Hey, I've been searching the Internet for this but found nothing and I'm a RV/travel trailer noobie.I emptied my black water tank a couple days ago after guests staying in it left. Pulled the black water, then the grey water. Then ran the toilet again to backflush a little more and emptied that. Added a bucket of water in through the toilet with some laundry detergent to make it smell fresh.Then I just touched the pedal so that there was a couple inches of water in the bottom of the toilet.Went in there a couple days later and it was stinky. Looked into the bowl and the water is yellowish brown and the toilet stinks. I thought this was doing this before too...almost like the bowl water sours somehow. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas of what needs cleaned/inspected to have it stay clean and fresh if that glory hole is never opened.Thanks!

I never leave water in the bowl while in storage.

Did the water in the toilet came from your fresh water tank or from another water source? Whatever the source, is water from it clear and clean? If you put water from the same source in some other clean container does it change over time? Maybe your toilet just needs a good cleaning.I'm no expert, but these are the things that came to mind.

phillyg wrote:I never leave water in the bowl while in storage.I have always understood that you should leave water in the bowl to prevent the seal from drying out. I always leave water in the bowl and the water has never changed color.

tenbear wrote:phillyg wrote:I never leave water in the bowl while in storage.I have always understood that you should leave water in the bowl to prevent the seal from drying out. I always leave water in the bowl and the water has never changed color.Me too.I think the OP needs a good dose of disinfectant (chlorine bleach) in ALL of his water tanks and then drive it a few miles to slosh it around. Don't get too carried away though. 1/4 cup per gallon of water is plenty.Of course if you do that, you will probably want to empty and refill your fresh water tank before the next trip.

I always leave water in bowl to keep seal wet. When I'm prepared to leave RV I'll clean and drain toilet, fill with distilled water and a dash of Thetford toilet seal conditioner. It has kind of a fresh smell. Once in a while I will see some of what you describe-suspect it may be hidden deposits leaching from the seal area. I'll just drain it again and repeat with the distilled water. I have so much water hardness and this eliminates deposits.

Toilet Bowl Water is Souring | Good Sam Community

RJsfishin
Explorer
Oct 02, 2015
All I know is that there is no good reason to leave water in the bowl.
Those seals were dry before they were ever put in the turlet, and they can be left dry now, and should be left dry if water is hard.
hawkeye-08
Explorer III
Oct 01, 2015
Thanks for letting us know the outcome. I would never have thought that could happen. thanks for sharing.
calebsg
Explorer
Oct 01, 2015
Turns out I had a faulty toilet - Dometic 310. There's a few threads around cyberspace on this issue where the contents of the bowl leak into the plastic outer shell of the toilet and go rancid. And then they kinda seep back in. Very smelly.

If you think this might be you just get a mirror and look in the back cavity of the toilet. You should be able to see the nasty stuff pooling in there.

I bought a Dometic 320 and replaced the unit. No more problems since. Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.
westend
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
It may be that the outside faucets are plumbed through the softener or filtration so that the water from the outside faucet is clear and has no minerals for usual homeowner tasks like washing cars and rinsing off shoe bottoms, etc.

I do agree, the outside faucet should not be in the softener loop but I'm betting a lot of new houses have it that way. I plumbed my own house so set the outside faucets separate from filtration. I do a bit of gardening so don't want to treat the water.
Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
westend wrote:

Yes, I know what a softener does but if the OP has a well, the outside source faucet for filling the trailer is not filtered, and the well water contains significant iron, the water dispensed into the RV tank and through the toilet will be yellow and/or cloudy.

You would hope that the outside faucets are not "filtered" but the incompetent bozos that built my house did the plumbing so that the "treatment loop" feeds the entire house, outside faucets included.
And this is not an inexpensive house; turns out it's cheap but not inexpensive.

I used to live in the midwest where iron and it's associated bacteria was a problem, turning things brown or orange over time. Now I'm in Florida where sulphur and other things are present with turns things BLACK. The treatment is essentially the same though.
westend
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
Empty Nest, Soon wrote:
Softener removes minerals from the water. It does not sanitize it.

If he had public water, he would get some benefit from the chlorine in it, but maybe not enough to eliminate an established colony of bacteria without a lot of water passing through the system.

Sanitizing with bleach is easy, cheap, and effective. He should be doing much the same with his well once a year (shock chlorine treatment).

Wayne
Yes, I know what a softener does but if the OP has a well, the outside source faucet for filling the trailer is not filtered, and the well water contains significant iron, the water dispensed into the RV tank and through the toilet will be yellow and/or cloudy.

Also, as you mention, the well should be shock-treated occasionally, to remove iron bacteria.

I also agree the RV system should be shock-treated. This is not a difficult thing to do and should be done occasionally to sanitize the system. Instead of belly-aching and staring at the toilet, I would be treating the RV system to remove the possibility of that as a cause of the water issues.
tenbear
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
Does the water from any of the faucets appear to be contaminated? In any case you would be wise to sanitize the entire fresh water system. Most of us do that every spring, sometimes more often.
Vulcan_Rider
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
calebsg wrote:
Where is the foul water coming from?

The water line into the toilet "drains" after the valve is closed; drains out maybe an ounce of additional water. This happens to a lesser degree even when the water is "off".

I repeat the suggestion that several of us have made already:
The water lines to your toilet and/or the entire fresh water system is badly contaminated with mold/mildew/fungus and needs to be shock treated to kill the stuff. Might take more than one treatment.
calebsg
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
A little more info after working on this tonight:

I turned off my water supply and emptied the water lines so no more water ran into the toilet when I pushed the lever. I then cleaned it all and wiped it out. At this point I pushed the lever again just to get any remaining drops out and noticed that after the flap closed and no fresh water ran into the bowl, it started filling (at the seal only, the bowl was dry otherwise) with foul smelling cloudy water.

How is this possible? Is it the seal? My black water tank is not full, I can see down in there when the flap is open. Where is the foul water coming from?
Empty_Nest__Soo
Explorer
Jun 29, 2015
Softener removes minerals from the water. It does not sanitize it.

If he had public water, he would get some benefit from the chlorine in it, but maybe not enough to eliminate an established colony of bacteria without a lot of water passing through the system.

Sanitizing with bleach is easy, cheap, and effective. He should be doing much the same with his well once a year (shock chlorine treatment).

Wayne

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