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Posted by SteveB on July 10, 2008, 1:38 pm
adam russell wrote:
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> Ok thanks. But just to be clear, it smells to me like chemical smell,
> not sewer smell. I wouldnt have thought that it came from the toilet.
> You still think yea?
Here are the bathroom smell sources that come to my mind:
* Sewer gas -- Check for leaky pipes or water evaporated from traps. Be
sure to check the vent stack; it might be leaky or even plugged.
* Sulfurated water (rare) -- Get on city water or buy a filter.
* Contaminated water (*very* rare) -- Get your water tested, then get
ready for long-term trouble.
* Something in or on the wall -- Check the other side of all the walls,
in the attic, and in the basement. Maybe someone spilled a little gasoline
in the garage.
* Personal care or cleaning products (*very* common) -- Check the bottom
of the sink cabinet. Maybe someone spilled some hair coloring or cleaning
products.
* Pesticides -- Did you have an exterminator in recently? Sometimes the
smell comes back with weather changes.
* Dietary issues -- Human smells can be surprisingly varied. You're on
your own with this one. :)
I don't think anyone mentioned the vent stack yet, so there's something to
check. You can run a garden hose down from the roof.
--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX
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Posted by cshenk on July 10, 2008, 8:20 pm
"adam russell" wrote
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>> The gasses you describe which 'make you nauseous' are literally quite
>> dangerous in concentration.
> Ok thanks. But just to be clear, it smells to me like chemical smell, not
> sewer smell. I wouldnt have thought that it came from the toilet. You
> still think yea?
Perhaps SteveB has better advice? He seems to work in this field and
mentioned the corroded bolts like I did, but is probably a much better
plunmer than I am!
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Posted by SteveB on July 10, 2008, 10:42 pm
cshenk wrote:
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> "adam russell" wrote
>
> > > The gasses you describe which 'make you nauseous' are literally
> > > quite dangerous in concentration.
> >
> > Ok thanks. But just to be clear, it smells to me like chemical smell,
> > not sewer smell. I wouldnt have thought that it came from the
> > toilet. You still think yea?
>
> Perhaps SteveB has better advice? He seems to work in this field and
> mentioned the corroded bolts like I did, but is probably a much better
> plunmer than I am!
My insurance agent insists that I point out that I'm not a plumber, just a
handyman. Plumbers need licenses, which I don't got. :) I'm allowed to do
minor repairs, like fix leaky toilets. I also clean out the occasional
plugged up drain. If you want complicated stuff done, I can give you some
names.
Sewer gas odors vary *a lot*.
Remembering back to the chemistry degree I never used:
-The major part of sewer gas is methane, which is odorless.
-Hydrogen sulfide is the rotton-egg smell (it's poisonous).
-Ammonia is in there, too, and you know how that smells.
-Methyl mercaptan is one of the major smell producers in human waste; it's
what the gas company adds so you notice a leak.
Then there's the devil's mix from people flushing cleaning chemicals and
stuff they aren't supposed to flush. They react with each other, producing
only heaven (and a sanitation engineer) knows what. The gas that comes out
of a faulty drain in your house could be from some other house miles
uphill.
I still think you should check the vent stack. Its purpose is to send all
those nasty gasses up to your roof so they can blow away. If it's blocked,
the gas comes out your drains. Run a garden hose down from the roof, or
call a drain cleaner.
--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX
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Posted by Stephen King on July 10, 2008, 11:20 pm
You better check your underpants.
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Posted by cshenk on July 11, 2008, 12:24 pm
"SteveB" wrote
show/hide quoted text
> cshenk wrote:
>> Perhaps SteveB has better advice? He seems to work in this field and
>> mentioned the corroded bolts like I did, but is probably a much better
>> plunmer than I am!
> My insurance agent insists that I point out that I'm not a plumber, just a
> handyman. Plumbers need licenses, which I don't got. :) I'm allowed to do
> minor repairs, like fix leaky toilets. I also clean out the occasional
> plugged up drain. If you want complicated stuff done, I can give you some
> names.
Grin, thats ok! I'm mostly a self defense sort of 'handyman'. I'll be
looking into an estimate for my brick BBQ before we try to tackle it
ourselves. It might not be that expensive.
A handyman with bricking experience would be suitable (this is not a major
job, just a repair job of some 10 bricks or so). We 'can' do it, but they
might be neater.
show/hide quoted text
> Sewer gas odors vary *a lot*.
Yup. My experience with them is Navy shipboard driven. It's also the salt
water lines with lots of tiny dying and dead algae. Popped a leak once in
the AFFF lines and we lost a sailor. Apparently overcome by the gasses.
show/hide quoted text
> Then there's the devil's mix from people flushing cleaning chemicals and
> stuff they aren't supposed to flush. They react with each other, producing
> only heaven (and a sanitation engineer) knows what. The gas that comes out
> of a faulty drain in your house could be from some other house miles
> uphill.
Hadnt thought of that one!
show/hide quoted text
> I still think you should check the vent stack. Its purpose is to send all
> those nasty gasses up to your roof so they can blow away. If it's blocked,
> the gas comes out your drains. Run a garden hose down from the roof, or
> call a drain cleaner.
Yeah, that seems another one! Hadnt thought of that either.
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> not sewer smell. I wouldnt have thought that it came from the toilet.
> You still think yea?