black tank overflow and smell in living space

[donjeanne]

I accidentally left the black tank clean out hose on and went away for a number of days. Black tank valve was closed so water filled black tank and with no other place to go went into kitchen sink and onto floor of living area. What can I do to get the odor out. Have cleaned surfaces with bleach but not much help. My plan right now is to have carpets cleaned. Not sure that will be enough. Any thoughts?

[Old-Biscuit]

Hey Grit.....
I do KNOW this.....our FW was NOT a cheapo with particle board

And it is Old BISCUIT.
At least have the decency to spell it correctly


OP spelled out issue pretty well and with actual experience that is what my advice is based on NOT an assumption like your advice

[Cummins12V98]

"Until you geniuses know more, keep the absolute judgements to yourselves. "

A bit uncalled for! HE said BLACK water and as I said that's SH!T. I also said to file a claim. No I don't know his situation nor does anyone else. HE is the one that has not provide any more details.

[downtheroad]

Grit dog wrote:

Until you geniuses know more, keep the absolute judgements to yourselves.

Not a genius here (according to my wife), but it sounds like YOU are passing a lot of judgment on everyone else.

What I am seeing is lots of folks respectfully offering opinions on this thread. Judgments or opinions about RV issues are what this forum is all about and should be welcomed.

[Farmboy666]

Grit dog wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Wow, that stinks! Literally and figuratively.
Don't be so quick to assume your rig is totaled? Seriously. Do they tear down a house if the water leaks.
floor shouldn't be particle board so it's not going to disintegrate. And presume you dried it out and it didn't sit wet for weeks or months.
Rip out the flooring/carpet, check for any rotting (not likely, but if cabinets are particle board they may have gotten soft on the bottom, whatever, not the end of the world and pretty easy to remedy. Paint the floor with Killz after cleaning it with TSP trisodium phospate. Put some new carpet and turn the TV on!

Or it's a good excuse to ditch the rig to the insurance company if that's more beneficial to you than fixing it.....if they even would total it.

This is not just a water leak. It's SH!T.

File a claim and report back.

I know you all here know it all, but do you know the OP, what type of Rv, what their financial situation is, whether they have insurance or anything other than the vague first post that they haven't followed up on?
He!!, you don't know if this happened this week or last year, they don't say. You don't know if they've been living with some smell that I suggested a means to mitigate.
Maybe it is totaled, maybe old bisqick had a cheap rv with particle board floors, or maybe the ops wasn't leveled properly and all the water ran right out the door causing little damage.
Until you geniuses know more, keep the absolute judgements to yourselves.

Doubtful it happened last year unless you mean December, They haven't cleaned the carpet yet, who would live with the smell for any length of time without cleaning the carpet?
Even if it wasn't completely level you would have to have a trough
down the middle of the RV with a spout out the door for it not to have run other places. Not sure what their financial situation has to do with water damage and mold. If you don't have insurance or can't afford to buy another RV it doesn't change the situation. I think your a little sensitive to being in the minority of opinions.

[Grit_dog]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Wow, that stinks! Literally and figuratively.
Don't be so quick to assume your rig is totaled? Seriously. Do they tear down a house if the water leaks.
floor shouldn't be particle board so it's not going to disintegrate. And presume you dried it out and it didn't sit wet for weeks or months.
Rip out the flooring/carpet, check for any rotting (not likely, but if cabinets are particle board they may have gotten soft on the bottom, whatever, not the end of the world and pretty easy to remedy. Paint the floor with Killz after cleaning it with TSP trisodium phospate. Put some new carpet and turn the TV on!

Or it's a good excuse to ditch the rig to the insurance company if that's more beneficial to you than fixing it.....if they even would total it.

This is not just a water leak. It's SH!T.

File a claim and report back.

I know you all here know it all, but do you know the OP, what type of Rv, what their financial situation is, whether they have insurance or anything other than the vague first post that they haven't followed up on?
He!!, you don't know if this happened this week or last year, they don't say. You don't know if they've been living with some smell that I suggested a means to mitigate.
Maybe it is totaled, maybe old bisqick had a cheap rv with particle board floors, or maybe the ops wasn't leveled properly and all the water ran right out the door causing little damage.
Until you geniuses know more, keep the absolute judgements to yourselves.

[myredracer]

OP's profile says he joined in '05 and has made 22 posts. Probably has been trying to deal with the problem or maybe jumped off a bridge...

