"rotten egg" smell from toilet.

intercity125

Hi guys, any help on this would be great.

My toilet in my bathroom, upstairs has started to stink of rotten eggs . I ve lifted the inspection chamber/man hole cover, outside, that the soil stack goes in to and no blockage or smell there. The toilet down stairs and also none of the sinks in the house smell, just the one toilet. I ve used all manner of cleaning products on the toilet and scrubbed it but no joy. I ve checked the whole drainage system and no blockages at all. The toilet flushes and drains no problem. The water level in the toilet is above the bend.


Thanks in advance.

gutteruu

Is there another sink or shower in the room that doesn't get much use? That bend might be dry causing smell ?

TheBeach

Is there a light on the toilet. Sometimes that smell can come from that. Is it constant or just when light is on?

Jen44

could it be from an electric shower? in two separate houses we have the string you pull to turn on the shower had a wire that over heated and when the plastic starts to melt it has an awful smell we thought it was the toilet for a while but then noted it was worse when the shower was on.

exaisle

Run water in the shower (esp if the shower hasn't been used in a while)...the water in the drain bend may have evapourated...

Crazyivan 1979

This is most likely sewer gas escaping, there are a few possible causes;the water in the U bend has evaporating/ evaporated, leaks in the pipework, cracks in the building foundation. The rotten egg smell is Hydrogen Sulphide and is very dangerous even in small quantities (it is toxic in small quantities and is explosive).

You need to call a plumber, immediatley.

Water John

The vent going up outside could be blocked or non existent. There should be a vent pipe passing up the eave of the house.

gct

This happened to me a while back. Turned out the toilet pan connector (a flexible one) had a small tear in it. This was letting gases from the soil pipe int the room.

Sleeper12

Jen44 wrote:

could it be from an electric shower? in two separate houses we have the string you pull to turn on the shower had a wire that over heated and when the plastic starts to melt it has an awful smell we thought it was the toilet for a while but then noted it was worse when the shower was on.

These pull cords aren't designed to be turned on and off for each shower. The pull cord switch is for the service engineer so he can isolate the power while he repairs or replaces the shower. Most, if not all electricians will recommend that the homeowner doesn't use the pull cord switch at all.

NickNickleby

Hi IC125,

Think again about the smell again. The smell of overheating electrical connections is more akin to rotten fish. I have experienced this twice. One time it was a bulb holder into which I had plugged a 100w bulb, when it clearly said 40w max - whoops. Changed a carpet and everything before discovering the cause.

Second time it was a loose connection in the back of a socket, into which the washing machine was plugged. The smell was emanating from under the counter and I assumed it was drains, until I tried to unplug the washing machine and the plug disintegrated.

Cheers,
Nick N.