Stinky Bedroom and Bad Engineering

[jmckinley]

We've owned our Damon DayBreak for 8 years. During that time, occasionally there was a musty stinky smell in the bedroom. Actually, it smelled just like the wet bay where the sewer connections were.

Yesterday, I was hosing out the wet bay trying to improve its odor when I looked up way behind the water tanks and noticed a 4 inch hole going through the floor of the motorhome.

Closer inspection revealed that this hole was connected to the forced air heating system. Apparently the idea was to send some heated air in there to keep the water and the holding tanks warm to prevent freezing.

Problem is, the air comes from the furnace to a vent in the bedroom and then to this hole in the floor into the wet bay. So, if the furnace isn't running (like in the summer) there is a direct path from the wet bay to the bedroom floor vent. If you turn on the high flow fan in the bedroom ceiling vent, it just sucks stinky air out of the wet bay into the bedroom.

I can't believe it took me 8 years to find this and I can't believe anyone would be dumb enough to design something like this. Oh well, that's the RV industry.

[slowmachine]

Not unusual. My hole into the wet bay is below the shower p-trap, so it also functions as an emergency drain.



Mike
2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PBD
Freghtliner XC, CAT 3126B

[mgscott4]

Anyway to put a slide gate or door on it but still taker it off in the winter to heat the wet bay when needed.

[jmckinley]

For now, duct tape and some foam rubber will do the trick until I can come up with a more elegant solution.

[Wryly Blithe]

Originally Posted by slowmachine

Not unusual. My hole into the wet bay is below the shower p-trap, so it also functions as an emergency drain.

Mike, your response just cleared something up for me: I assumed the hole in the floor under the shower p-trap was there only as a functional space to fit the trap itself, but now I get that it's also a flow-through for warm air to heat the bay below - AND it's a way for stinky bay air to flow back into the rig.

I've been replacing AAV's, p-traps and expando-foaming holes without any luck - still getting odors once in a while. I bet when I plug this hole all my problems go away

I don't even have a furnace to force warm air down in there anymore (the rig was converted to all-electric with radiant-heat floors), so I have absolutely nothing to lose. If I cold-camp somewhere, I'll put a light bulb down in the bay to keep things toasty.

Thanks a million!

[Dutchstar08]

Why does your wet bay smell in the first place?
3 different rigs and never had odors from the wet bay.
I suggest you do a proper cleaning and keep it clean.
Oh ya and I gave up using the snake oil chemical in the holding tanks 15 years ago.
No problem what so ever with odors.

[slowmachine]

Originally Posted by Dutchstar08

Why does your wet bay smell in the first place?

I agree. You really should diagnose and fix the source of the odor.

I have an intermittent leak in my shower drain that runs into the wet bay, but that wasn't the cause of my sewage odor. I had a small crack in the plastic floor flange for the toilet. Repaired with new flange and toilet seals, and built a much stronger toilet pedestal. Hosed-out the wet bay and dried. No more odor.



Mike
2000 Holiday Rambler Endeavor 40PBD
Freghtliner XC, CAT 3126B

[jsides]

I have a 2005 daymon daybreak, had it for 3 years. I have never had an odor in the wet bay, even on hot days. I keep it clean and rinse the sewer hose well. You might have a leak in the bay. The smell has to come from somewhere, just a thought.

[Miller7]

I had similar odor issues, as the wet bay is directly beneath the bed. Below the mattress, there are open pass through areas for plumbing, etc. I found the source of the odor to be the sewer hose that I had been storing in the wet bay. Since moving that to a different compartment (now keeping it in the non-lockable bay with the propane tank) the bedroom odors are gone.

[LETMGROW]

I don't call my compartment a "wet bay" as I go to great lengths to keep it clean and dry.
A great aid for this is: Item This is available for around $10 and really helps in cleaning those nasty hoses. When done cleaning the hoses I put the ends together to prevent water from escaping into the compartment.
I also keep an air freshner in the bay just as added insurance.
Lynn

[jmckinley]

Thanks to Miller7, I decided to get the sewer hoses out of the wet bay. I always kept caps on both ends, but apparently it gets really musty in the hoses with no air circulation. I bolted two 5" plastic fence posts in the propane bay and now put the hoses in them. Definitely smells better in the wet bay, but I'm leaving the stinkpath into the bedroom closed up.

[Mr_D]

In our 2002 Dutch Star there was a separate outlet run from the furnace with a fan to push the heat in to the bay. Might pay to look into something like that.