sewer smell

having a sewer smell in the bathroom of my cat.the toilet holds water. thinking it may be the rubber gasket under the toilet or maybe a clogged vent from the black water tank? Anyone have any ideas?

If it is sewer odor, I'd check the vent first to make sure it's venting. I'd think that if the gasket were leaking the odor, it would also be leaking liquid.

If it's a very strong sulphery smell, it might be your battery cooking a cell. That happened to me and it drove me nuts trying to figure out where the "sewer" odor was coming from. I had the cleanest holding tanks ever, but still had the smell. It was my battery.

Luck in finding what the problem is.

not leaking liquad so will check the vent and battery is not in a box. will pick one up tomorrow. thank you for the feed back so quick.

Did you put chemicals in your black tank to reduce waste odors?

TC

I had those little soap ball things they sell for putting into the toilet. thinking now it could be the vent,maybe bees built a nest in the top of the tube between that and the cover. Tonight I filled and flushed the tank and put bleach in with the water.

found bees hive in the vent tube. thank you everyone for your suggestions

Black tank maintenance.

FWIW. In our other 5th wheel, not our WildCat, we had problems
with the valves leaking. I had the valves rebuilt so hopefully
that's fixed now. Oddly enough it was cheaper to rebuild rather
than replace the valves. The valves have a, really bad, design
that uses flexible cables instead of rods and they were about $60-90
each depending on size, needed 2 big ones and a small one. It's
an older unit and I don't think that part was particularly well taken
care of. The black water tank wouldn't hold liquid and during the
summer when the temps run into the 110-120F range we're not there to
help fill it. Basically the tank developed "gravel" of dehydrated
solids and I was told this will chew up the gaskets. When I first
started trying to resolve this problem, we only bought the unit last
summer, I was told to buy the dropin pellets, use one daily and keep the tank as
close to full as possible. By adding water if necessary and I
did, a lot but still couldn't keep up. The chemicals in the
pellets help disolve the things, the package will say that
proudly. After the valves were rebuilt, just before we left, I
started using the recomendations on the packaging for the usage of the
dropins. We'll see in the fall when we return.

Along the same subject, when I use the bathroom, I have the fan on... courtesy for all occupants, lol. When I flush, the smell that the fan sucks out of the black tank is far worse than what is being flush down. I've got the blue chemical stuff in there and even tried washing out the tank with the black water flush, but I found out that my flush doesn't work (another post). Is this a normal problem when the bathroom fan is on it draws out the sewer gasses when you flush your toilet?

Thanks!

Corey, do you have the Fantastic Fan that FR normally installs over the toilet? I'm surprised you're getting any odors coming in while your fan is blowing out.

I've found out through advice + trial/error that re-charging the black tank with chemicals every two weeks or so, whether you're using the toilet or not, greatly reduces odors.

Even after I've drained and flushed the black tank, I'll still add back a gallon of water with a drop-in right away just to tame any odors that might eminate from whatever is left behind. I think empty tanks can stink worse than full ones. It's even worse when it's hot out.

TC

Yes I do have the Fantastic Fan. I haven't been much for using the chemicals but I think I may be a regular user after this weekend. Boy did flushing the toilet ever stink up the trailer!! I always keep some fresh water in the tank too.

I think its recommended that if you have the fan on, to open a window which allows fresh air in. This way, it doesnt suck the smell up from the tank when flushing.

I never use chemicals in my tanks. They are holding tanks, not a septic system. I always leave a 1/3 of a tank of water in the black tank using my flusher to fill it.

I usually dump everyday, mainly because if it rains, I don't have to worry about going out in the rain to dump. I dump the black first, while dumping the flusher is running, I close the valve, wait a few minutes then open the valve again. Let it drain for a few minutes, then close the valve again and wait a few more minutes, turn the flusher off, then dump the 2 grays at the same time to rinse out the hose.

I always leave my valves closed.

Been doing it this way for 4 years now, no problems yet....

Exactly the way I do it too :). Even if on full hookup, I leave the valves closed and dump it all at once.

I use the orange toilet stuff to give it a little fresh smell when I flush the tank when I leave the little bit of water in the tank I put the orange stuff in. Let it slosh around going down the road.

Just had my parents use the 5er next to the house on their trip to see me. Encountered a bad sewer smell problem. Thought I had it beat (added 10 gallons fresh water and drop in tank freshener) but after 24hrs it's unbearable again. Keep in mind we've had 2-3 weeks of 90+ degree days, but I just used the camper a couple weeks back and flushed the system pretty good.

I've never had this happen before, we've gone 4-5 days in the rig with no problems. I'm going to check the vent as suggested but if there isn't an obvious sign of blockage, what else does a guy look for?

Also, since the toilet is sealed pretty good (gaskets, no leaks and water in the bowl) is it possible the grey tank is the culprit? Does anyone add chemical to the grey?

Will post if/when I get this resolved. I think I'm resigned to dumping and flushing the tanks and cross my fingers that it goes away.

dragynj wrote:
Also, since the toilet is sealed pretty good (gaskets, no leaks and water in the bowl) is it possible the grey tank is the culprit? Does anyone add chemical to the grey?

