Your PETKIT Pura Max still smells? look under the cylinder
- The smell comes back within hours: you empty the bin, change the bag, swap the deodorizer, and the room smells again the same evening.
- The smell is strongest low down: a sharp ammonia note near the floor and around the base of the unit, not from the waste bin when you open it.
- There is liquid under the cylinder: a wet or sticky film on the base when you lift the cylinder off, sometimes with a stain or a dull patch on the floor underneath the unit.
- Turn on Uninterrupted Rotation first: this free app setting is PETKIT's own answer to urine reaching the bottom of the device. It costs nothing and takes ten seconds.
- Power off, then lift the cylinder out: the base is the one surface a normal clean never touches, and it is where the smell usually lives.
- Wipe the base, never rinse it: PETKIT prohibits rinsing or soaking the main unit, and there are weight sensors under it.
- Treat the two wear parts: replace the N50 odor eliminator every 30 days, and replace the cat litter pad once it stays sticky or holds litter.
Why it still smells after a full clean
The parts you clean every week are the cylinder, the sifter and the waste bin. The part that holds the smell is the base of the main unit — the flat plastic chassis the cylinder sits on. You cannot see it, you cannot reach it, and you cannot rinse it. Here are the two things that put urine there and keep it there.
Urine goes into the base, not the bin
PETKIT spells this one out. When Uninterrupted Rotation is switched off, the device stops mid-cycle if it senses a cat approaching. If the cylinder opening happens to be facing downwards at that moment, a cat can climb in and, in PETKIT's own words, its secretions leak into the bottom of the device, "making it hard to clean". Nothing warns you. The waste bin stays clean, the app reports normal cycles, and a puddle sits on the base under the cylinder soaking into a plastic chassis that was never designed to be washed.
The litter pad is a wear part, not a surface
The Pura Max 2 lines its cylinder with a High Performance Cat Litter Pad MAX. PETKIT allows exactly one cleaning method for it: a soft cloth or paper towel with clean water, no scrubbing, and no alcohol, disinfectant, bleach or any non-neutral detergent — those attack the coating. So an enzyme soak, the usual answer to set-in urine, is off the table. Once the coating is worn and the pad starts holding litter, it is saturated and no amount of wiping will get the smell out. PETKIT's instruction is to replace it.
In most cases the steps below clear the smell in about 45 minutes, most of which is drying time.
Clear the base, step by step
Work through these in order. Part A is the free fix and the inspection; Part B is the clean itself. Tick each box as you go — the progress bar tracks where you are.
The base can only be wiped — so wipe it properly
A lint-free microfibre cloth is the safe tool for the base and the proximity sensor. Paper towel shreds and leaves fibres on the sensor window.
Still smelling a week later, with a clean base? Then a part is saturated rather than dirty.
If the issue persists: replacement options
Two parts on these machines are consumables, and no cleaning method recovers them once they are past it. The cat litter pad is the one owners overlook — it is a coated surface, and once the coating has worn, urine soaks in and stays. Owners commonly report replacing it after four to six months of use with multiple cats. The N50 odour eliminator is simpler: 30 days per piece, and the app will tell you when it is due.
Check which pad you need before ordering. PETKIT states that the Cat Litter Pad MAX fits the Pura Max 2 and the Purobot Max Pro only, and is not suitable for the original Pura Max or the Purobot Ultra, which take a different pad.
Still on the original Pura Max? Order the replacement cat litter pad for the first-generation PuraMax instead — the MAX pad will not fit it.
As an Amazon Associate, Pet Infrastructure earns from qualifying purchases. We may receive a commission when you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you.
If new parts and a clean base still do not fix it, the problem is probably not maintenance at all.
When cleaning is not the answer
Two situations come up often enough to be worth naming, plus the maintenance schedule PETKIT publishes for every part of the machine.
The base is wet again a week after I cleaned it
If Uninterrupted Rotation is on and the base still fills up, the likely cause is how your cat pees rather than how the machine cycles. An analysis of 885 Amazon reviews of the Pura Max 2 found roughly 41 of them, about five percent, describing urine seeping between the drum and the base and pooling out of sight. The pattern in those reports is consistent: cats that spray high on the sidewall or at the entrance edge, above the area the litter pad contains.
