Did I get a returned, used toilet? Smells like urine right out of the box.

[Dirk Strider]

I just unboxed my new Kohler Highline toilet from HD and am noticing a faint urine smell on the base.

Inside the bowl, at the very bottom where it enters the trapway, there are little particles, like loose specks of cardboard. The same area also has a light blue stain, like some toilet cleaner solution had sat there. Also there's some fine, darker blue dust in the flush valve inlet, where the water comes in from the tank.

The urine smell is faint enough that I suppose it could be how new toilet-bowl material smells, and the blue stain and dust might just be manufacturing byproducts. But since this is my first new toilet, I don't know if this is normal or not. Also, the tank was wrapped in plastic, the base was not, which supports my suspicion that the base might not be new.

Here's an image of the bowl and here's an image of the flush valve inlet.

Have some of you seen things like this before in a new toilet, or did I get someone else's returned toilet?

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Sylvan]

Sometimes people return items after use

Turn the bowl upside down and see if the horn has any wax from a toilet gasket to make sure it was a returned item

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dirk Strider]

Thanks for that suggestion. I turned it over, and the bottom looks very clean, so no clear evidence of anything there.

Sometimes people return items after use

Turn the bowl upside down and see if the horn has any wax from a toilet gasket to make sure it was a returned item

 

[Reach4]

 

[Dirk Strider]

That explains it! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[Sylvan]

Many years ago I was working on a 47 story building and I placed a toilet in the hallway while I was unloading the the freight elevator and when I went back to get the bowl some idiot was actually using it

 

[Melissa Sidwell]

I worked at HD for 12 years. I can tell you that people do return used toilets. You should be able to return it with no problems.

 

[Dirk Strider]

Update and answer:

The urine smell went away after a day or two, so I think my overly-sensitive nose was simply reacting the smell of a brand new toilet.

According to my plumber, the blue stain and blue dust can be found in many new toilets because they test them with a colored liquid before approving them to be sold. So he said that seeing that blue stuff was actually a sign that the toilet had never been used.