Toilet Smells

Steven JP has a wretched toilet smell from his new toilet in his China home. Let him describe the situation.

"Hey Tim! my new toilet has three connection points in the base. See the attached picture. I can't figure out why.

This is a fancy new technology toilet that I bought here in China. It's an Arrow AKB1108-2. 

Now that the toilet is installed, the two remaining holes on each side of the main hole are not connected to anything or plugged so a horrible smell comes through and my bathroom always stinks.

What are these two additional holes for and can I plug them with something to keep the smell from escaping?"

Here's the base of Steven's toilet. I've been a plumber for many years and this is the first time I've seen something like this! It's cool to discover new things! Photo credit: Steven JP

Here's my answer:

Steven, that's one crazy toilet. I've seen some odd European designs, but this is my first look at the underside of a Chinese commode.

I'm wondering if the Chinese have a unique toilet flange design that's much larger than US toiled flanges. I can see how you can reach behind the back of the toilet and have access, possibly, to those large holes.

The vast majority of USA toilets have a base design that allows for two toilet bolts to pass through the toilet flange in the floor and up through the base of the toilet. 

You then tighten nuts so the toilet is locked to the toilet flange.

This connection detail plus the wax gasket that's placed between the outlet under the toilet and the toilet flange creates the water and gas-free connection so there's no fluid leakage or odor issue.

What do the installation instructions say that came with this odd-looking piece of pottery?

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This is a PVC toilet flange. There are all different types of flanges. CLICK the link in the column to see them all. Image credit: Amazon.com

Here's a photo of one. opens in a new windowCLICK HERE to see all sorts of different toilet flanges and wax and no-wax toilet gaskets.

The two other giant holes under the toilet could be just there to reduce the amount of clay when they made whatever it is you have.

You can easily test to see that they're not connected to the internal colon of the toilet by placing the toilet up on two buckets in a tub so the center hole is visible. Pour water into the toilet bowl above and eventually you'll see the clear water flow out of just the center hole. This tells you that the two other holes have nothing to do with the odor issue because no waste water flows through them.

I believe the reason you have a horrible odor is because you're not establishing a seal between your piece of pottery and the toilet flange in the floor.

What's more, the toilet, once installed, can't move. If it moves, it breaks the seal created by the wax and the odors come back.