Gray Tank Smell (Seriously annoying)
I love our travel trailer, but we have been having some serious issues with a very potent smell. Issue: Every time we run the kitchen faucet we get a rotten egg smell out of both of our A/C units ...
Forum Discussion
You've received lots of good advice so far. I'm looking forward to seeing what you're able to find.
It looks like this is a new trailer, being a 2022. That is, no one else ever used it before you, and you said this problem began about a month after you took ownership.
It's fairly common for there to be "assembly errors" in the construction of all RV's, and I think perhaps yours might have an issue with the vent pipe leading to the roof. This might have been a problem since it was new, but it took about a month of use before the crud/bacteria/odors built to the point where they were noticeable.
Are your air conditioners ducted? If so, I'm wondering if there isn't a crack or improper seal on the vent pipe which is allowing the sewer gases into the A/C duct channels. Airflow through the ducts will create a low-pressure venturi effect which might draw in an odors "floating around" in that space. Kind of a long shot, but might be possible.
The vent pipe runs between walls. If you open a cabinet door or drawer which is very close to the run of the vent pipe, you might be able to detect a hint of an odor there, if there is a leak in the vent pipe. Closing all windows & doors and turning on your roof vent (exhaust) might help draw in such odors.
For what it's worth, we would on occasion have a gray-tank/sewer odor issue, usually if we were running our vent fan with windows open. We installed that "vane-type" vent cap linked to earlier in this topic and it cured that problem. It seems to make very efficient use of any breeze to create a lower pressure area at the top of the pipe and draw the odors out and away. So, I'd recommend one even if you solve this problem another way.
Good Luck, I'm looking forward to seeing what you find out.
~Rick
It looks like this is a new trailer, being a 2022. That is, no one else ever used it before you, and you said this problem began about a month after you took ownership.
It's fairly common for there to be "assembly errors" in the construction of all RV's, and I think perhaps yours might have an issue with the vent pipe leading to the roof. This might have been a problem since it was new, but it took about a month of use before the crud/bacteria/odors built to the point where they were noticeable.
Are your air conditioners ducted? If so, I'm wondering if there isn't a crack or improper seal on the vent pipe which is allowing the sewer gases into the A/C duct channels. Airflow through the ducts will create a low-pressure venturi effect which might draw in an odors "floating around" in that space. Kind of a long shot, but might be possible.
The vent pipe runs between walls. If you open a cabinet door or drawer which is very close to the run of the vent pipe, you might be able to detect a hint of an odor there, if there is a leak in the vent pipe. Closing all windows & doors and turning on your roof vent (exhaust) might help draw in such odors.
For what it's worth, we would on occasion have a gray-tank/sewer odor issue, usually if we were running our vent fan with windows open. We installed that "vane-type" vent cap linked to earlier in this topic and it cured that problem. It seems to make very efficient use of any breeze to create a lower pressure area at the top of the pipe and draw the odors out and away. So, I'd recommend one even if you solve this problem another way.
Good Luck, I'm looking forward to seeing what you find out.
~Rick
