Community Forums

funjnt · 10-24-2018, 04:49 AM

Water in toilet bowl? Is the seal on toilet flusher snipper valve good? How about the flange seal on the toilet flange?

okcnewbie · 10-24-2018, 05:08 AM

As #13 post said, you could add 360 vents to help possibly.

Mark D · 10-24-2018, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve R

No. I do not have a washing machine

Ok, we had an issue with our last motorhome where the seal around the drain where the hose goes in was open. That let the smell out when driving or dumping.

BigLar368 · 10-24-2018, 07:21 AM

When we are traveling down the road and the wife uses the toilet and flushes it will put a foul smell in the RV for a few minutes. I just figured that the vent on the roof was catching air going down the road and when she flushed it pushed air down the vent and up through the toilet when the valve was opened. We have since started using dish soap in between camp grounds and dumping and flushing when we arrive. Has really almost solved the smell problems.

FatChance · 10-24-2018, 11:46 AM

Do you have a black tank rinse/flush?

This feels like a game of 20 questions. It is tough guessing when you won't bother to even tell us what kind of RV you have.

Domo · 10-24-2018, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve R

I assume that’s what the air admittance valve does.there is one under the kitchen sink and bathroom sink

The AAV are to prevent the sink traps from siphoning water and going dry when draining. They do not vent the tank.

When the tank get's hot or cold, or when more liquids are added or residual "stuff" start fermenting, the pressure in the gray tank will increase and decrease which can cause the tank to "burp" through any sink trap (the AAV are only one-way valves). If the tank burps through a trap, you get stink.

Every sanitary holding tank has a vent - somewhere.

I chased gray stink for quite a while until I found that my gray tank vent had a gap at the roof that allowed the smell to come back into the coach. In my case, the hole was UNDER the roof vent cap (which can be round or look like a rocket ship, etc.). I had to remove the cap and then found that the 1-1/2" diameter vent pipe went through a 2-1/4" hole and had been sealed with the wrong material. With the vent cap on, you could not see the hole and water could not get in - but the stink sure could every time we pulled the slides in or out and for about 1/2 hour after we started travelling every day...

BTW - opening and closing slides will act as a belows and possibly force water out of your traps - we always refill every trap after retracting the slides (kitchen, both vanities, washing machine, shower).

**CountryFit** · 10-24-2018, 04:32 PM

Domo, you raised a very interestng question - will stink escape from the bigger pipe and route back to... where? Should it fill in cabin, or it goes back to wet bay hanging in space above the tanks?

Domo · 10-24-2018, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryFit

Domo, you raised a very interestng question - will stink escape from the bigger pipe and route back to... where? Should it fill in cabin, or it goes back to wet bay hanging in space above the tanks?

The route the stink might take - as with the air leak I had - will be very floorplan/model/mfg dependent.

In my case, the large unsealed hole around the gray tank vent pipe allowed the stink to go into the coach directly behind our fridge on the PS. As a result, we would smell the gray tank next to the fridge (small gap to the shower wall) and we suspected the AAV for the shower, the trap for the shower, etc. This space was also directly above the holding tanks opposite the wet bay where there is a panel that is not hinged. So, I was also suspecting bad vent pipe connection to the tank, sensor problems - you name it.

IF the OP's rig has the vent pipe routed in the wall going down to the wet bay - well, that's where the smell would come out - path of least resistance.

I've attached two pictures. One shows my roof vents with the venturi caps. The second picture shows the gray tank vent pipe that simply ends under the cap as well as the large gap between the vent pipe and the edge of the roof penetration.

nvs4602 · 10-24-2018, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve R

I have a horrific smell come from my bathroom. It happened about two months ago within mile of leaving the campground with the drivers window open. When I got home I replaced the air Admittance Valves. It happened again last weekend (The line was too long so I didn’t dump) I was pretty confident I had solved the problem but it happened again there was water in the sink and shower P trap.
Any clues on what it could be?

We were having the same problem in our 2017 coachmen 311fs when traveling down the road every time you flushed it vented out of the toilet and smell up the whole camper. I switched to Happy Camper tank treatment and we don't have the smell anymore. even when we dump it doesn't smell as bad.

hardint · 10-25-2018, 09:57 AM

Domo are your vents made from pipe tee's ,looks like that might actually help make them draw when moving

bldrbob · 10-25-2018, 10:22 AM

I was getting odors when traveling .Started placing ziplock bag of water on shower drain and no more odors.

**CountryFit** · 10-25-2018, 10:26 AM

Big thanks Domo!!

I have seen the vent piping gap on mine as well. I have also experienced the same scenario as what you described - within a 15 minutes of hitting the road, the smell would be sucked into the coach. And the smell comes from a specific area - from the gap between the pantry and the slide. I had suspected that the smell was from the space above tanks and I had been chasing it but nothing appeared to be wrong there.

You opened open up a new area of focus for me

. I'll fill and seal the gap. What kind of material did you use to fill up the gap, and then cover it with dicor sealant?

Domo · 10-25-2018, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hardint

Domo are your vents made from pipe tee's ,looks like that might actually help make them draw when moving

The "T" you refer to is actually a cap that sits over the cut off vent pipe that was shown in the second picture I posted.

The "T", installed by Tiffin originally, does resemble an ABS fitting - however, inside, there is a narrowing of the airway, similar to a jet engine. This is a venturi chamber, which causes the air to accelerate over the open vent on the bottom of the "T" and sucks the air out of that opening...

I've included a (wonderfully done) illustration of the device. And, no, that is not a real photo...

Domo · 10-25-2018, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CountryFit

Big thanks Domo!!

I have seen the vent piping gap on mine as well. I have also experienced the same scenario as what you described - within a 15 minutes of hitting the road, the smell would be sucked into the coach. And the smell comes from a specific area - from the gap between the pantry and the slide. I had suspected that the smell was from the space above tanks and I had been chasing it but nothing appeared to be wrong there.

You opened open up a new area of focus for me

. I'll fill and seal the gap. What kind of material did you use to fill up the gap, and then cover it with dicor sealant?

I shoved in some compressible foam as a backer, then squirted in some Great Stuff. Once cured, I leveled the Great Stuff and applied Dicor to permanently seal the assembly. I'm guessing there are a bunch of products that will stiffen up and not drip down into the space below - so, any one of those would work fine. Finish up with Dicor self-leveling so that it can reseal itself after the pipe vs. coach wiggles around over the miles.