Brown water in toilet pan after few days - what's the cause?

[devnull]

I live on the 4th floor of a 5 floor apartment block (5 years old). There is only one person living above me, the 5th floor only has one property.

When I leave my home for a number of days, the toilet pan has brown murky water in it when i return, smells of urine. I'm guessing this is coming from upstairs, but how does it get past the s bend?

There's a large communal sewer pipe which runs from top to bottom, with branches off it for each properties waste, such as bath water / toilet waste.

Any ideas?

[NISMOgtr]

Some one is using your toilet.

[LordHaveMurci]

Somebody is using your place when you're not there, wash your bedding & buy a new toothbrush

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Is your attractive female cleaner whacking off in your spare room while you're away? If so, can YOU set up a web cam, since the last person failed us so miserably?

[V8RX7]

I can't see how it can be from upstairs - no matter how the plumbing is configured.

I have seen an unused toilet have water turned slightly brown if it wasn't used for a week.

I thoroughly cleaned it and inside the cistern which solved it - I presume it was a bacterial growth.

[tonyvid]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

Is your attractive female cleaner whacking off in your spare room while you're away? If so, can YOU set up a web cam, since the last person failed us so miserably?

That was a fantastic thread, apart from the disappointment!

[anonymous-user]

Check your cistern for turds.

[jontymo]

Probably a foot long stuck round the u bend leaching out over the hours!!! a quick feel around should shift it.

[Megaflow]

When we moved into our house, a new build, we had the same problem in the main bathroom. It is on it's on soil stack so it can't be coming from elsewhere. It cleared up itself after time, I never did work it put.

[Simpo Two]

jontymo said:

Probably a foot long stuck round the u bend leaching out over the hours!!!

Indeed, I suspect an otter.

[Spare tyre]

My money is on a stuck turd or something rusting

I must find somewhere better to keep my money

[AlexC1981]

This happened to my toilet a couple of months back only the brown would appear after about 8 hours or so. I fixed it by rapidly pouring a few buckets of water down the pan. Something must have dislodged.

[zollburgers]

The exact same thing happened to my toilet a few years back. I managed to block the toilet with what can only be described as st. It was so bad that I had to throw away the toilet brush after I had unblocked it.

Next day and the water had a hint of brown!!! I suspect it was related to the previous day's activities.

[Spare tyre]

If it is a ste of death defying radius I wold sling a few buckets of water down when flushing, do this with caution as some plumbing in newbuilds isn't the most secure.

Maybe a bucket of hot water and a load of bleach might break it down a bit

[h0b0]

Just had all our toilets back up. The inspection cover is outside under a bush. Access still wouldn't have been that bad if it hadn't been the 2 foot of snow we have had. Even they it wouldn't be that bad but I use that area to stack the snow from the drive. And all the snow had compacted to a 6 foot tall block of ice. I had to use the pick axe to off ice cube sized chunks until I was down to the inspection cover.

Our 2 year old stuck a disposable nappy into the washing machine and we think this caused it. $180 to snake the drain and we can now flush again.

[Nimby]

I hope these two adjacent threads aren't connected:

[LordHaveMurci]

Nimby said:

I hope these two adjacent threads aren't connected:

Well spotted

[southendpier]

Look for a rusty screw or bit of metal in the cistern tank.

[Bill Carr]

Also consider the possibility that you may have been top-decked.

[RC1]

Dr Mike Oxgreen said:

Is your attractive female cleaner whacking off in your spare room while you're away? If so, can YOU set up a web cam, since the last person failed us so miserably?

Awesome