If it's as bad as it sounds, I believe the worst problem will be mold growth, and some varieties like Stachybotrys (black mold) are extremely toxic. Mold loves food in the form of cellulose and there's plenty of that in the subfloor, cabinets, flooring material, luan wall paneling, etc. Water will have wicked up the walls and cabinetry from floor level. If the OP has been wintering in his RV over the winter, the interior humidity level is probably already higher than ideal, adding to the problem. Trying to dry the interior out by cranking the furnace up will raise the humidity level further and probably make it worse.

Mold needs water + food and just a few days to take hold and spread. You can't just spray some type of biocide like bleach for ex. all over and dry everything out and assume all is okay. Even dead mold is a problem due to the chemicals and proteins it creates and the reactions in humans. Porous materials like say luan make it even harder to deal with mold. Mold will be hidden in all sorts of places you won't see or find.

Worst case of property damage to a single family home I've heard of was a 12,000 sq. ft. mansion in Austin TX built as a replica of Glen Tara. A minor on-going leak caused widespread mold growth. The husband ended up with significant brain damage. Farmers Insurance offered them peanuts but the wife dug her heels in and battled them out in court and eventually got $32 million. The home was declared unlivable and had to be abandoned. This goes back about 20 years - story here.

Looking forward to hearing back from the OP.

[Dick_B]

Another lesson is to shut off the incoming water or turn off the pump while away; even for part of a day.

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

2chiefsRus wrote:
is anyone else wondering if this post is fiction? New member, no other posts, black tank plumbed into kitchen sink?

Not at all. It happens from time to time. I've seen many posts on this site where people have turned their trailer into a; umm; a Haiti country. :B

[2chiefsRus]

is anyone else wondering if this post is fiction? New member, no other posts, black tank plumbed into kitchen sink?

[Cummins12V98]

Grit dog wrote:
Wow, that stinks! Literally and figuratively.
Don't be so quick to assume your rig is totaled? Seriously. Do they tear down a house if the water leaks.
floor shouldn't be particle board so it's not going to disintegrate. And presume you dried it out and it didn't sit wet for weeks or months.
Rip out the flooring/carpet, check for any rotting (not likely, but if cabinets are particle board they may have gotten soft on the bottom, whatever, not the end of the world and pretty easy to remedy. Paint the floor with Killz after cleaning it with TSP trisodium phospate. Put some new carpet and turn the TV on!

Or it's a good excuse to ditch the rig to the insurance company if that's more beneficial to you than fixing it.....if they even would total it.

This is not just a water leak. It's SH!T.

File a claim and report back.

[beemerphile1]

You may have insulation under the floor which is now saturated and rotting the floor. Plus with the bacteria of the black tank contaminating the entire RV like a petri dish, it is probably totaled and hopefully covered by insurance.

[Old-Biscuit]

Grit dog wrote:
Wow, that stinks! Literally and figuratively.
Don't be so quick to assume your rig is totaled? Seriously. Do they tear down a house if the water leaks.
floor shouldn't be particle board so it's not going to disintegrate. And presume you dried it out and it didn't sit wet for weeks or months.
Rip out the flooring/carpet, check for any rotting (not likely, but if cabinets are particle board they may have gotten soft on the bottom, whatever, not the end of the world and pretty easy to remedy. Paint the floor with Killz after cleaning it with TSP trisodium phospate. Put some new carpet and turn the TV on!

Or it's a good excuse to ditch the rig to the insurance company if that's more beneficial to you than fixing it.....if they even would total it.

Sorry grit, but BTDT and you have it wrong.

Our FW was flooded with CLEAN City Water.
Fitting broke during the night while we slept....ran for few hours.
Squeegeed standing water out the door, then used a 16 gal wet/dry vac (dumped over 8 FULL lads), then pulled carpet/padding & Linoleum and threw it in trash.Used blowers, warm air dryers etc to SAVE the subfloor
Still ended up with having to have large slideout floor due to the subfloor going soft/disintegrating.

And this was CLEAN water that was removed, dried within just a few hours of incident
NOT waste water ------that ran for days

Insurance is OPs BEST option

[ScottG]

Grit dog wrote:
Do they tear down a house if the water leaks.

Actually, for the most part, they do. They remove the plywood in the floor, all wall material and insulation. Everything but the studs goes and those are treated with a fungicide.
Of course you could do all that to an RV but it isn't cost effective.

[myredracer]

Sorry to hear that. Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news, but you are almost 100% likely to have a total loss. See this youtube video RV toilet overflows.. Hopefully you have insurance. Doesn't matter if it was the black or gray tank that overflowed, that volume of water for that long, clean or contaminated will do serious damage.