bathroom smells while travelling

[36guy]

Just bought a 29 foot Itasca class c, an 03 e 450 chassis, the bathroom smells like sewer while travelling. The toilet holds water, the seal appears to be ok, any ideas?

[rockhillmanor]

rdhetrick wrote:

Sorry you are wrong. In

'most'

RV's the bathroom sink does drain into the black. OP has a Class C MH, his sink empties into the black. ......

Wow, what an insanely arrogant,

yet totally incorrect statement.

I had a class C, without a doubt, my bathroom sink emptied into the grey tank.

Some do, some don't.

You contradict yourself. Bash me for an incorrect statement and then make the same statement.:?


And Yup, and that is pretty much what I said....."MOST" DO. :R

[36guy]

Me again, I have maxair vent covers, but the smell isn't coming from the roof, the bathroom vent cover is closed when travelling, the smell is faintly noticeable from the driver seat while moving, but after you stop, opening the bathroom door will knock you over.
The toilet retains water, it's not coming from there, I haven't had time to crawl under the bathroom sink yet, but seems to me that may be the problem.
I have owned my current fifth, (for sale), for twelve years, never had an issue like this, decided to try a class c motorhome, and immediately encountered this problem, no smell while parked and in use, but a killer when travelling. Funny enough, previous owner was a plumber.

[camperforlife]

I had a trailer that the black tank vent was in front of one of the roof vents. I had a Maxair cover on the roof vent and traveled with it open. I learned to keep that roof vent closed.

[rdhetrick]

Sorry you are wrong. In 'most' RV's the bathroom sink does drain into the black. OP has a Class C MH, his sink empties into the black. ......

Wow, what an insanely arrogant, yet totally incorrect statement. I had a class C, without a doubt, my bathroom sink emptied into the grey tank. Some do, some don't.

[pappy437]

Put the stoppers in the sink and tub when moving,all it took to fix ours.

[rockhillmanor]

gafidler wrote:
the sink in the bathroom does not drain into the black tank, it goes into thr gray tank.

Sorry you are wrong. In 'most' RV's the bathroom sink does drain into the black. OP has a Class C MH, his sink empties into the black. Those with 5'ers usually have an extra gray(galley)tank may not.

All you have to do is drain your black tank and leave it open and run the water in the bathroom sink and see if it runs out. Many of you will be mildly surprised! :C

Which also is why so many ask why their black tank fills up so fast. Have a family of 4 on board washing up and brushing teeth in the sink everyday and that is why the black fills up so fast.

I travel solo and when I don't have hookups I don't use the bathroom sink and that alone extends my stay before having to dump by 2 days.

Smell in bathroom and everything is working right? Empty p-trap in bathroom sink.

[gafidler]

the sink in the bathroom does not drain into the black tank, it goes into thr gray tank.

[Ron3rd]

Forget the bandaids. You have a problem. Either something is broken, a vent, etc, or the previous owner was clueless as to black tank maintenance and might have even created a nice little "poop pyramid" for you. Clean your black tank out (takes some time and is not easy) and start over.

[2oldman]

My favorite reply is the "pee trap."

[mfox20]

Could also be the seal under the toilet where it bolts to the pipe flange. Had the same issue and that was the fix. The old gasket was about as flat a piece of paper. New gasket was about 1/2 inch thick.

[Dutch_12078]

I agree the air admittance valve under the sink is a very likely candidate. But one odd one I ran into a few years back while troubleshooting a long standing similar odor issue for another camper was that they did not use the onboard shower, opting instead for park showers. The smell was coming from the shower drain simply because any water that had been in it had long ago evaporated. The amount of stuff that was stored in the shower stall made it difficult to narrow down the source. A couple of layers of vinyl tape over the drain fixed the problem.

[djsamuel]

D.E.Bishop wrote:

What is logical is that the Air Admittance Valve is Bad. I had that trouble with my Adventurer and replacing the literally $0.98 OEM AAVs cured the problem. I bought a couple from Lowes or Home Depot at about $9.00. Recommended by several folks here.

+1 Like others have stated, replace the air admittance valve. We've had the same issue and that fixed it.

[TechWriter]

old guy wrote:
I am not one for dumping bleach into a black tank, for one thing urine and bleach gives of some bad fumes . . .

Bad fumes? Oh, is this the bleach-and-urine-make-poison-gas argument?

old guy wrote:
. . . and two it also destroys the bacteria in the black tank

So what? An RV tank is a holding tank, not a septic field. Any bleach in your black tank will most likely degrade before it hits the local septic field.

[garyemunson]

If you have covers over your crank-open roof vents, they can really help get a suction going as you drive down the road if the roof vents are open compounding any seal/vent/trap issues. Roof vents closed when travelling!

[D_E_Bishop]

36guy wrote:
Just bought a 29 foot Itasca class c, an 03 e 450 chassis, the bathroom smells like sewer while travelling. The toilet holds water, the seal appears to be ok, any ideas?

I'm not sure how fumes from the black tank comes through the toilet if the bowl holds water, not logical.

What is logical is that the Air Admittance Valve is Bad. I had that trouble with my Adventurer and replacing the literally $0.98 OEM AAVs cured the problem. I bought a couple from Lowes or Home Depot at about $9.00. Recommended by several folks here.