To ask you to PLEASE help me find the source of this smell!?

[user1477282676]

I can't stand it! We've just moved into a rental (Australia) it's a 1930s house and a lot of it is original. The loo in the main bathroom reeks...I thought it was the drain in there but I now see it's the toilet....it's a sewerage type smell...or strong pee....we have a septic tank and I've used bleach to soak it to try to kill the smell but it's still there. I realise now that you shouldn't use bleach when you have a septic tank but it's done now.

I've cleaned around the base...scrubbed it all but every morning the smell is back.

The seat is very old and worn...looks 1960s...but the smell seems to come from INSIDE the loo!

I know I can ask the Landlord but if it's something I can fix, I'd rather do it myself really.

We have a septic tank - I wonder if you're needing to do lots of flushing of the loo to get things diluted a bit further down the line to the tank? Maybe put some buckets of water down if your flush isn't that strong? Very occasionally, I've noticed a slight smell from our toilet and a few extra flushes seems to have assisted in getting rid. I have no specialist knowledge though, so this could be nonsense. Good luck with it - very unpleasant!

Could be the septic tank itself needs some attention.

Septic tanks generally need to be emptied. How often depends on the size of the tank and the number of properties it serves. It might last decades before needing emptied, but it will need emptied.

Getting close to that point could be causing back up in the pipework and, therefore, the smell.

Contact your landlord/rental agent and ask them to attend to it.

Well it's now stopped flushing! What a bugger...I was thinking it was the septic but now I think it must be something to do with the loo!

OP we had something similar in our brand new new build (no septic tank). It was to do with the water level or something. The best thing is to call a plumber - a nice one won't charge you if they can't find anything!

In the meantime there's something here called Bloo powder (not sure if available in Aus) which I THINK is OK for septic tanks. It just makes thing smell a bit nicer!

Thanks Monkey....the water in the cistern IS very low....I'm going to get DH to look at the cistern incase it's something simple, then I think we'll have to call the Landlord. I try to fix anything I can as a renter...I don't want to be a pain for the LL but sometimes...plumbing and electricals...you can't avoid it.

Is it up under the rim? It can be gross up there.

Hmm....I'll go and have a sniff [gross] and come back and tell you....I'm sure you're rapt! and can't wait to know! Thanks for the support...it's very annoying!