awful smell

[old man]

after a few days of dry camping and then traveling to a dump station the smell inside the coach is simply awful. I can't find how the smell is intering the coach. Does anyone have any ideas and solutions to the problem.

thanks
old man

[old man]

after a few days of dry camping and then traveling to a dump station the smell inside the coach is simply awful. I can't find how the smell is intering the coach. Does anyone have any ideas and solutions to the problem.

thanks
old man

[John Hilley]

Check to make sure all the sink and shower traps have water in them. Check the connections to the grey water vent.

[Chief]

Welcome to the forum..The odor quite possibly could be the result of going up or down hills or bumpy roads resulting in the water barrier in the "P" traps (shower or sinks) running into the holding tanks thus allowing the odors to escape into the coach. I have had this happen occasionally and only can attribute the odors to loseing the prime in the traps. Only occurs when steep pulls out of camp site or steep pull into dump station are part of the equation.

I'm sure that others more knowledgable than myself will chime in and offer other possibilities. Good Luck..

[skigramp]

the fumes from the gray holding tanks are suprisingly strong ... are you sure that all of your P traps are filled with water?

There is also device (generally under your bathroom lavoratory) that allows air to flow the holding tank (to prevent sucking all the fluid from your P traps) when you are dumping ... sometimes these get stuck open ... that allows fumes to enter your coach ...

[Sammie]

Make sure your toilet holds water in the bowl. If it doesn't you may need to clean the seal at the bottom of the bowl. Sometimes toilet tissue will become stuck in the seal when you flush and then the water will continue to drain out allowing the bad oders to escape.

[old man]

thanks for the reply. this happens on flat highways and I believe the smell may be from the black water but may be gray water. Sure smell bad tho.

old man

[old man]

I appreciate all the reply. I will check out the traps and vents.

old man

[dickiebob]

Had an odor problem last time out...was scary what we found...a burner knob on the range got bumped when a towel was placed on the pull handle nearby. Was on just enough where the detector on the floor below did not detect. Smelled bad like trash or toilet...not like the smell of a larger flow of propane I have smelled before (not in motorhome). No more placing towels on the handle like we have done for years.

[Easyrider]

We always use the sink drain plugs when traveling in the motorhome. It seems to help keep the water from draining from the traps and even if they do drain out the plug helps keep the smell out.

[Ding-a-ling]

Don't know if this applies, but if you have a washing machine don't forget about that trap, also.

Every so often we get that bad odor because the W/D trap lost its water. Just put 16 ounces of water in and spin for a minute.

[DonavonP]

Welcome to IRV2 old man. On your 2006 Journey 39W's pdf from Winnebago ( PDF) page 259 item 18 you see a mechanical anti siphoning vent. You can find these under the kitchen sink and bathroom sinks. I think you have 4 of these vents on your MH (motorhome). They can stick open and vent into the coach.

[Art in Mobile]

On my 2006 Voyage I looked for almost a year before I found out that the factory had not put the 3 inch rubber coupler on correct. It was the first rubber coupler on the drain pipe from the black water tank. As it is in the part of the basement that is heated the fumes would be sucked up by the basement air so finding it was a real problem, but not as much of a problem as me getting my 6 foot 2 inch body under the floor to fix it with a rubber coupler 1-1/2 inches longer.

[Finhawk]

I had the same problem with my Adventurer. traveling with the drivers window open. I couldn't figure it out because we had just left Las Vegas and all the P traps were full ----no bumps on the road either. Finally discovered that with the window closed, the smell went away. Apparently the air flow pulled the fumes from the black tank vent inside the coach. So I stopped driving with the windows open. Kind of a simple fix!