trap, so the shower would smell. To fix this I added an air admittance valve McAlpine VP2 Air Admittance Valve White | Toolstation which allows air to be pulled into the pipe instead of pulling the water out of the trap. It has to be mounted higher than the traps though.

But in terms of your issue I think that is probably just a bad seal as the point of the water in the bowl is to prevent smells from the pipe coming back into the room.

 

[Spectric]

Having looked at those pictures you may have a bigger issue, the pipe could well be clay and that may be broken / cracked and the smell is seeping up round the outside of the pipe and through the floor which could have been made worse when the toilet was removed and refitted.

 

[Spectric]

Something else to look at is the actual fitting coming out of the floor, it looks like a modern plastic fitting between the floor and the pan but the one in the floor could be much older and before we had the rubber seals, in those days the seal was made with a cement like filler, not old enough to have used it though.

 

[okeydokey]

Look at the reply from tris. Bet its a washbasin or bath not used and the water trap/seal is empty.
Next time you get the smell run a pint or two of water into both of these. And see if it stops

 

[ian33a]

Look at the reply from tris. Bet its a washbasin or bath not used and the water trap/seal is empty.
Next time you get the smell run a pint or two of water into both of these. And see if it stops

We had a similar problem:

Our house has two en-suites. One had not been used for some time. We started to get sewage smells. I went around the twist trying to get rid of the smell. In the end I gave in and paid a plumber to come out. After about five minutes he looked in the shower tray and commented that the little trap in the plug hole was dry. He filled it with water and said that would fix the problem, gave us a bill and left. My wife thought we had been ripped off. However, after about a week the smell had totally gone.

We'd never had a shower trap like that in our previous house as the u bend was further down. It was a revelation ... and is now regularly checked.

 

[MikeJhn]

Wash hand basins and bath's should never be connected directly into the soil pipe without an anti syphon connection above its path, not often done hence the constant problems with empty traps and the proliferation of anti syphon products on the market.

 

[Housey210]

We had a leaky toilet. A plumber came over and removed the toilet from the wall, refitted the seal and resolved the issue but introduced a new issue.

A few weeks later we can smell something foul from the toilet (sewage smell). I poured bleach and the issue seemed to be resolved.

A few weeks later same issue, did the same again to resolve.

It's been going on for months now so I called the plumber and he says if there's no leak he can't do anything.

Eventually they called someone else (another plumber) who has applied some silicone around one of the toilet pipes (behind the toilet) but was surprised the previous plumber removed the toilet.

In addition I've been asked to look into One Stop drain cleaner.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience in the tour of scenario as I'm thinking about purchasing One Stop Drain cleaner and pouring out down the manhole outside (as advised).

Does this sound correct? How long should I leave the product in the manhole?

is it just in toilet, the smell? Is the floor area wet? Here we get the smell on the ground floor every time it rains so as already mentioned could be a block downline. I guess the surface water and sewer in area combine at some point. Any heavy rain with you?

 

[Spectric]

An issue faced today is that people do not want showers they have to step into, ie where they sit on a base with room for a decent shower trap to fit underneath, they also need high flow rates to cope with power showers and access from the top for cleaning. These problems can be made worse by badly installed pipe work, ie to much fall and another option is the re sealing trap.