My husband installed a new pvc flange on the toilet bc the toilet was rocking. We have a year old house. Did he not fit or glue the flange properly to the soil pipe bc it smells from the toilet . This is the 2nd time he pulled the toilet up in the past week bc we thought it was the wax ring giving a problem. ??

speedball1

Hey Pumpkin,

The flange just secures the bowl to the floor. If the bowl no longer rocks or turns the flange's OK. There could have been some nasty water that soaked into the floor or the wax seal may have ruptured.
Did the smell come on gradually or all of a sudden? Can you tell me where it smells the strongest? The bowl? The base? Behind the bowl? Let me know, Regards, Tom

31pumpkin

The sewer smell seems to be coming from the toilet bowl water bc I closed the lid to sniff around first. After replacing the cracked flange this smell came on. My husband is going to pull the toilet again this w/e & put a new flange on again. The 1st time we thought the wax ring failed bc we put it on the flange instead of the horn, but still got the smell with the 2nd wax ring anyway. Could he have not glued the flange sufficiently to the soil pipe when he busted out the cracked flange?

PalmMP3

You're focusing on the wrong point. Let me make something very clear: THE PURPOSE OF THE FLANGE IS ONLY TO SECURE THE TOILET TO THE FLOOR - IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TOILET'S ASSOCIATION WITH THE DRAIN PIPE. In fact, in the olden days flanges were not even used - the toilet was simply screwed into the floor using wood screw closet bolts.

Unless your toilet is rocking back and forth, putting in a new flange will not help you any. Rather than simply replacing the flange, focus on WHAT WENT WRONG during the installation of the existing flange that is now causing problems. If you install a new flange exactly the way this one is situated, you're back to square one.

Cheers,
Moishe

speedball1

As I've stated,"The flange just secures the bowl to the floor. If the bowl no longer rocks or turns then the flange's OK."
Try this. Tonight before you go to bed shut the water off to the toilet and empty the tank and dip and sponge the water out of the bowl. Now put 1 gallon of bleach in the tank and scrub the sides,floor and the inside of the lid with the bleach. Now flush the bleach from the tank into the bowl and scrub the bowl down. Let it set overnight. Next morning turn the water back on and flush the bleach out. Smell better now? Cheers, Tom

31pumpkin

This particular flange has a 4" extention that goes down the main sewer pipe. To remove the 1st damaged flange, husband had to cut the sidewalls of broken flange with a hacksaw then chipped out old flange. Is it possible that not enough glue was used & now gas is seeping up through cut marks of main sewer pipe? Man from home depot stressed to use a lot of glue, & we fear we did not& the gas is seeping through those cut marks. But if this isnt causing the odor, how can the gas be getting into the toilet bowl water?

31pumpkin

Well, thanks for your info. I had already read that I could put a few cupfuls of bleach in the overflow tube of the tank & flush that, but youre right, something was growing under the rim & a lot! Husband said the water was o.k. but the jets were the culprit. So, no big project after all. Just a skinny brush, a mask & some bleach with the water off, & wha-la the house is like new again! What a strange coincidence that the germs decided to flourish when we did this job. I will do the overnight thing with the bleach in the bowl though just to make sure. Thanks again!