Horrible black tank odor from toilet

Not necessarily clogged, just covered with snow

No problem staying warm. Have bales of straw around camper, heated fresh water hose, couple of brooder lamps under trailer. Trailer has heated underbody of course. We stayed in Vt in winter many years ago with trailer that didn't have heated underbody. Drain hose is in a piece of gutter tie wrapped to underbody with pink insulation on top and heat tape running along bottom. Have doubled up bubble wrap in windows so light can still come in. 3 big windows and door have a drape over them to help insulate a little. I'm just weirded out because odor occurred suddenly. Odor def not coming from sinks or shower. I just put a couple of gallons of vinegar down those last week. How could I tell if vent is clogged?

Do you have a ceiling fan running? That will draw in odors. If you have a small amount of water always in the bottom of the toilet bowl, then your toilet is sealed and shouldn't have any odors. If that water doesn't stay in the toilet then your seal needs replacing.

OP, You are tlking about Wisconsin in the WINTER, right?

How are you keeping things from freezing?

If tanks are not being kept warm, I would worry about waste materials freezing. This could cause you tanks from not emptying completely. Or frozen clog in vent stack, etc.

May have nothing to do with your problem, but here's our "awful toilet smell" story.

On a trip a couple of years back we pulled into our campsite and were greeted with a knock you over smell when we opened the bathroom door. It was easy to determine that the odor was coming from the toilet, which was an all plastic AquaMagic IV. This toilet had two foot pedals on the front to add water or open the flush valve. the odor was coming from the opening where the pedals came out of the base, so something inside the toilet must have broken or cracked to allow black tank odors out. We didn't want to abort the trip, so I put a ziplock bag over the pedals and used masking tape to seal the open end of the bag to the outside of the toilet base. This sealed the opening while keeping the pedals operable. I also taped up the base to floor joint and the opening in the back where the water line entered the toilet base. This stopped the odors and saved our trip.

When we got home I replaced the toilet.

sch911 wrote:
Have you checked the roof drain vent tube to make sure it's clear?

X-2

Have you checked the roof drain vent tube to make sure it's clear?

At each of your sinks, there is a small air vent on the drain pipes. These can fail and cause the types of odors you are experiencing. They are available for cheap money at Lowes or Home Depot.

They just hand-screw onto the pipe. Just make sure you get the correct pipe size.