Will post if/when I get this resolved. I think I'm resigned to dumping and flushing the tanks and cross my fingers that it goes away.

Yes it is very possible its the gray tank from your kitchen sink. We've had this happen several times. Our old 5er was really bad for it. I simply used the small drop in chemical bags just like in the toilet.

They are made for both tanks with directions for use in each tank right on the box/bag.

Quick, easy and effective.

I never did post my follow up. Turns out I cooked my batteries! Got rid of them and replaced, no sewer/sulfphur smell anymore. A little more costly than I was hoping, but better than having to tear into any vents or tanks in search of bad gaskets, plugs or leaks!

Just a bit off topic, but since it has been discussed a bit I thought I'd share. I dump black tank all at once and flush using the hose connection to the black tank, then flush that with grey water tanks. Then I fill about 1/3 on the black tank and a drop in chemical. We use a storage building and the owner put in a dump station complete with water and air... all free. After driving back from camping and sloshing the black water around a bit, I dump and flush again before putting the camper in storage. Really seems to help.

riverrat wrote:having a sewer smell in the bathroom of my cat.the toilet holds water. thinking it may be the rubber gasket under the toilet or maybe a clogged vent from the black water tank? Anyone have any ideas?

It may also be your black tank vent working too well. I've noticed that when I flush the toilet and the bedroom vent is open I get sewer smell in there. It turns out then when the toilet is flushed the pressure of the water going in displaces trapped air up through the vent. The vent is located near the bedroom ceiling vent and if it's open, the smell come right back in. Drove me crazy until I understood what was happening.

If your bathroom vent is open and the fan isn't running, the smell from the vent can creep in that way too.

I know this is an old post, but can anyone tell me how to check to see if the vent is clogged, and how to unclog.

We are just now having a terrible sewer gas odor. Especially if we run the exhaust fan or our portable A/C unit. (that's a whole nother topic)

We have cleaned the upstairs bath THOROUGHLY, so we know it is gaseous not actual, and it doesn't seem to be coming from the toilet.

Thanks ... we welcome any suggestions or ideas.

Julie

Just curious as to what the 'drop in's ' are?? I have used several different black tank products over the years and so far I have not found any that work better than AquaChem. You can purchase the chemicals at Wal-Mart and they eliminate odors. I have tried other products but always come back to AquaChem.

Double check your battery , it can give off that same smell.

I think to check the vent, you have to go up on the roof and visually look at it and make sure there is no bee nests in it. If clear, maybe you can run wire down it to see if it's open? But like admin said, check the battery to see if it's leaking from over charge.

Duke,

To me a "drop in" is one of them little chemical pellets, AquaChem does indeed make them (I think I use Thetford ) and WallyWorld does sell them. I've been known to toss one down the kitchen sink, well actually I cut it open and dump the powder down the drain, every now and then. Did that last month just before I dumped 30 gallons of water into each tank as we left the Arizona unit for the summer. Along with a cup or two of mineral oil to help seal the traps and a quart for the toilet full of water then covered with kitchen plastic wrap.

Bill- Toilet and mineral oil a new one for me

Mineral oil is a new one on my to, That supposed to keep the seal from drying out ?

I would think the oil would float on top of the water and keep the water from evaporating.

"I would think the oil would float on top of the water and keep the water from evaporating."

That's the plan, it seems to be a common thing to do down in Lake Havasu to prep stuff for the summer and if the water evaporates the oil should help keep the gasket from drying. The toilet, Sealand?, uses a foot operated ball valve arrangement. Tape that shiny insulation stuff in the windows and over the skylights. Don't forget the plastic clingwrap over the toilet bowl. I was also told to put a gallon or three of RV antifreeze into the tanks, along with some water, to help keep them from drying out and even worse the valves. I forgot the antifreeze, used dropins, 30 gallons of water per tank, there's only two tanks, and then oil for the traps. The RV down there isn't a FR product, it's a 38' triple slide 2000 Challenger. Why worry? Well in the last 2 years I've had the toilet gaskets, and dump valves, rebuilt because they started leaking.

BTW, we've been told it commonly gets into the high 120's during the summer. That would be the outside temps...inside it supposedly gets into the 130-150 range, which is pretty close to oven temps if you think about it. Which is also why we head back to more liveable temps here in Alaska during the summer.

Had some trouble with toilet seal after it sat for a while. May have to try the water and oil trick.

Thanks guys.
Just an update. We found the source of our odor. (It wasn't the battery as my husband took that out to store becuase we stay in our camper full-time.)
Anyway, there was NO seal/flange under the toilet seat. NONE!!! We bought this camper used, less than a year old. It has 2 toilets. Appearantly the previous owners never used the front toilet nor had we until we started potty training our 2 year old. Anyway, when we ran the vent or the portable A/C which is closer to the toilet it was pulling up sewer gas from under the toilet.

My husband put a seal down and no more stink....but can you believe FR forget something as important as that?????...This camper has had so many design flaws. Their QC department needs more training or something....

Thanks again.
Julie

Glad you found the problem and thanks for the update.