Urine odor from toilet-Please help!

**GirlFriday** · 05-20-2008, 07:09 PM

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Strong urine odor in bowl, but different than just urine. Not a sewer smell. Mostly bad after urine left in bowl through night. We've cleaned it hundreds of times and tried deodorizers. Flushing bowl removes smell, but activates again with new urine. Flushing does not make it worse. Any thoughts? No leaks or cracks as far as we can tell. The toilet is approx. 6 years old.

Thank you so much!

**krow** · 05-20-2008, 07:31 PM

First I have to ask , Do you have any men living in your house?(they tend to miss the hole)
Check the surrounding area around the toilet. If you have any untreated wood or a sponge type toilet seat, or anything that could soak the urine.

You could start checking off by process of elimination

**GirlFriday** · 05-20-2008, 08:02 PM

Thanks for your prompt response. Yes. My husband uses the toilet also, but he is careful. I can't say for the previous owners since we just moved in a couple of months ago. My hubbie is just as annoyed with the problem, and so he would not be so negligent as to miss the toilet.

No wood or sponge toilet seat.

Any other thoughts? I really appreciate this.

**Dunbar Plumbing** · 05-20-2008, 10:54 PM

A urine only smell indicates a urine problem......simple as that.

Urine and feces with the amount of water in the toilet is a instant dilution of both waste products. If one of the two has a stronger presence, that means either there is spillage not making it to the bowl wash or there's a totally different problem in the bathroom.

Next time your husband goes and uses the toilet,

take a white paper towel and wipe the front edge of the toilet along with where the toilet meets the floor........lift the toilet seat and see if there are yellowish-brown urine stains where urine has dripped and dried off the seat.

Men no matter what they say can have horrible aim and a denial system of an alcoholic at a bar...........so keep that in mind.

**Gary Swart** · 05-21-2008, 07:37 AM

How about a male dog? Fido could be lifting his leg and causing the problem.

**prashster** · 05-21-2008, 08:41 AM

Reduce the amount of asparagus in your and your husband's and your dog's diet.

**GirlFriday** · 05-21-2008, 09:44 AM

Well, I asked for help, not humor. Thanks for the laugh anyway. In any event, I did check with a paper towel and there is no evidence of male urine spillage. We do not eat asparagus.

Could the urine not be flushing down completely? Is there "backwash" let's say? Please advise.

Thanks.

**Gary Swart** · 05-21-2008, 11:04 AM

My question about the male dog was not a joke. Male dogs have been known to use toilets like they were fire hydrants. I don't know if you even have a male dog, but if you do, it would be a possibility. Here is another possibility. If there was an accident with urine where a fairly significant amount was on the floor, it is possible that it could have seeped under the toilet soaking the floor under it. You'd have to pull the toilet up to check, and I'd be inclined to do that anyway at this point to inspect the wax ring (although I doubt if that is the source of odor) At any rate, that's a fairly easy and inexpensive thing to do. One more point before I leave you. As a male myself, I've always been careful. That said, years ago I discovered that careful or not, I sometimes missed. I started the "unmanly" practice of always sitting. That eliminated even an occasional accident. There seems to be no adverse side effects of doing this, no PMS or sudden urges to go shopping for hours.

**prashster** · 05-21-2008, 11:29 AM

I don't believe yr prob is due to toilet backwash. If there was a blockage downstream or in the vent, it's possible the toilet would not flush completely. But you'd notice that. After the signature 'chugalug' when the last of the waste water has evacuated the bowl, the only thing entering will be 'clean' water from the tank.

Have you removed the tank top? Has anything gotten in there? The water tank never really completely empties, so if there's anything at the bottom, it can contaminate and recontaminate incoming water. That's a long shot. I mean, someone (read Spot or Hubbie) would have to have lifted the tank lid and then made a deposit.

**krow** · 05-21-2008, 05:59 PM

I had a call last year where a couple moved into a house 4 months prior. They called me complaining of a urine smell. After searching around, I found that the urine from the previous owners had soaked into the plywood below the toilet. It was not clear if it was from a leaking gasket or just missing, but the plywood had dry rot.

I ended up removing the toilet and cutting out about a 2'x2' square out of the floor and replacing it with new plywood and repaired the flooring.

End result: no more smell

It could be coming from almost anywhere

**Dunbar Plumbing** · 05-21-2008, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by prashster

Reduce the amount of asparagus in your and your husband's and your dog's diet.

LOL!

Damn dog.....always getting into the fresh vegetables out of the fridge.

**jondog** · 05-28-2008, 06:32 AM

I submit that men don't miss the hole as much as the urine splashes out while going. But I use an enzymne digester in and around the commode to digest the organic origin of the odor and it works great. I don't know brand names, but read descriptions of the products or ask at a cleaning supply retailer.

**prashster** · 05-28-2008, 07:03 AM

While we're on this subject...

I've been training my 3-year old son to pee while standing. His 'pee-pee' just barely peeks over the lip of an opened toilet.

This implies a very shallow pee angle which does not hit the water, but the opposite side of the bowl. Talk about splash. Now for the worst part:

On many occasions when he pees a little too vigorously, I have to crouch next to him and tame the beast by holding him myself. I think he does this on purpose, knowing that I'm gonna be in the perfect position to catch a lot of the back spray on my clothes and worse...

I know, more information that you wanted to know, but the things a dad has to do for his kids... Thank God my other kid's a girl!

**Redwood** · 05-29-2008, 07:49 AM

It's simple... Somebody be peein on the floor.
Once urine is in the bowl and flushed it is too diluted to have a smell.

Thats a fact Jack!

**vndk8tr** · 06-20-2012, 10:20 PM

Maybe you're right and maybe not. I have one of those new low-water flush toilets provided by my city fathers to green-up our environment. Skipping a single flush is a death sentence, as friends and relatives have discovered. Lately, though, I have noticed that even after flushing a faint odor develops and then grows more potent, with time as the only variable. Is it just possible that the flush isn't as efficient as projected? Yes, my male guests and I have committed slight aiming errors, but all are wiped up within a couple of hours...and there is no residue on the tiles or the seat. I caulked it myself a few moths ago, and there are no telltale stains to indicate leakage. Or odors, either. I promise that the odor is coming from the bowl alone; my investigations have brought me uncomfortably close to the, um, scene of the crime. I'm left with the only guess I have - that the unit is possibly inefficient in flushing, and the small amount of water left in the bowl permits odor accumulation more rapidly than in regular toilets. Any ideas would help. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Redwood

It's simple... Somebody be peein on the floor.
Once urine is in the bowl and flushed it is too diluted to have a smell.

Thats a fact Jack!