How to eliminate toilet odour when nothing appears wrong?

[grevillea21]

Hi there

I have read some of the other postings about toilet odour but in my instance I can't find any possible reason for the smell at all.  The cistern is clean and water levels are fine.  No problems with flushing either.  The smell comes and goes (and doesn't seem to be related to anything) but is gradually getting worse over time.  It is the spare toilet so I went through a phase of flushing the toilet and also letting all the water drown out but these made no difference at all.  The smell is coming from the toilet room, but I can't determine the actual source.  The smell is embarrassing and is driving me nuts!

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

[EricL]

Hello @grevillea21, 

Does your floor have a floor waste nearby? If it does, I suggest having a quick look at our best advice - How do you fix a smelly bathroom drain?

If there is no drain in your flooring area, odds are the seal to the toilet pan has been compromised. It may look clean and undamaged but there is probably a small tear or leak in the seal which is allowing the sewer gasses to escape into the room.

If you've eliminated every possible source of the smell, I recommend replacing the pan seal. The only other possible source of the smell is that the pan has been damaged and there is a fissure somewhere along the waste pipe of the pan. 

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[grevillea21]

Thanks Eric!

There is a drain next to the toilet and I poured water down it and it seemed to come out the other end quite OK (see photos).

I really don't understand how it can smell as this toilet rarely gets used. Nor do I understand the irregularity of it unless it is somehow linked to the ensuite toilet that I use.  In any event it sounds like I will need to get a plumber as I can't get to what I think is the pan seal because of the shape of the toilet (enclosed - last photo).  This seal, from what I can see, is really old so I suspect you are quite correct thinking that this is the issue.

Thank you so much !

[MitchellMc · Accepted solution]

That sounds like a plan, @grevillea21. From your image, the seal looks a little deformed, and you might find that if there's a pressure build-up, possibly by flushing another toilet, some gases might bypass it into the room.

Mitchell

[grevillea21]

Ahhh right, thanks Mitchell, much appreciated

[grevillea21]

Just to follow up on my post.  After discussions with my plumber, I decided to get a new toilet as the old one was probably at least 20 years old.  It was a good decision to replace rather than fix, and as it turned Mitchell, you were quite correct in ID'ing the pan seal as the culprit.  Once the old toilet was removed, the whole seal could be seen and it had two large tears in it, and because of the shape of the toilet, it couldn't be replaced in isolation.  So it might have cost some more, but replacement was the best outcome all things considered.  I thought you'd like to know that your ID was correct

Thank you

Christine

[EricL]

Hello @grevillea21 

Thank you very much for the update, it's great to know that you've found the source of the toilet odour. I'm sure Mitchell will be happy to know that the toilet is fixed, and the odour is gone. 

Eric

[grevillea21]

I can't remember now who initially offered 'pan seal' problems, so if it was you, thank you Eric!