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Maine-iacs's avatar
Maine-iacs
Explorer
Jul 29, 2014

Awful sewer gas stench! Solved!!

The 5er has been sitting for awhile. This week grandkids are up so we have them bunking there with parents. Complaints of sewer smell. Did everything under the sun to try and figure out what was causing it. No leaks. Flushed out the stack from roof level. Dumped tanks and flushed them thoroughly. Checked everywhere for any dead critters. Finally found the culprit!

The battery had essentially boiled dry and was outgassing! My bad for letting happen but I was enormously relieved to find the problem. Got to check that more often!

Just an FYI if anyone else is trying to track down a mysterious odor.

8 Replies

  • TenOC's avatar
    TenOC
    Nomad
    Jul 30, 2014
    My battery had one cell short out (?) the acid boiled (?) out and drip on the ground. This acid on the ground created the sewer smell.

    Lucky the battery was under warranty.
  • bshpilot's avatar
    bshpilot
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    consider disconnecting those crappy converter/charger (the ones that over charge & boil batteries dry) and using a SMART charger - like a BatteryMinder or Battery Tender (while in storage).

    or replace the crappy converter/charger w/ a better model that does SMART charging - i.e. Progressive Dynamics Intelli-Power (PD series) with the optional Charge Wizard.
  • wa8yxm's avatar
    wa8yxm
    Explorer III
    Jul 30, 2014
    travisej wrote:
    I would think that the battery had more of a sulfer type smell where as a sewer problem wouls smell crappy. But i could be wrong.


    Correct but many can not tell the difference and sewers can be sulfer (Rotten egg) as well as other .... er... aromas.

    Many have made the mistake.. To a lesser extent, including me, and having grown up on a dairy/hog farm (half and half) I know the aroma of political speeches (BS by any other name) Though to be honest Human is closer to Hog.
  • John_Joey's avatar
    John_Joey
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    Easy thing to forget. Slides weren't coming in, cause was a battery that was running low on fluid. Never did smell though.
  • Maine-iacs's avatar
    Maine-iacs
    Explorer
    Jul 30, 2014
    travisej wrote:
    I would think that the battery had more of a sulfer type smell where as a sewer problem wouls smell crappy. But i could be wrong.


    It surprised me too. But as you can see, it's happened to others also. Trust me, smelled exactly like an open septic tank.
  • wcjeep's avatar
    wcjeep
    Explorer
    Jul 29, 2014
    I cooked a battery in my offroad vehicle (my fault). Smelled like sewer gas.
  • eubank's avatar
    eubank
    Explorer
    Jul 29, 2014
    It happened to us once, too. I could have sworn that it was sewer gas, even though the rig was stored dry, but plugged in. My sniffer finally brought me to the culprit.

    Well, sort of. The real culprit was a bad converter, which boiled (and ruined) the battery.

    Lynn
  • travisej's avatar
    travisej
    Explorer
    Jul 29, 2014
    I would think that the battery had more of a sulfer type smell where as a sewer problem wouls smell crappy. But i could be wrong.

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