PETKIT marketed the Pura Max 2 as having sealed this path relative to the first generation, and it did improve it, but the reports did not stop. Aftermarket entrance extensions help some owners and not others; there is no reliable way to test for it in advance. If your cat is a high sprayer, this is a fit problem between cat and machine, and no cleaning routine will hold it back indefinitely. A taller-walled box is the durable answer.
Can I take the base apart and wash it properly?
Not in any way PETKIT supports. The main unit houses the motor, the control board and the weight sensors, and both manuals state that it is strictly prohibited to rinse or immerse it and that it can only be wiped. The safety guide adds that repairs should only be performed with a professional's guidance.
Owners do strip these machines down — full teardowns involve roughly 25 screws and a session of one to three hours, often finishing with a hose outside. It works, and it also puts water near the weight sensors and voids any argument you might later have with PETKIT support about a fault. Within the one-year warranty, contact support instead. Outside it, that is your call to make, and it is not a routine we can recommend.
PETKIT publishes a per-part schedule in the Pura Max 2 manual. It is the shortest answer to "what am I supposed to be doing, and how often".
| Part | When to clean it | How to clean it | When to replace it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cylinder | When the inner surface is dirty, or straight away after loose stools | Brush, rinse, dry | Not a wear part |
| Litter sifter | When it is dirty | Brush, rinse, dry | When it is bent or damaged |
| Cat litter pad MAX | When it is dirty | Soft cloth or paper towel and clean water. Do not scrub | When it holds litter severely, or is broken |
| Base of the main unit | Every time the cylinder is off | Damp paper towel only. Never rinse or soak | Not a wear part |
| Proximity sensor | When its surface is dirty | Soft cloth | Not a wear part |
| Odor Eliminator N50 2.0 | Not cleaned | Not cleaned | About every 30 days |
Frequently asked questions
Why does my PETKIT Pura Max smell even after I clean it?
Because the part that holds the smell is usually the base of the main unit, and a normal clean never reaches it. Urine gets there when the cycle pauses with the cylinder opening facing down and a cat climbs in — PETKIT documents this in its manual. Power the unit off, lift the cylinder out, and check the flat base underneath.
How often should I replace the PETKIT N50 odour eliminator?
PETKIT specifies an optimum replacement cycle of 30 days per piece, so a three-pack covers about three months. The PETKIT app shows the remaining service life on the device home page, so you do not have to track it yourself.
Can I wash the base of my PETKIT Pura Max?
No. Both the Pura Max and Pura Max 2 manuals state that the main unit is strictly prohibited from being rinsed or soaked and can only be wiped, because the motor, the board and the weight sensors sit inside it. A damp paper towel is the approved method.
How do I know if urine has leaked into the base?
Power the unit off, take the cylinder out, and look. A wet film, a dried tide mark or dark staining on the flat base is the tell. Also slide the unit aside and check the floor underneath — on hardwood, damage has been reported from urine that sat there unseen for weeks.
Conclusion
The frustrating part of this problem is that the harder you clean the visible parts, the more convinced you become that the machine is simply bad at controlling odour. It usually isn't — the smell is just somewhere you were never shown. Turn on Uninterrupted Rotation, get the cylinder off once, and you will know within a minute whether that is your situation. If your base was dry and the smell is still there, tell us what your setup looks like and how old the unit is.
The complete PETKIT Pura Max 2 bulletin library
Every PETKIT Pura Max 2 bulletin published on the site, in one place:
| Bulletin | Covers |
|---|---|
| TB-PPM-001 | PETKIT Pura Max screen not working — blank, black, or unresponsive OLED display? Start… |
| TB-PPM-004 | PETKIT Pura Max leaking odor from a gap between the waste drawer lid and the bin rim?… |
| TB-PPM-006 | PETKIT Pura Max 2 stuck on a safety pause or showing inaccurate weights? Learn to… |
| TB-PPM-007 | PETKIT Pura Max 2 dumping clean litter in the bin or leaving crumbs in the middle?… |
| TB-PPM-008 | PETKIT Pura Max 2 air purifier batteries dying within a week? It's not the battery… |