Odours in bathroom

[Mr Mac]

Hi has anyone any ideas how to stop that awful smell coming from bathrooms? We have three and only one seems affected, it seems worse when just having had a shower. We have extended the pipe outside, someone said to pour very hot water down the little drain inside the bathroom, but that doesn't really work. I think I read somewhere that it is to do with the way they do the drains in NC, but has anyone any solutions?

[the butlers wife]

Hi Mr Mac,

We have the same problem now and then in a bathroom we don't use very much. It is caused by the water in the u bends drying out in the summer.
If you run water down the wash basin and the bath then this should cure the problem. You could also lift your manhole covers to your sewerage chambers and hose them down, we do this about 4 times a year.

Stephen

[kaiserphil]

You could try putting some moth balls in the plughole. It wont cure it, but if all else fails it will mask the smell to some extent.

[rigsby]

Mr Mac,If its a sewer smell it probably means the builder did not fit the seals under the toilet pan.I had the same problem and used a sealer around the base of the pan.It cured the problem.

[deputydawg]

To top up the water held in u bends in bath/shower, wash basins, and flush toilets regularly in rooms not in daily use, as has been suggested, worked for us in an en suite facility which is seldom used. We also had the same problem in a regularly used bathroom but by cleaning and properly positioning the rubber jacket which is part of most toilet pan fittings plus, as also suggested, resealing the base of the pan, that problem was cured too. I am now allowed to eat vindaloo curry again !

[mickew]

We had the same problem and as mentioned by Rigsby sealed the toilet pan but to no avail, we also noticed that the smell was more prevalent when the bathroom window was open, so I investigated outside and noticed that the vent pipe from the main drain that runs up the wall of the building terminated below the roof line and ajacent to the bathroom window when it should rise above the roof line as happens in the UK, so I bought some flexi pipe and extended the vent pipe above the roof line and problem solved, we also had the problem with the shower, so bought some drain unblocker from Supreme poured it down the drain hole and left it to do its job for 3 hours then took the shower head off the flex and flushed the shower drain out, problem solved.

Mike.

[Hippocampus]

You may find that the out-flow from the shower joins into another out-flow, possibly a sink, and when you use the shower it sucks the water from the u-bend of the sink etc.. We have experienced this, flushing a toilet emptied the u-bend of the adjacent shower, huge stink!

Another odour problem we have solved recently is the one which comes from the plughole in sinks, regardless of how much cleaner/hot water is poured down. Flexible, concertina'ed pipes are used here, with a bend in this to provide the trap. Ours were bent into the U about a foot down from the sinks, leaving a long length of pipe between the plughole and the water in the U. All the ridges in the pipe get full of stinking muck which really hums in the hot weather. Easy to solve, just bend the pipe into the U as high up as you can, and tie into position if necessary. Stinking muck is now beyond the water in the U. Simple, but took us a long while and much Mr. Muscle to twig!

[Keithcaley]

**I notice that Hippocampus has posted in much the same vein as me, but as I've already typed it, I'll post it!**

One final thought - instead of a 'U' bend under the hand washbasin, builders often fit a sort of corrugated, flexible pipe to carry away the waste water from the basin.

If this has been left fairly straight, there is nothing to stop the sewer smells coming out of the plughole, as everything leaving the bathroom normally shares the same pipe...

If this is the case, then it may be possible for you to shape it to form a 'U' bend of sorts (actually you need a sort of 'double bend' - a 'U' followed by an inverted 'U', if you see what I mean. Like a capital 'S' laid on its side. Make the height of the double bend as great as you can. You can persuade the pipe to keep this shape by tying a bit of string round it, or wrapping 'Duck Tape' round it.

If you do manage this, simply make sure that the 'U' always has some water in it, as has been mentioned by other posters. It may be that the flexible pipe already forms a 'double U bend' of sorts, but that it is too shallow, so that when water flows from the shower, the vacuum created sucks the water out of this shallow 'U bend' - that is why you need to make sure that you get as much height as possible.

[deputydawg]

It doesn't say much for the quality of TRNC bathrooms when we all have to share "rud(e/i)mentary plumbing knowledge with each other to achieve a dump in something like sanitary conditions. It is quite draining really !

[Rambling Rose]

But, having solved the problem, you must be flushed with success.

[stellasstar1]

I have the same smells in my bathroom, but I dread to think what the outcome would be if I started trying to do all the "u" bends as you all recommend. Yoghurt helps a bit, but it does seem worse this year. .

[paddywack]

Have changed all our sink and basin traps and wastes to ones from the UK which now means we can use plugs in the sink.

[guru]

If the smell is coming from the vent pipe a simple solution is to fit an external Air Admittance Valve, also known as a 'Durgo' valve. You can buy them in different sizes to suit the size of your vent pipe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPO3B64C5cY

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/plumbing/gut ... k-11577829

[Keithcaley]

I have the same smells in my bathroom, but I dread to think what the outcome would be if I started trying to do all the "u" bends as you all recommend. Yoghurt helps a bit, but it does seem worse this year. .

What do you do with the Yoghurt?

Add it to your diet, or stick it up your @@@@?

[andrew4232]

yogurt added to your soak away/cess pit increases the bacteria and help brake things down

[Keithcaley]

But do you have to eat it first?

[andrew4232]

if you want but it wont help ur soak away

[sophie]

We had the same problem 8 years ago, it was dreadfull. As mentioned earlier, we extended the "stink pipe" outside by 2ft so it was higher than the over hang of the roof tile and problem solved IMMEDIATELY.

[Soner]

Had same problem, but when house was being built I told builders that I wanted a wet-room and drain for shower must have u-bend pipe under floor. Guess this instruction was not followed, hence the nasty smells. Temporaily put a plunger over the drain after showering. Works fine - no more smells.

[Philoz]

I have seen UK style U bends here, and 'bottle traps' for showers.
I am in the process of removing those bloody awful flexible pipes from all my bathrooms.
I am also fitting automatic timer fans to all my bathrooms.
If they still smell after that, then It must be me.