It's back....and I'm stumped

For what its worth we used to get the black tank oder when driving down the highway. We found out that we had it when we had the ceiling vent open in the bathroom while going down the road.
When we close the ceiling vent we do not get the smell. It almost seems like the vent would suck fumes inside while under way. We now close that vent and no longer have any problems. Good Luck.

So, where is the stinking update? Did you replace the pot or did you duck tape it over and now use a coffee can with a lid?

vance wrote:
Other people have had this problem including myself. The easiest way that I found that cured mine was to buy the venturi directional vent and install one on each tank (grey and black)vent.

My 2000 vintage coach came with one of those. THE PO said it was the only way to get rid of the smell from the gray tank.

Jim & Betty wrote:
OK I will take a shot at it a couple of thoughts from past experience from me and others.

You have a leak in the tank black or grey leaking into the sub floor. Co-worker had that problem.
The vent pipe is or has been pulled from the tank black or grey and is now venting into the sub floor.
The vent pipe is too short or was put together in more than one piece and that joint has come loose allowing gases into the wall or sub floor.
You have a vent issue where the tank pressurizes like an odd shaped tank where the levels in the tank block the vent causing the tank to pressurize. This happened to me I had grey water blow back through the bath sink.
You have a rotten potatoe in the pantry. :B
Your hot water tank has stagnated and is putting out hydrogen sulfide that does stink, long shot here because you do use the hot with the shower, assuming.
A battery that is going south will also smell up the place.
You have a dead animal in the heater vent at the bathroom

Good Luck
JimR

I'd like to add to this list,

Did some one take a leak in your shower when they were drunk?

Do you keep your dirty cloths in your bathroom?

Did you check your toilet down pipe by blowing into it? Let me know when you are going to do this so I can come watch, with gas mask in hand (-:........

Just had to get that off my chest! Seriously, all RV toilets have what is called a bowl vacuum breaker valve. Most of the time they are located internally inside the bowl structure to prevent, when opening up the (poop)drop valve, a big blow back into the coach and onto some ones bare bottom. They are not serviceable. The only way to repair them is to replace the entire toilet. Hard to guess how long they will last, use it more perhaps it will last longer or it may just wear it out! When I used ours less it failed in just a couple of years, when we lived full time it lasted 10 almost 11 years. Who knows the life of a toilet vacuum breaker valve until one can smell it! Nothing worse than making coffee in the morning and the smell of ones toilet be stronger than fresh brewed coffee!

Most of the time these valves are just little pieces of rubber laying over an opening. The opening or the flapper grows mold on it and fails to seal out the black tank smells. Yes, I know, no one likes to buy a brand new toilet, but some times you just have to bite the bullet and do it or tolerate that wonderful early morning smell when you first wake up that is not the wife's breath!!!!

OK I will take a shot at it a couple of thoughts from past experience from me and others.

You have a leak in the tank black or grey leaking into the sub floor. Co-worker had that problem.
The vent pipe is or has been pulled from the tank black or grey and is now venting into the sub floor.
The vent pipe is too short or was put together in more than one piece and that joint has come loose allowing gases into the wall or sub floor.
You have a vent issue where the tank pressurizes like an odd shaped tank where the levels in the tank block the vent causing the tank to pressurize. This happened to me I had grey water blow back through the bath sink.
You have a rotten potatoe in the pantry. :B
Your hot water tank has stagnated and is putting out hydrogen sulfide that does stink, long shot here because you do use the hot with the shower, assuming.
A battery that is going south will also smell up the place.
You have a dead animal in the heater vent at the bathroom

Good Luck
JimR

I replaced my gasket, rebuilt the toilet valve, checked my sink air check valves, checked my tank vent, all good. Finally out of frustration I replaced the toilet with a new one. I took apart the old one and found a inner rubber vaccum check flapper about the size of a quarter that had become moldy and stuck open. It was small and unrepairable. To get to it I had to break apart the bowl to a point where I couldn't re-glue it back together. Only way was to replace it. So, if your toilet is over 10 years old and it stinks, just replace it. Don't mess with the porcelin bowl toilets, the plumbing is the same as the plastic ones and they last about as long.

I wish I could give a more meaningful update, but I was just promoted at my job and have been at work for 11 days straight now getting everything in order...basically trying to fulfill the duties of my previous position and my new position at the same time.

What I can say is that today I went to camping world to fill up on propane. While waiting, I asked the parts guy about the seal on the hand flusher since that has been mentioned here as a possible culprit. He said that no odor would come from a leaky seal, just water.

I don't know about the validity of that advice, but I have noticed that after releasing the flush handle, if you wait about a second after the water stops, one last spurt of water comes out. So maybe the seal is going bad after all, and maybe it's also letting odor out.


Also, I do not have an overflow hole in the toilet. It is my understanding that "newer" models don't have one.

Hopefully one day soon, I'll get to the bottom of this....

Other people have had this problem including myself. The easiest way that I found that cured mine was to buy the venturi directional vent and install one on each tank (grey and black)vent.

You could be onto something.Vacuum breaker

It sounds like sewer gas coming up the overflow tubes in the toilet bowl. Try holding the flush valve up until the water starts going down the over flow holes. There is a trap of sorts in there that can go dry. It can also get emptied when you have the toilet up replacing the gasket. Run a fair amount of water through those as it can't hurt to wash out any dried urine also.