Community Forums

gauto5150 · 03-17-2012, 08:26 PM

2004 Fleetwood Discovery 39J with a REAL BAD sewage black tank smell from bathroom. Even with water in the bowl, driving down the road with a negative pressure in the interior will draw out some nastiness.
Replaced the roof vent with the cool looking Camco jet wing thingy, still stinky. Also replaced the mechanical vent on the bathroom sink (read that here and it was cheap and easy).
From what I can tell, there is only ONE roof vent and it is for the black tank. The grey tank is vented with the mechanical vents at all the water drains. I may be wrong on this?
The origin of the odor is from the bowl area. So here's my question:
Can the floor seal bleed odor? And there seems to be a ring clamp type connector from floor base to upper bowl, can it emit odors there? Here's a picture of the type of bowl I have.
Any ideas? A trip to Florida next week would be a lot more pleasant without this lingering around.

gauto5150 · 03-17-2012, 09:02 PM

I've read that there is a rubber gasket from floor to bowl. On another forum someone replaced it with a wax ring and that worked well. Anyone try this?

BichonLover · 03-17-2012, 09:04 PM

Don't know it's just the angle and lighting of the photo, but it looks like the bowl isn't seated squarely on the pedestal. If the bowl is not set down evenly, then it could be possible that odor is coming from a gap between the upper & lower toilet sections.

So if, in fact, the bowl is not seated straight, try loosening the ring clamp a little bit -- I mean a little bit -- and readjust the bowl so it is seated squarely on top of the pedestal. Then retighten the clamp.

If odor persists after that, then take a look at the bottom flange that the entire toilet sits on. Check that the base of the toilet is properly and snuggly bolted down, too.

gauto5150 · 03-17-2012, 09:44 PM

It does looked whacked in the photo, it may just be the angle.
I will loosen it or even take it apart tomorrow. I'll post pictures and info of what I find, I'll keep it clean.....hopefully.

LadyFitz... · 03-17-2012, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gauto5150

...From what I can tell, there is only ONE roof vent and it is for the black tank. The grey tank is vented with the mechanical vents at all the water drains. I may be wrong on this?...

The gray tank has to be vented elsewhere than the mechanical vents (technically, they are called Air Admittance Valves, AAVs for short). The AVVs admit air into the system while preventing sewer gasses from escaping. The tank has to have a way to allow pressure puild up to escape; otherwise the bpressure build up will blow out the water seal in the traps.

Some manufacturers tie the vents from both the gray water and black water tanks together to one vent pipe so there will be only one roof penetration.

gauto5150 · 03-17-2012, 10:10 PM

LadyFitz, you're probably right. I didn't think of the buildup of pressure in the tanks. They both must be tied in together because there is only ONE vent up top.

RVNeophytes2 · 03-17-2012, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gauto5150

2004 Fleetwood Discovery 39J with a REAL BAD sewage black tank smell from bathroom...

This is a Sealand, its pedestal shroud is missing, right?

'Looks like the bowl is not seated, might be easily cured by reseating and tightening the band. Here is a link to working on the model you have, if I'm identifying the type correctly from your photo.

B Bob · 03-17-2012, 10:16 PM

We use enzyme in our black and grey tanks every time. When we do that we do not have any problem with odors. We bought the easy to use tablets for the black tank and the slow dissolve one for grey tank at Quartzite in Jan and that is really easy to use and works great.

gauto5150 · 03-17-2012, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVNeophytes2

This is a Sealand, its pedestal shroud is missing, right?

'Looks like the bowl is not seated, might be easily cured by reseating and tightening the band. Here is a link to working on the model you have, if I'm identifying the type correctly from your photo.

If the shroud is missing, then we know why it looks crooked. I got the coach this way and there was probably an "issue" at one point in time with the previous owners.
I'll dig around and see if I can find a model number. Many thanks for the info!!

Gadget Man · 03-17-2012, 10:41 PM

We have the same floor plan and toilet as you. It definitely doesn't look like the bowl is seated properly. The clamp on mine is perfectly level.

Craig

chaperon · 03-17-2012, 10:54 PM

We have a major odor problem, but only when travelling with one of the front windows open... Just bought one of "The cool looking Camco jet wing thingy" So am hoping this cures our problem.

free-to-roam · 03-18-2012, 07:12 AM

Most likley the air lock/vent in the grey tank. It smells every bit as bad as the black, and, you nose does not like either!
Look under your bath sink, above the drain exit line, above where the sink drains into a "T", there will be a black, otherwise non-descript, piece, threaded into the top of the "T". This has a weak spring it it, which presses UP in a very supple rubber seal. When you let water OUT the sink drain, the vacuum pulls the weak spring, opens the rubber, and allows air to follow the water, absolutely necessary for a drain to work properly.
This little item is well hid, and fails frequently. Lowes, Home Depot, most ACE hardware stores will have the replacement for a few bucks. It is screwed in, and, is likley very tight. If you had that big a gas leak around your toiley, you would very likley see water every time you flush, or be able to see evidence of water in the basement, under the toilet.
Really not a good idea to change the rubber floor seal with a wax ring as the dynamics of the toilet are designed to work with the rubber floor gasket. IF IT HAS not been removed, it sould be OK. If someone did remove it, and used the old gasket, you could have a problem. Not too likley however....most folks that are skilled enough to remove a toilet, are knowledgeable enough to replace the ring....

Steve N Sal · 03-18-2012, 07:18 AM

I found a product at a local rv dealer called RV Digest It. There web site is uniquemm.com. Take a look and read over the stuff. Since using this we have had absolutely no odors at all. You can have the fan on and open the seal in the toilet and NO smell whatsoever. Take a look it can't hurt.

gauto5150 · 03-18-2012, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by free-to-roam

Most likley the air lock/vent in the grey tank. It smells every bit as bad as the black, and, you nose does not like either!
Look under your bath sink, above the drain exit line, above where the sink drains into a "T", there will be a black, otherwise non-descript, piece, threaded into the top of the "T". This has a weak spring it it, which presses UP in a very supple rubber seal. When you let water OUT the sink drain, the vacuum pulls the weak spring, opens the rubber, and allows air to follow the water, absolutely necessary for a drain to work properly.
This little item is well hid, and fails frequently. Lowes, Home Depot, most ACE hardware stores will have the replacement for a few bucks. It is screwed in, and, is likley very tight. If you had that big a gas leak around your toiley, you would very likley see water every time you flush, or be able to see evidence of water in the basement, under the toilet.
Really not a good idea to change the rubber floor seal with a wax ring as the dynamics of the toilet are designed to work with the rubber floor gasket. IF IT HAS not been removed, it sould be OK. If someone did remove it, and used the old gasket, you could have a problem. Not too likley however....most folks that are skilled enough to remove a toilet, are knowledgeable enough to replace the ring....

I changed those, and the odor from those vents is completely different than what I'm fighting.