Forum Discussion

Burwoods's avatar
Burwoods
Explorer
Jul 03, 2014

Search on bathroom smells

Been reading about bathroom smells. Ours has not been used by us yet, it does not smell outside the bathroom, but there is this smell of lets say, a skunk had sprayed in there months ago. Nothing major, but it is there. We are going to do the lubrication thing of the toilet seal. We feel that is just some good maintenance on an older MH. Do you think once we get going and using things again that this smell will go away? Going to try all the stuff I have read, just wondering if anyone else had this skunkie smell, not really sewer smell..I don't think.
  • The flapper in the air admittance valve on the output side of the trap under the sink can stick in the open position and let gray tank odor into the bathroom.
    They usually unscrew pretty easily by hand and replacements can be found in hardware stores.
  • We are thinking once we clean it out really well, and add all the ingredients others have mentioned, like bleach, detergent, water softener all that good stuff, maybe even some ice for that first long drive and then a good dump of tanks and cleaning we will be ok. It is not a terribly over powering odour, but it is there, and I personally would like it gone..lol. Our Old Girl is a work in progress as are we as RVers...lol.
  • Good advice above, especially for RVs that have not been used frequently. Another thing is to be sure you NEVER allow the black tank to remain empty (while in use or in storage). When you flush the tanks after emptying them and leave the tanks dry remaining solids (there are always some in there) dry up and become permanent fixtures that cause odors and sometimes even clogs. Replacing the seal is a good idea on an older unit but another practice should be to use LOTS of water when flushing the tank and NEVER empty it until it is nearly full. If you MUST empty it before then first fill it with water. It takes a LOT of liquid in the tank to flush away solids so a partly full tank just won't do the job.
    Good luck / Skip
  • Sinks and showers generally have p traps in the drains that need to have water in them in order to block the sewer smell. Good idea to run water in them once in a while.