I just moved into my condo 3 months ago. I find that there is a sewage smell coming out from the master bedroom toilet. The smell only appear occasionally. No particular time or day. I think it is mostly coming from the the bathtub drains. Not WC or wash basin.

I started investigations and taken some actions below :
1. The developer contractor take a look at my unit and insist that the S-Trap under the bathtub, is dry therefore not enough to form an airlock against sewer gases. We do not use the tub daily, therefore, I poured water into the tub everyday, but the smell still exist.

2. I checked with my neighbors at the lower floors
They said that they had the same problem but not as serious as mine. Maybe because I stay in the higher floor and the pressure build up and generally with higher pressure build up it will release the gas at the higher floor. The neighbors did complain to management in the past and decided to live with it as it does not help to solve the problem.

3. We poured baking soda and vinegar, attempting to clean the pipe. It does not work.

4. I poured fruit enzyme into the tub drain to help relieve the smell. It only works for 1-2 days and the smell return. So I have to pour daily which is very high maintenance.


There are 1 more thing I want to ask the management to do is checking whether the vent piping is clog or plugged preventing the the pressure to release and work properly.

I would to get advise from the forumers if you have had the same issue before and what else can I do next?

Thank you.

lpee

I have the same smell in my rental apartment - coming from washing machine and laundry sink. Anyone know how to fix?

I'm facing the same issue as well. But mine is landed property. The smell come fr the water exit at shower area 1st floor. Surprisingly no such smell at G floor toilet...

Are you in Klang valley?

I just pour in some Clorox and leave it for like 10-15mins. Then flush it with hot water. So far it removed the smell for the past 3 days.

hi, my new apartment bathroom have this sewage smell as well, the contractor have cleaned the floor trap 2 times but the smell still there, anyone has any recommended solution?

Thank you.

erm..........

open and see if the floor trap got water inside........
if no water then likely the plastic holding the water is broken or the bottom cap is not screwed tight enough.

if no water, smell from the drain pipe can go into bathroom.

Will check and see, thanks

There should be a vent pipe to pressure balance the water seal or the pipe itself should be sized bigger draining to the vertical stack.

You need an experienced plumber to troubleshoot or the original sanitary drawings to make sure. Then check where the p traps and if properly vented.

It could be the vent pipe itself is blocked by a dead critter.

Thanks a lot for the information. Do you have any experienced plumber contact? Thanks.

Kota Kinabalu? What's your location?

Otherwise just go for mudah.my.. Discuss price trouble shoot then finalise works and price.

Its usually only a blockage but you need a plumbers rodding tool or wire to unblock it.

Nasty job to be honest but get it done early and you can arrange to put a grating to prevent future

I am from West Malaysia,, thanks a lot for your information, appreciate it

i have the same sewage smell from my second toilet that is rarely use. I found out that the retain water in the bowl already dried up.

keep flushing the toilet once in the while is just waste of water and closing the toilet lid didnt work.

So i stuffed the hole with mop.

No more smell.

Same situation with my master bedroom's toilet, I'm on 15th floor and I only notice the smell especially during the hot weather.

. I’m not surprised.. and bro.. you are not alone, most of the condos that I’ve visited has this issue.. and it’s nothing got to do with the air trap. I found the main issue of our condo, thanks to my bestie. It’s because of the poor piping installation mostly. That’s the reason why I rip off everything and start from scratch.

Normally there should be 3 or optionally 4 types of piping segments in a unit of a multi story building:
Toilet (soil waste)
Bath and basin
Kitchen and laundry
Balcony floor trap (optionally)

If there is no plaster ceiling in the bathroom, we should see two sets of pipes that goes out into the service column where it joins their respective down pipe, one for soil waste (WC) and the other for bath.

There's also vent piping (intake).

Sewerage smell is likely due to lack of water seal that trap these gases. Sometimes this points to inadequate seal design that allows the sealing water in the trap having the tendency to be siphoned down when an upper story unit flushes. The effect is made worse if more than one unit flushes down at the same time.

Another possibility, neighbouring unit left vacant that the seal trap dries up allowing sewer gas to intrude and is blown around thus other units can smell it.

I remember during the SARS outbreak in 2002-2003, reports came outs detailing how and why it was easier to spread in the affected HK building than in SG. There was a diagram contrasting the seal trap design of multi unit multi story dwellings of both countries.

In the SG trap design the trunk after the seal trap that connects to the down pipe inclines slightly upwards making it harder for water to flush out unless in large enough quantity and velocity. In the same token, the siphon effect is lessened when an upper floor flushes thus maintaining the seal.

In contrast, the HK building's plumbing design where SARS was found to have spread, the connecting part to the down pipe is relatively level, this making it easier to siphon out the water from the neighbouring seal traps below when flushing or bathing etc.

Not only SARS but various pathogen can spread in like manner of a compromised seal trap ie Norovirus.

If possible, in the problem areas replace the 6" floor trap with one that has an insert with a self closing seal against vermin (cockroaches & lipan) and sewer gas.

This post has been edited by halcyon27: Dec 29 2018, 11:43 PM

If the original vent pipe is damaged or ineffective it might be better to just install a new piping vent outside your unit

Get a good plumber to install a new piping vent to prevent the water seal being siphoned out and allow the waste water to flow properly and prevent future events.

Watch YouTube to understand better.

Any plumber contact can recommend? Thanks.

Yes very good .

All sewers system must have minimum these 3 components.

SWV.. Soil faeces, Waste water and pressure balance air Vents.

That's why it's a common commercial products.

Do you have ventilation fan in your condo?

If you have all the windows and door close while ventilation fan is on, the fan will have no place to draw the air in but from the sewage pipes.

This thread is very informative for me as a first time tenant of a condo studio on 13th floor. It is so awful to smell the odour from my shower's drain.

Initially it didn't smell that terrible (probably due to rainy season), only once in a while when i enter the toilet i could smell it.

But as the weather becoming hotter and hotter, I don't even have to open my toilet door, the odour is now so unbearable that I was awakened by it during sleep despite toilet door is closed.

I have poured down some Clorox last night, hope this will somehow resolve it temporarily. But I'll call up the management office regardless.

This post has been edited by shyuanshyuan: Apr 6 2022, 01:02 PM

was this fixed?

One of the suspect is that the drainage is not used often. All draining pipe got this smell. To counter this alot of drainage outlet got the U shape to retain water and block air from coming up. If the drainage is not used long period, the water dries up then air can come up from the pipes.

So make sure to pour water down it and use it often