I’ve just moved to Taiwan in a not-cheap apartment and noticed a fairly persistent underlying sewage smell from the bathroom. It varies in intensity and seems to be coming from around the toilet, not the floor drains as far as I can tell. I have already tried cleaning and covering the drains, so I’m guessing it may be a toilet wax seal problem. The windows were all open when I moved in, so presumably it has been an ongoing problem… I’ve signed up for the best part of a year so hoping it can be fixed.
Is this something the landlord would be open to investigating? From what I’ve read on here elsewhere, it seems not. More to the point, is something like this even fixable? It seems common. But if it can be fixed, should I just arrange a plumber to reinstall the wax ring to avoid the agro of negotiating with the landlord?
I had a similar problem back home and the landlord dragged his feet for ages but replacing the wax seal sorted the problem eventually. Hoping to avoid a repeat of that scenario!
Could it be a dry P trap in a floor drain? That’s an easy thing to try and fix yourself, just dump a couple of litres of water in each of the drains. I had this problem/solution in the last apartment I moved into…
I’ve had this problem and spent too much time diagnosing it
It could be wax seal, HVAC, or leaking pipe. I called two plumbers and they said to replace the wax seal they have to destroy the bidet since the construction involves concrete.
I noticed if I don’t use HVAC (including kitchen fans, toilet fans, AC), there is no smell. So it could be HVAC pulling in fumes from building vents. Or wax seal negative pressure when HVAC is on. I decided not to destroy the bidet since it might not be the root cause.
There are YouTube videos where the plumber uses a gas machine to find leaks in your sewer system but I haven’t found a person in Taiwan who can do this. Sometimes someone did renovations and they put a nail in a pipe which causes the smell and you need a gas machine to find this.
Not only the seal or installation, it could also be indicative of other problems with the sewage system for that building. Had something similar in an old building where both were issues and chose not to use that bathroom., since it was one of three. Recently, I’ve started using it and it is mostly fine and I suspect it’s because the pipes inside and outside (especially exterior, after maintenance) the building are more clear. And possibly just using it also helped. Take note if the concrete base (assuming it has one) becomes wet/saturated with water. It’s possible to remove a toilet with a concrete base without destroying it but it’s just luck of the draw and go into it assuming a replacement will be likely.
Unfortunately this smell is as common here as stinky tofu and burning ghost money. Our issue had nothing to do with our personal apartment drains but was an overall building issue and they flushed out the sewage system or something and it cleared up for now.
This sounds more likely. I lived in a place where the drainage was poorly designed and it would constantly become dry in the internal laundry area (Australia)…. Had to re flood it with water and sometimes vinegar constantly.
Another common problem that can cause a stink is be mold in the u bends.
yes, lack of correct ventilation to the waste pipe can cause suction pulling the water out from those U-bends / J-traps. I guess HVAC effects can also influence it
It would evacuate in the middle of the night all at once where I was living. And from the sounds of the pipes it sounded like it was the whole building.
I’ve noticed an alternative trap which uses a weighted flap on a shower drain. It’s normally closed, but opens when water falls on it. This device can malfunction because of calcium accumulation.