sewer smell

First topic message reminder :

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?

Greetings from 4,000 ft in the NC mountains!

I have the same problem. However, the smell seems to be concentrated in the hanging closet above the water pump, shower, and black tank flush connection. Was going to dive into it further in the morning but sounds like it may be battery or black tank vent. I guess my next topic question may be "how to escape roof quickly when being attacked by bees!?!?" I'll look in the morning and see if it is one of those two answers. This forum is so helpful!

Hope you didn't encounter any bees.

Not much of a smell issue but found we have a clogged vent the hard way. Were packing up and wife was cleaning up inside as I was flushing the black water tank after dumping. Closed the valve and ran about 9 minutes of black water flush when spouse let out a shriek. She had bumped the flush lever and was showered with water from the toilet...good news is she had finished cleaning everything and it was just a 1/4 cup of farily clean water left in the bowl. So the vent has been pressure tested (not intentional) to confirm it is clogged. Looks like I'll be pulling the vent cap for an inspection also. Read somewhere that sometimes vent pipes drop into the tank and no longer work once below the surface. Hoping that isn’t the issue I find. Anyone ran across this and if so what was done to resolve? Thinking bees might be an easier fix.

oldelmer1 wrote: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....

That is a new way I have never heard of.