A long Stinky Toilet story
A long Stinky Toilet story
This last year I spent a lot of time in my fifth wheel. While it was parked at my Daughters house in The Santa Cruz California area which has cool weather and all was OK, The toilet odor would start after a week or so and I would just drain and clean out the tank, I was not using any chemical because my daughter’s septic system is a special system and I did not want to foul anything up.
I got a break in my schedule with the probate court dealing with my Uncles Estate so I called Eve and flew her over from Hawaii for a couple of weeks R&R in Las Vegas ( at 100 degrees).
At the first rest stop the Tank odor was overwhelming I added some chemical to the tank and got into Vegas . About 3 days later the Odor came back with vengeance. I headed to the RV shop and told them my problem and was told it was most likely the seal leaking where the toilet bolts to the floor, armed with a new seal I returned to the trailer dumped the tank and changed the seal out, re-chemical the tank and off to the casinos to make my donation. All is well for about 3 more days and the odor is back.
I head back to the RV shop and I buy a new toilet and another rubber floor seal and go back to the trailer and install it, re-chemical the tank and guess what happened in 3 days? Yes the odor is back.
There is not much I can do in a Casino RV Park so I just dump and flush the tank every 3 days until I get back to my Daughters, get Eve on an airplane back to Hawaii and then attack the tank ( I wrongly figured it has to be a plugged vent ) I go up on the roof and remove the vent cover and the 1 ½ “ ABS vent pipe jumped up in the air about 3 “, I try to push it back down but it won’t move, after a whole bunch of nasty adjectives directed at Jayco I crawled under the trailer and of course I can see nothing but tank bottom . It does not look like dropping the tank is going to be a fun job so I stand back and think the situation over.
The Jayco bath room has one wall with a angled end on it about 11” wide and I say ah-ha that has to be where the vent pipe is, I get my handy Harbor Freight multi tool out and cut a 8” by 8” hole in it (after removing the toilet ) and there is the vent pipe end sitting on top of the floor joist with the 1 ½ tank coupling about 2” away.
I am growling to myself that the Jayco buggers never cemented it in place then I realize the tank could not be removed if it was cemented in so what was my answer to the problem?
I could get the pipe into the coupling by bending it at an angle and forcing it in but how to keep it there?
I forced the pipe into the coupling and then filled the wall cavity with a can of spray foam, I went up on the roof and drilled a hole in the ABS Pipe where it came through the roof and put a screw through it so it is now held in place at the top and the bottom, I trimmed the excessive foam off glued the piece I cut out back in place with some molding strips and re installed the toilet.
The next 2 months I stayed in the trailer it was odor free ( except for my dirty socks ) Hope this story helps someone out with a similar problem ( not the socks)
Aloha From Kauai Leon
This last year I spent a lot of time in my fifth wheel. While it was parked at my Daughters house in The Santa Cruz California area which has cool weather and all was OK, The toilet odor would start after a week or so and I would just drain and clean out the tank, I was not using any chemical because my daughter’s septic system is a special system and I did not want to foul anything up.
I got a break in my schedule with the probate court dealing with my Uncles Estate so I called Eve and flew her over from Hawaii for a couple of weeks R&R in Las Vegas ( at 100 degrees).
At the first rest stop the Tank odor was overwhelming I added some chemical to the tank and got into Vegas . About 3 days later the Odor came back with vengeance. I headed to the RV shop and told them my problem and was told it was most likely the seal leaking where the toilet bolts to the floor, armed with a new seal I returned to the trailer dumped the tank and changed the seal out, re-chemical the tank and off to the casinos to make my donation. All is well for about 3 more days and the odor is back.
I head back to the RV shop and I buy a new toilet and another rubber floor seal and go back to the trailer and install it, re-chemical the tank and guess what happened in 3 days? Yes the odor is back.
There is not much I can do in a Casino RV Park so I just dump and flush the tank every 3 days until I get back to my Daughters, get Eve on an airplane back to Hawaii and then attack the tank ( I wrongly figured it has to be a plugged vent ) I go up on the roof and remove the vent cover and the 1 ½ “ ABS vent pipe jumped up in the air about 3 “, I try to push it back down but it won’t move, after a whole bunch of nasty adjectives directed at Jayco I crawled under the trailer and of course I can see nothing but tank bottom . It does not look like dropping the tank is going to be a fun job so I stand back and think the situation over.
The Jayco bath room has one wall with a angled end on it about 11” wide and I say ah-ha that has to be where the vent pipe is, I get my handy Harbor Freight multi tool out and cut a 8” by 8” hole in it (after removing the toilet ) and there is the vent pipe end sitting on top of the floor joist with the 1 ½ tank coupling about 2” away.
I am growling to myself that the Jayco buggers never cemented it in place then I realize the tank could not be removed if it was cemented in so what was my answer to the problem?
I could get the pipe into the coupling by bending it at an angle and forcing it in but how to keep it there?
I forced the pipe into the coupling and then filled the wall cavity with a can of spray foam, I went up on the roof and drilled a hole in the ABS Pipe where it came through the roof and put a screw through it so it is now held in place at the top and the bottom, I trimmed the excessive foam off glued the piece I cut out back in place with some molding strips and re installed the toilet.
The next 2 months I stayed in the trailer it was odor free ( except for my dirty socks ) Hope this story helps someone out with a similar problem ( not the socks)
Aloha From Kauai Leon
