Smells in utility room and toilet

JASol

Hello all,

New poster here looking for some advice on smells in our utility room and downstairs toilet.

We had noticed a smell last summer and it has returned again this year. Its a sort of damp musty smell rather than sewage. I have checked numerous things including:

• Outside drains – had man hole cover up and all is clear and cant notice the particular smell
• Sinks – the pipes are clear and clean underneath
• Washing machine – this feeds into the same pipes. Thought it could have been the washing machine but we replaced earlier this year

Does anyone have any further suggestions please?

I have got Dynorod coming out today as the mystery is becoming very frustrating. I am going to ask them to put the cameras up the soil pipe which is on the side of the house to see if there’s any blockages there.

The builder that built our extension a few years ago has suggested that the water table in our area is very high and it could be the smell of the water below our property – could this cause such a smell in warm weather?

neilmcl

How often do you use/flush the downstairs toilet. I have a similar issue with mine as I don't tend to use my downstairs wc much but a good flush and clean does the trick.

coffeehound

Have you got the washing machine drain hose supported so that no foul water can make its way back from the drains?

theonlywayisup

It's probably your U bends, the water will stagnate if you aren't using them and cause that sort of smell.

JASol

Downstairs loo is used daily

JASol

Update: had dynorod out yesterday and all drains and sinks etc are running fine and clear.

The only thing the engineer could possibly
suggest was the waste from the washing machine. Frustrating as it could be this but the smell seems to be far too strong from a small amount of water that is in theory flushed through pretty regularly

JASol

neilmcl wrote: »

How often do you use/flush the downstairs toilet. I have a similar issue with mine as I don't tend to use my downstairs wc much but a good flush and clean does the trick.

Loo is used daily

darrensurrey

Damp/musty smell - might be a leak from incoming supply or outgoing relatively clean water.

JASol

darrensurrey wrote: »

Damp/musty smell - might be a leak from incoming supply or outgoing relatively clean water.

Thank you - I think the outgoing is ok as we can see the pipes......will look into the incoming supply but no signs of leakage....hard to tell as we have karnden flooring

frozen_wastes

One question: If the extractor fan for the toilet is running, does the smell very quickly get stronger?

I had a strong smell in my toilet last year, and every time the window was closed and the fan came on, the strong smell increased very quickly.

Investigations revealed the same smell when I lifted the shower trap - it confirmed the waste system was the source, but the shower trap wasn't the cause. That meant that the toilet waste was the source of the smell.

Sometimes you can get a small gap between the toilet pan, and the waste pipe if the rubber seal sags a little between the two. It's not a big enough gap to leak contents, but when the extractor fan is running it will pull air in from the waste pipes instead of fresh outside air.

I had a plumber come round to replace the toilet waste pipe and that fixed the problem.

Carer

Long shot but do you store potatoes in the cupboards? We get a similar damp musty smell in the summer from our potatoes in their basket when they start to deteriorate. Don't notice it at all at other times of the year.