Intermittent Sewage Gas from G400 Dual Flush Toto

[Encarbon]

I've been having this issue for over a year. Once every few months (usually overnight) my TOTO Washlet G400 will emit a large amount of Sewage gas. So much so that most of the house will have a lingering sewage smell for a day.

I've been able to trace the source of the smell from the dual flush opening in the toilet.

-Toilet is used daily
-Home is less than 4 years old.

How is this possible? From my understanding there should not be any sewage gas coming from the hole where water is pumped into.

 

[Reach4]

Well and septic?

Edit: incorrect sentence removed.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

That's a tough one. The slot at the bottom is where fresh water comes into the bowl.
You do want to make sure that the drain at the very bottom has water in it for sealing purposes.

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/toto-g400-toilet-reviews-pictures-ms920cemfg.71710/

 

[Breplum]

There is not way that actual sewer gas can get in from the bowl itself since all WCs have a internal trap with a water barrier.
So, if there is water in the bowl, there is also water in the trap.
Put your nose at the floor/toilet area...that is usually where you can detect a bad seal, which would call for newly resetting the WC.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Water level is extremely low. Not likely a toilet problem. Ground floor? I'm picturing a house but know very few houses being built in Pasadena. I think there are issues with stoppage. Old old street with a old faulty sewer underground maybe

 

[Encarbon]

Water is city well water but not on septic system. I noticed it was not using the standard adapter, unable to clean the filter (not sure if this has something to do with it).

I'm almost 100% certain the smell was coming from the hole at the bottom of the toilet where the water comes in. It was drafty and air was coming through.

Once I flushed, the smell stopped as well, the water at the very bottom was always filled.

 

[Encarbon]

water level is extremly low. not likely a toilet problem. ground floor? Im picturing a house but know very few houses being built in Pasadena. I think there are issues with stoppage. old old street with a old faulty sewer underground maybe

According to Terry's reference photo the water level looks normal for this model. It's a new construction hillside home, street is probably older.

 

[Jeff H Young]

According to Terry's reference photo the water level looks normal for this model. It's a new construction hillside home, street is probably older.

sorry never seen that toilet i thought a picture showed water line higher . I wonder if a crack in the china allows the sewage gas to leak into that port in the bottom. if you are correct in the smell coming from that hole I see a reason to belive bad toilet assuming no bubbling or gurgling or water too low , which is almost always the case

 

[Encarbon]

sorry never seen that toilet i thought a picture showed water line higher . I wonder if a crack in the china allows the sewage gas to leak into that port in the bottom. if you are correct in the smell coming from that hole I see a reason to belive bad toilet assuming no bubbling or gurgling or water too low , which is almost always the case

Could a cracked China explain the intermittent and sporadic nature of the gas leakage?

- Yesterday 2 nights in a row
- 2 months ago
- 4 months ago

I am also starting to wonder if maybe there is a consistant faint smell everyday.. but it's not quite the same as the intermittent surge of sewer gas/ sulfer smell

 

[Reach4]

Is that photo with the orange arrow the level of the water after a flush sometimes, or did you pull water for a photo, or did you use a plunger that forced out water?

I am wondering if the inside passage has some stinky stuff growing, but you only smell that when the water line is below that jet hole.

With a tank toilet, I would add some bleach to the tank, and let that wash thru. With your toilet there is no tank to add bleach to.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Could a cracked China explain the intermittent and sporadic nature of the gas leakage?

- Yesterday 2 nights in a row
- 2 months ago
- 4 months ago

I am also starting to wonder if maybe there is a consistent faint smell everyday.. but it's not quite the same as the intermittent surge of sewer gas/ sulfur smell

It explains why you would smell it to me I just can't promise that's the problem I cant think of much else you claim its coming out the hole ? I'm taking that as fact. maybe a smoke test (I've never done a smoke test)

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

I'm looking at the engineers drawings of the bowl and how the flushing water enters the bowl. The tornado flush rim jet up top and the siphon jet below are both on the side of the trap that prevents sewer gases from entering the living space. The toilet has a flushing tank similar to regular tank style toilets.

The deodorizing catalyst should last longer than 4 years.. Those can sometimes stop working and cause farts to not get filtered, but I would imagine the smell would be noticeably different than sewer smell. And the deoderizer runs every time the toilet is used so I would think if that were the problem it would be more frequent. Toilet was new with the house that is 4yrs or less since it was built?

One way to trace whether the smell is coming from inside the bowl vs the Unifit under the bowl would be to cover the bowl with saran wrap. But since the smell is so intermittent maybe hard to diagnose. Or see if you can fill the void behind the toilet to see if it goes away.

I'm still betting that its caused by the wax ring not making contact fully to the unifit.

 

[Jeff H Young]

Encarbon says smell is coming out the hole . but Tuttles has a good idea on the wax seal could be broke allowing smell in dosent explain it being at the water passage in bowl though

 

[Reach4]

"I'm almost 100% certain the smell was coming from the hole at the bottom of the toilet where the water comes in. It was drafty and air was coming through."

How did you determine that? Smoke? Strip of toilet paper dangling in front of the hole?

 

[Encarbon]

We removed the toilet but the wax seal looks good. The top part has a weird putty/brittle material which I wonder might be the cause and I'm not sure if it goes in deep enough. Do I need a shorter unifit?

It's also weird that there were no screws to secure the toilet in place, does anyone have the part number for that?

 

[Tuttles Revenge]

I wonder if the toilet bowl was socketed into the unifit gasket fully or if the lack of screws allowed it to move on the flange and not set properly?

Putty is definitely not something that would help seal that connection, it should just be the gasket. I would see if you can measure the distance of the front of the tip of the bowl to the spigot end of the drain and compare that to the caulk line one the ground to determine if it was socketed fully.

 

[Terry]

Without the two screws securing the adapter in place, how do we know if the spigot of the bowl is fully pushed into the adapter?

 

[Jeff H Young]

Improper install could be the cause. Encarbon could plug off and see if he still gets smell,
I think its the installation and not coming from that port in the bowl. I'd go ahead and secure everything and reset

 

[Encarbon]

Does this look like it went in all they way based on the grey material residue?

Do they make a shorter rough in for this unit? There's almost no gap between the back of the toilet and the wall

l

 

[Terry]

Like I mentioned above, the adapter needs to be secured to the floor where the the two back screws should go. That prevents the adapter from moving too close to the wall. Who installed this toilet? Did they carefully read the instructions that came with it?